Veterinary medicine and animal husbandry in Mexico: From empiricism to science and technology

Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry in Mexico: From Empiricism

to Science and Technology L A R I S S A ADLER L O M N I T Z AND L E T I C I A MAYER

VETERINARY MEDICINE, as a profession, began in Mexico in the nineteenth century. The first school of veterinary medicine--the Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria--was founded in 1853 and, until 1915, was attached to the school of agriculture--the Escuela de Agricultura--which was an independent institution. The original curriculum concentrated on veterinary medicine and hygiene, the veterinary needs of the military, and on raising the horses which were crucial to civilian and military transport. During this period, veterinarians were trained to be practitioners of what was regarded as a liberal profession; little attention was paid to training in research. In the 1920s, with the introduction of the automobile for transport, veterinary medicine turned from the care of horses---animal husbandry and breeding took its place. Post-revolutionary policies for reconstruction emphasised the need to breed animals.

In 1929, the school of veterinary medicine was incorporated into the National Autonomous University of Mexico--the Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mdxico, or UNAM--which was granted autonomy in the same year. The change enabled veterinarians to receive more training in theoretical subjects and husbandry, and reduced the technical and medical parts of the syllabus which had predominated in the preceding period. With this, veterinary medicine in Mexico entered a new phase. It began to transmit scientific knowledge and to apply imported techniques, adapting them to local circumstances. Nonetheless, Mexican veterinarians did not themselves yet conduct research.

The school of veterinary medicine had lecturers but no full-time professors. During the period of foot-and-mouth disease, which started in 1946, the university began to appoint full-time teachers of veterinary medicine, not only to teach but also to do research. Henceforth veterinarians could dedicate themselves either to teaching or research, in addition to such supplementary activities as managing small firms or working as consultants for the state.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the National University began to train groups of research workers; curricula were revised and graduate degrees and specialised training abroad were promoted through scholarships and grants. Veterinarians who were teaching at the university gained higher status and better opportunities for employment. Many of

Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry in Mexico 145

these educated veterinarians were able to occupy positions within the civil service, where they had a hand in the making of policy in their field.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease (1946-1952) and its Effects on Veterinary Medi- cine in Mexico

The most serious problem faced by Mexico after the revolution of 1910 was an epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease, which killed cattle throughout the country, especially in the states of Veracruz, Puebla and Mexico. At the height of the epidemic, it was feared that peasants and cattle-ranchers would take up arms against the government which was attempting to overcome the epidemic. Some of them, afraid that their cattle would be killed, fled with their animals to the mountains, and gave up cultivating the soil?

The problem was made public on 26 December, 1946, in a short article in the newspaper Excelsior, under the headline "Foot-and-Mouth Disease Spreads from Veracruz to the Centre of the Republic". Two days after this first announcement, President Miguel Alemfin took steps to control the epidemic. He formed a commission, which he himself headed; he issued a decree with 12 articles, giving the commission full powers to conduct a campaign of eradication; he allocated a budget of one million pesos to the commission. He also authorised the commission to ask all state ministries and the National University to second veterinarians on their staffs and other experts to participate in the campaign. In addition, army detachments were mobilised and placed under the orders of the heads of the sanitary campaigns. The railways were quarantined, in order to prevent the epidemic from spreading. Within a few days the country became one large slaughterhouse. Because there was no vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease, the only remedy was to use the "sanitary rifle", i.e., to shoot all the cattle affected by the virus.

The government of the United States, wishing to prevent the spread of the epidemic into its territory, on 28 December, 1946, dosed its border to Mexican cattle as well as to all farm products. Thus, within a few days, Mexico was faced with two serious problems: the destruction of its cattle, and the loss of the market for its agricultural goods in the United States.

The first international assistance came from Argentina and Brazil which sent several experts to work on developing a vaccine. Washington sent a group of specialists, the most prominent of whom, Dr Fladness, was considered the leading authority on foot-and-mouth disease. Chile, Great Britain and Venezuela also sent experts. The Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark each sent 2,000 litres of vaccine.

i Despite its importance, few historical works on the period mention the epidemic. Exceptions are Gonzalez y Gonzalez, Luis, La Cultura: Historia de la Revoluci6n mexicana, Vol. XIV (Mexico City, 1979); and Torres, Blanca, "Hacia la Utopia Industrial", in Historia de la Revoluci6n Mexicana, 1940-1952, Vol. XX1 (Mexico City: El Colegio de M6xico, 1979).

146 Larissa Adler Lomnitz and Leticia Mayer

Despite the flow of international aid, other problems arose. It was discovered that the Mexican virus was of a different variety than those observed before. In addition, the conditions in the Mexican countryside made it impossible to handle the vaccine properly or to store it under the required conditions. For example, the Dutch vaccine was brought in frozen; when it thawed, the virus underwent a reversion, making it more aggressive and refractory. Another problem was that vaccines sent from abroad required a large amount of liquid carrier--for each injection, approximately 20.3cc of serum.

Alarm about its economic effects spread just as quickly as the disease itself. Mexican veterinarians began to do research to find a solution. Several professors of the university's School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry--the Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia-- succeeded in December 1946 in isolating the MP (Mexico-Puebla) virus in Puebla. This virus was used to develop a vaccine with two major features: it did not need to be frozen, and it was easier to store, since the amount of liquid required was reduced to one quarter of that needed for the European vaccines. It was a variant of the Rosembuch vaccine from Argentina, which, in turn, was a modified version of the Wallman vaccine from Germany.

The Mexican vaccine was developed with the help of Argentinian and Brazilian experts, most notably Drs Rosembuch, Blonck and Silvio Torres. Experts from the United States did not join the project until later. In the course of this collaboration, veterinary scientists from several parts of the world began to exchange ideas; this was repeated throughout the period. Mexican veterinarians were becoming part of an international community, sharing a common body of knowledge.

The Commission for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Supported by funds, principally from the United States, the Mexican- American Commission for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease-- Comisi6n Mexico-Americana para la Erradicaci6n de la Fiebre Aftosa-- was formed in January 1947. 2 It was estimated that the cost of a programme to eliminate 50 per cent of Mexico's cattle would be between 50 and 100 million dollars2 The campaign officially began in May 1947, when the first 9 million dollars was received from Washington.

Through the use of the "sanitary rifle", some 2,000 head of cattle were destroyed in a little less than a year. 4 Boundaries were drawn between free zones and infected zones; the latter were subdivided into smaller

2 Trilez Gir6n, Alfredo, "Iniciaci6n del brote de fiebre aftosa en Mrxico e investigaciones llevadas a cabo durante los afios 1946 y 1952", Revista Veterinaria, IX, Suppl. 1 (August 1978), pp. 31-37. 3 Torres, B., "Hacia la Utopia Industrial", op. cit., p. 255. 4 Ibid. , p. 260.


areas, with one Mexican and one American veterinarian overseeing each area. They conducted control and inspection visits to farms. The campaign of eradication required, among other things, that new laboratories be established and existing ones enlarged. It was necessary to reorganise the livestock institute, the Instituto Pecuario, which was renamed the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Pecuarias (National Institute for Livestock Research). Some of the funds made available for the campaign were used to purchase research equipment; as a result "Mexico received the newest equipment, the latest available for laboratories"?

The new institutional arrangements were useful for research not only on foot-and-mouth disease, but on other infectious diseases, such as anaplasmosis, rabies and brucellosis. The Mexican veterinarians who took part in these projects were widely appreciated for the value of their contributions to this research.

Although the laboratories of the National Institute for Livestock Research were used as the headquarters for the project, other centres had to be opened for the production of aluminium hydroxide, which was used to cultivate the virus and to test the potency of the vaccines? The gradual development of the vaccine allowed the use of the "sanitary rifle" to be replaced by a large-scale vaccination campaign, which began in November 1947. In the years which followed, 52.5 million doses were produced, and 17 million animals were inoculated. 7

The eradication campaign finally ended in 1952, and only then did the United States lift the ban on Mexican livestock. President Miguel Alem~in, in his last state-of-the-union address, spoke in gratitude of the 66 persons, both military and civilian, including seven Americans, who had died during the campaign. (It later appeared that the number of dead was much higher).

In 1954, when the epidemic seemed definitely to have been overcome, there was another outbreak in Martinez de la Torre, Veracruz. Since the necessary institutions already existed, it was easy to bring into action an entire laboratory and to develop a vaccine in the locality of the infection. The new outbreak might have occurred because wild animals in the area had become infected; in any event, the problem was easily controlled.

Once the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease had been brought under control, the federal government undertook to rebuild the country's livestock by establishing "promotion centres", the Centros de Fomento. s

The Consequences of the Epidemic for Veterinarians

The struggle to overcome the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease opened a new phase in the history of Mexican veterinarians. It demon-

Interview with a veterinarian who worked on the research which produced a vaccine. 6 Ibid. 7 Torres, B., "Hacia la Utopia Industrial". op. cit., p. 268. See also SAG-SEP, Mdxico a

tray,s de las informes presidenciales, Vol. VII (1976), pp. 259-261. s Interview with a former director of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

148 Larissa Adler Lornnitz and Leticia Mayer

strated the practical value of their profession and, in turn, won them improved institutional support, higher salaries and social esteem. The most important consequence was that it provided them with new scientific knowledge; it made scientists of empirical animal-doctors as a result of their contact with the foreign veterinarians who came to Mexico to assist in the campaign. These connections fostered a new era of scientific development and research for Mexican veterinarians, and enabled them to become members of the international community of veterinarians. The epidemic precipitated the emergence of new lines of research, related to the latest advances in virology and pathology; the curriculum for the training of veterinarians was transformed in this direction.

The epidemic also increased the number of places for veterinarians in the civil service. The Underministry of Livestock, created only days before the official acknowledgment of the epidemic, provided them with many appointments. At the same time, their salaries increased signifi- cantly. Whereas before the epidemic they had earned around 300 pesos per month, afterwards they received monthly salaries, on average, of 2,400 pesos. 9 This was the case both for those who had worked on the front line of the campaign, and for those who had worked in laboratories.

The first college of veterinary surgeons, the Colegio de M6dicos Veterinarios, was founded and began to influence the status of the profession. The epidemic encouraged veterinarians and enabled them, for the first time, to deal as a profession with the state. This was an important advance. The campaign itself, the development of the vaccine, and-- finally--success in controlling the foot-and-mouth epidemic had long- lasting effects on the substance and standing of veterinary medicine in Mexico. The epidemic heightened the collective self-conciousness of Mexicans veterinarians, just as the agrarian reform had done among agronomists. Veterinarians now saw themselves as having an important position and opportunities in society.

The Evolution of the National University

In 1946, the number of veterinarians was very small and was growing only slowly. The School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry at the National University was the only such school in the country. The class of 1946 had 18 graduates. When the epidemic became known, classes were suspended. Teachers and students in the later years of the programme joined the campaign against foot-and-mouth disease and were given prominent roles. On 7 March, 1947, classes resumed, although most teachers were still working actively in the campaign, and those who had remained behind were performing administrative duties related to it or were conducting research. By 1952, when the disease had been eradi- cated, the number in the graduates' class had risen to fifty.

9 Ibid.


The school still had no full-time staff; all teachers, including its director were part-time lecturers. In 1953, the school began to appoint professors on a full-time basis. This strengthened research, particularly in virology and pathology, the two fields that had acquired prominence through work on foot-and-mouth disease. Those doing the research took a new approach to veterinary medicine. They were to have much influence on the profession.

The efforts to control and eradicate the epidemic changed not only the veterinary profession, but also the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry. After the epidemic, classes were held in virology, infectious diseases and veterinary public health. Research in virology received the most attention.

The profession of veterinary medicine had gained immensely in its intellectual capacity, not least through its new foreign connections. These were further enhanced through agreements with international bodies, the first step being the opening of an office of the Rockefeller Foundation in 1950 in Mexico City. The foundation's Office of Special Studies was housed in the same building as the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. Similarly, members of the research staff of the National Institute of Livestock Research received Rockefeller Foundation scholarships for foreign training. Once they had their graduate degrees, they were expected to return to teach at the National University. Those who became professors attracted groups of students who formed "intellectual circles", with much influence in government and in the academic world.

Industrialisation and Changes in Consumption: The Emergence of Veterin- ary Technocrats and Their Relationship with the Government

After the Second World War, important new developments occurred in Mexican economic life. Traditional family firms were gradually displaced by large corporations, by multinational firms, and by the state itself which became active economically, both nationally and internationaUy. 1~

As a result of industrialisation and the accompanying rise in the standard of living in the 1960s, the urban population, which had increased disproportionally, demanded more animal protein--milk, meat and eggs. 11 In animal husbandry, the numbers of cattle increased, as well as those of smaller animals, and this led to increased production of grain for balanced animal feeds such as sorghum, barley and soybeans; for example, the production of barley grew by 160 per cent? 2 In this period, the production of cattle increased by 38 per cent, of pigs by 77 per cent,

10 Lomnitz, L. and P6rez-Lizaur, M., A Mexican Elite Family, 1820-1980 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987). 11 Ser6, Carlos and Jarvis, Lovell S., "Livestock Economy and Forest Destruction", in

Downing, Theodores et al. (eds), Development or Destruction (Oxford: Westview Press, 1992), p. 97. 12 Estadlsticas Hist6ricas de M~xico, 1986.


and of poultry by 94 per cent. In contrast, the cultivation of basic grains decreased sharply? 3 From 1970 to 1979, the output of beans increased by 5 per cent, rice by 10 per cent, wheat by 3 per cent, and corn by 50 per cent.

The School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry from 1965 to 1973

The National Autonomous University of Mexico was founded in 1920 by Justo Sierra. Its location and buildings have changed over the years, as have the numbers of students and professors. The schools and faculties of the university were transferred, between 1951 and 1955, to what is now the University Campus.

The student body and the teaching staff grew rapidly in the 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, they grew even more rapidly as the population of Mexico City grew. In 1956 there were some 38,000 students at the National University; by 1963, the number had increased to 75,000. By 1981, there were more than 300,000 students, of whom 155,000 were undergraduates. There were 32,874 teachers. In the previous decade, it is estimated that enrolment in the university had doubled every four years. 14

The School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry shared in this rapid growth. In 1955, when it was moved to the University Campus, 71 first-year students entered the school; by 1965, 1,456 students matricu- lated and, ten years later, in 1975, there were 2,337 new students? 5

In the 1970s, the school was gradually affected by several external events, although these had occurred some years before. First--a consequence of the efforts to deal with foot-and-mouth epidemic--was the training in research. Women veterinarians were among the few veterinarians who had remained at the school during the years of the campaign against foot-and-mouth disease. They made a considerable contribution to teaching and research and had begun to form circles with shared academic perspectives. The heads of these circles were two women who, through their work, were highly esteemed, both nationally and internationally. They were leaders in their profession within the university. For many years they had great influence in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry, both because they dominated the governing body of the faculty, and because they were founder members of the Academy of Veterinary Medicine--the Academia de Medicina Veterinaria.

Second, the changes in diet accompanying higher incomes increased the demand for specialists in animal breeding and husbandry, that is, in the

13 Ibid. 14 P6rez Correa, Fernando, "La Universidad: Contradicciones y perspectivas", Foro

Internacional, X I V (1974), pp. 386, 400. Data taken from report of 1981. 15 Carranza de Mendoza, Octavio Javier Angel, "Anfflisis cuantitativo de las tesis

realizadas en la FMVZ de la UNAM entre 1916 y 1980", doctoral thesis, UNAM, Mexico City, 1982.


mass production of animals. By the 1960s, the two buildings that housed the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry proved insufficient. Early in 1965, construction began on the buildings that now house the school on the University Campus. In this period, four of the 14 units were built: the large species clinic; the main building, which now houses the administration and the department of pathology, including the department's autopsy unit; the buildings used for studying poultry, pigs and small species; and the classrooms and laboratories.

The changes were also fostered by other factors. The most important was the Programme for Technical Co-operation, carried out with the financial support of the United Nations Development Programme by the Food and Agriculture Organisation. The purpose of the project was to improve education and research in veterinary medicine. International financial support provided the school with experts in different fields. During the five years of the programme, scholarships were given for students to pursue specialiscd courses of study, and master's and doctoral degrees in foreign universities. Additional funds permitted the purchase of new equipment. 16

As had happened with similar agreements with bodies such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the project with the Food and Agriculture Organisation improved the undergraduate curriculum. The selection of recipients for scholarships and, in general, support for research which implied favouring some topics over others, were closely linked with students' abilities and initiative, which had both academic as well as political components. The discernment and later recruitment of outstanding students generally occurred in the first terms of the undergraduate programme. The most active students, both academically and politically, had the best chances of success.

In the School of Veterinary Medicine, several groups of teachers competed to attract the best qualified students to their respective groups. Each group was normally headed by an outstanding individual, a director or former director of the school, or someone whose academic work had been generally acknowledgedwas was the case of those doing research who had formed "intellectual circles". The director's powers included control over the benefits that could be offered to students, and this consolidated academic and political loyalties. In the 1960s, these benefits included scholarships for study abroad. A student's loyalty to his or her academic leader was expressed in asking the leader to be thesis super- visor, in working diligently in the leader's laboratory, being available for any task or request, and supporting the leader, inside and outside the university.

In the course of the 1960s, the school became fertile ground for the emergence of experts, most of them recruited either by the "intellectual

~60teiza Fernfindez, Jos6, "Historia de la zootecnia mundial", Revista Veterinaria, IX, Suppl. 1 (August 1978), p. 68.


circles" if the leader leaned more towards academic matters, or by the director, if a student also possessed the capacity to be a political leader. Hence, with different records of achievement and different inclinations, some more academic than political, outstanding students emerged. Through their close contact either with one of the two intellectual circles or with the director of the school, these students were chosen to study abroad. They went to the United States, Canada and Great Britain, where their academic training later enabled them either to do research or to become administrators of standing in the government bureaucracy.

Two different types of leader emerged in veterinary studies. Some were more inclined towards research at the National Institute of Livestock Research and other institutes or at the School of Veterinary Medicine itself, while others engaged more in political and administrative activities.

The Crisis in the Relations Between University and Government

Members of the new technical professions in the various fields increasingly attempted to become civil servants. No longer only economists, but also specialists from many other fields sought positions which had previously been held by traditional politicians, many of whom had been trained in law schools.

As early as 1963, an informal group of university graduates called the "technicians" had sought to participate in decision-making within the civil service, and economists had begun to be important in Mexican politics. The new "technicians" did not displace the professional politicians from their influential positions, but they had sufficient strength to create a tense situation.

From the second half of the 1960s, governmental policy became increasingly intolerant of explicit criticism and of implied criticism as well. One instance was the violent repression of the student movement in 1968. For an obscure, apparently trivial reason, the army violated the university's autonomy. On 2 October, 1968, a rally of 1,500 persons was held at the Tlatelolco housing complex in the university's grounds; the demon- strators were attacked by soldiers, leaving 300 dead and several hundred injured. 17

So serious was the conflict and such was the ability of the members of the new technical professions to challenge the system that, beginning in 1970, the new president of the republic, Luis Echeverria, went to great lengths to visit all universities outside Mexico City and to meet the students. The president initiated a series of reforms through the so-called "democratic opening", with the purpose of solving the problems raised by the movement of 1968. His administration sought to give the Mexican

17 Garcia Salord, Susana, "El Proceso de refuncionalizaci6n de la UNAM despu6s del coniticto del 68", master's thesis, UNAM, Mexico City, 1985.


state a new image. TM The government was prepared to reformulate its relationship with the university, by encouraging teachers and students to co-operate in solving the country's most important problems. This attitude could be seen in the changes in professors' salaries: in 1971, salaries were increased between 33 and 58 per cent. TM

New Approaches to the Veterinary Profession

From 1965, as a result of the agreement with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, plans were made to introduce a doctoral programme and raise the status of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry to that of a faculty. It was hoped that the school would be improved through the appointment of veterinarians with experience of graduate studies abroad, which would in turn encourage graduate studies within Mexico. At the National University, schools can only award undergraduate degrees, whereas faculties can award master's and doctoral degrees. This difference is important because the establish- ment of master's and doctoral programmes would enable veterinarians to acquire higher academic status, but also enable more research to be done. The school was granted the status of a faculty on 28 November, 1969.

When veterinarians returned from doctoral studies abroad, they were appointed as full-time professors. (One former director of the faculty reported that when he became director, the number of professors was 112, approximately 13 of whom were on full-time appointments. When he left in 1973 there were 120 professors, 65 of whom worked full time.) In addition, the leading figures in the group who had studied abroad as graduates became heads of the departments, clinics and secretariats of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandrymthe last four directors of the faculty belonged to this group of professors who had studied abroad. These leaders determined curricular changes and assigned administrative positions in the faculty, and eventually exercised an influence in the university.

From 1970, with the return of the veterinarians who had studied abroad, two approaches to veterinary work began to emerge. On the one hand, there was the approach of a group, pejoratively called the "masters", who adopted attitudes and plans for research different from those of the group who had worked mostly in the field or on farms and in direct contact with animals. The latter were called "corral workers". Although no veterinarian would have claimed to be either a "master" or a "corral worker", a division began to develop between those with

18 Labastida, Julio, "El r6gimen de Echeverria, perspectiva de cambio en la estrategia del desarollo y e n la estructura de poder", in Revista Mexicana de Sociologia (July-December 1972). Quoted in Zermefio, Sergio, M~xico: Una democracia Ut6pica, Vol. XXI (Mexico, 1978), p. 65. 19 Ibid., p. 66.


graduate degrees and those without them. A group of professors arose who spent their time in research, teaching and academic administration. They accumulated diplomas and were interested in veterinary science, and no less with status, in contrast to the practical down-to-earth veterinarians who did fieldwork and had no interest in joining any professional organisation. In this manner, many of the veterinarians who returned with graduate degrees from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Holland, Japan, etc., attempted to apply the knowledge which they had acquired abroad in Mexico. They tried to adapt it to what they conceived to be the country's needs. They entered associations of specialists which offered specialised courses to bring the "corral workers" up to date. Through their associations they also tried to influence government. They became a new element in Mexican society.

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry at the National University not only provided the leaders of the profession with academic and political training; it also served as a place of meeting and relaxation. All these leading veterinarians have shown an interest in maintaining contact with the university, which functions as a "breeding ground" for new leaders. The new research groups of veterinarians even today continue within the faculty to do research devoted, especially, to five fields: production (meat and milk, eggs, wool and honey); reproduc- tion; diseases, their pathogeny and diagnosis; toxicology and genetic improvement; and nutrition, forage and systems of food production.

Those engaged in research projects within the faculty are professors who teach both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. 2~ At the undergraduate level, the system of studies is oriented to training and teaching scientific topics and the more general techniques used in the profession, without delving into veterinary research. Research is carried out only in graduate courses. At this level, the curriculum is designed so that dissertations deal with problems of advanced veterinary medicine.

Within the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry, there is now a group of research workers who train others to do research. At present, there are 503 persons working on 125 research projects. In 1993, of all directors of research, 34.8 per cent had master's degrees and 9 per cent had doctorates. In this same group, 26 belonged to the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores---the national society of research workers which selects Mexico's main research workers31

Technicians in the Government and the Associations of Specialists

After the crisis of the student movement of 1968, Mexican presidents made studied efforts to establish good relations with the universities.

20 De Aluja, Aline S., La investigaci6n cienufica en la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia de la UNAM (Mexico City: FMVZ-UNAM, 1993), pp. 1-2. 21 Paasch Martinez, Leopoldo, Informe de Labores, 1990 (Mexico City: FMVZ-UNAM,

1990), p. 17.


Meanwhile veterinarians began to increase their already large and diversified presence in the civil service and the service began to grow; many veterinarians held more than one appointment. ~ In 1967, 39.2 per cent of veterinarians were in the civil service, whereas the remaining 60.2 per cent worked in the private sector. However, by 1976, 86.6 per cent of veterinarians worked in the civil service; 18 per cent worked in both the private and public sectors. The percentage of veterinarians working in the public sector had more than doubled since 1967. 23

Up to 1968, only 39 veterinarians had graduated from universities abroad; seven years later, in 1975, the number had increased to 250. In the same year, about 50 were studying abroad. 24 A more international outlook and wider technical knowledge resulted. Several specialists who were appointed to the civil service influenced farm policies in fields such as the public distribution of milk, and the rearing and control of large animals, pigs and poultry. They influenced these new policies not only from their positions as government officials, but also by founding private associations of specialists who provided consultative services for the government.

In 1964, a group of veterinarians engaged in research and enjoying much prestige in the profession informally organised themselves in order to promote scientific veterinary research, in the National Institute for Livestock Research as well as in the university. This group constituted itself and gained recognition as the Academia de Medicina Veterinaria-- the Academy of Veterinary Medicine; its speciality was the promotion of research.

In 1970, when the World Veterinary Medicine Congress was held in Mexico, specialised associations were formed by persons active in various fields of veterinary medicine. The three leading associations resulting from their efforts were associations of veterinary specialists in pigs, poultry and cattle. Their founders had pursued graduate studies abroad, and shared the belief that veterinary medicine and animal husbandry should focus on the production of animal-based food rather than on the medical aspects of the profession. They demanded that more specialists in the production of foodstuffs be trained, and they transmitted their knowledge to colleagues who had not studied abroad. These changes were reflected in the forms that have developed in present-day veterinary research.

Starting with the small group formed around the Academy of Veterin- ary Medicine, the professors and research workers of the Faculty of

22 By 1978, this applied to 41 per cent of veterinarians. Oteiza, F.J., "Historia de la zootecnia mundial", op. cit., p. 79.

Data from surveys by the National Institute of Livestock Research in August 1967 and by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1976. 24 Villasefior, Luis, "Estudio comparativo de las caracteristicas psicomotoras y anat-

ofisiol6gicas de los grneros cremaster masium y corraleros vulgaris: Una divisi6n gremial en serio, examinada en broma", Porcirama (Mexico, 1976).


Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry have become a genuine community which applies established knowledge, seeks new knowledge of practical relevance and maintains frequent contact with the international veterinary community. For example, members of the faculty presented papers at two international congresses in The Hague. Since 1990, the faculty has conducted joint research programmes with the College of Veterinary Medicine of Texas A&M University and with the University of Arizona. ~ In addition, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Swedish Foundation for the Sciences continue to support Mexican veterinary research? 6

The results of their research projects are published in national journals such the Veterinaria M~xico, which is listed in most international indexes. The other Mexican organ for disseminating the research work of veterinarians is T~cnica Agropecuaria. The work of Mexican veterinarians is also published in journals such as the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, and Ci~ncias Rurais: Revista cientifica do centro de Ci~ncias rurais, among others, which points to the stable link with veterinarians in other countries.

Veterinarians in a Diversified Labour Market

Since the 1980s, veterinarians have ceased to be employed only by government and in the universities. They have also entered private business in various fields, but mostly in animal breeding and husbandry. Since that decade, the Mexican government has tried to reduce the size of the civil service. In more recent years, the serious economic crisis and the neo-liberal policies followed by the president have tended to reduce the size of the civil service and to stimulate private enterprise.

In 1989, the president dosed down the Underministry of Livestock, which had been a preferred place of employment for veterinarians who were leaders within the profession. This change has had repercussions on the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry. Students are now being trained to work in small- and medium-sized agricultural enterprises and as small-scale producers and marketers of products of high-quality, such as cheese and sausages. The qualifications of veterinarians has changed, as has the curriculum of the faculty.

The work of veterinarians has accordingly become more diversified. There are now veterinarians who attend to the household pets of the urban middle class or who deal with larger animals destined to serve as foodstuffs. There are veterinarians who do scientific work, others who are employed as administrators for small food companies, or who work in the civil service, including those in charge of policy. Finally, some veterinarians become small-scale independent producers of animal products.

25 Paasch Martinez, L., Informe de Labores, 1990, op cit., p. 17. 26 De Aluja, A.S., La investigacion cientifica, op. cir., p. 2.


Conclusion

Foot-and-mouth disease was the event which led to the increased and improved training of veterinarians able to produce through their research new veterinary knowledge for practical application.

It led to the transformation of the Mexican veterinary profession. It changed the kind of knowledge veterinarians received at university, and it also changed the work they did as professionals. Veterinarians gradually began to perform a much wider range of tasks: they did research, taught, worked as civil servants, or assumed positions as academic administrators and as high governmental officials with a large amount of influence on governmental agricultural activities. They also engaged directly in animal husbandry and in food production.

In parallel with these changes, the National University, and within it the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry, underwent a concomitant series of changes which ran hand-in-hand with the growth of the Mexican state. The university provided training for specialised research workers by offering scholarships and programmes of graduate study. This consolidated the activities of an academic community working on applied veterinary medicine. The beneficiaries of these efforts take part in and influence, to varying degrees, the planning and programming of agricultural policies in a way that would not formerly have been possible.

Veterinary medicine and animal husbandry in Mexico: From empiricism to science and technology

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