[Jacob-list] Fw: [ohiocafos] BUSH'S WAR AGAINST SMALL FARMS

[Mary Spahr]

Micro-chipping our laying flock of chickens or even our sheep seems preposterous!


BUSH'S WAR AGAINST SMALL FARMS

DAILY KOS - Poultry fanciers and keepers of small flocks are facing a grave threat from a proposed government intrusion into their innocent choice of pastimes and way of life. For several years, the USDA has been working with the largest-scale animal industry organizations (for example, the National Pork Producers, Monsanto Company, and Cargill Meat) to develop a mandatory "National Animal Identification System".

However, most small scale livestock producers, people who raise animals for their own food, and people who keep horses or livestock as companion animals do not know about the USDA's plans.

The NAIS will drive small producers out of the market, will make people abandon raising animals for their own food, will invade Americans' personal privacy to a degree never before tolerated, will violate the religious freedom of Americans whose beliefs make it impossible for  them to comply, and will erase the last vestiges of animal welfare from the production of animal foods. . .

Every person who owns even one horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep, pigeon, or virtually any livestock animal, will be forced to register their home, including owner's name, address, and telephone number, and keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates for satellite monitoring, in a giant federal database under a 7-digit "premises ID number." . . .

Every animal will have to be assigned a 15-digit ID number, also to be kept in a giant federal database. The form of ID will most likely be a tag or microchip containing a Radio Frequency Identification Device, designed to be read from a distance. . .

The plan may also include collecting the DNA of every animal and/or a retinal scan of every animal. . .

The owner will be required to report: the birthdate of an animal, the application of every animal's ID tag, every time an animal leaves or
enters the property, every time an animal loses a tag, every time a tag is replaced, the slaughter or death of an animal, or if any animal is missing.  Such events must be reported within 24 hours. . .

Third parties, such as veterinarians, will be required to report "sightings" of animals. In other words, if you call a vet to your property to treat your horse, cow, or any other animal, and the vet finds any animal without the mandatory 15-digit computer-readable ID, the vet may be required to report you. . .

If you do not comply, the USDA will exercise "enforcement" against you. The USDA has not yet specified the nature of "enforcement," but
presumably it will include imposing fines and/or seizing your animals. There are no exceptions -- under the USDA plan, you will be forced to register and report even if you raise animals only for your own food or keep horses for draft or for transportation. . .

Eradication of Small Farms - People with just a few meat animals or 40-cow dairies are already living on the edge financially.  The USDA
plan will force many of them to give up farming.

The NAIS is touted by the USDA and agricorporations as a way to make our food supply "secure" against diseases or terrorism.  However, most people instinctively understand that real food security comes from raising food yourself or buying from a local farmer you actually know. The USDA plan will only kill off more local sources of production and further promote the giant industrial methods which cause many food safety and disease problems.

Extreme Damage to Personal Privacy - Legally, livestock animals are a form of personal property.  It is unprecedented for the United States government to conduct large-scale computer-aided surveillance of its citizens simply because they own a common type of property.  (The only exceptions are registration of motor vehicles and guns, due to their clear inherent dangers - but they are registered at the state level, not by the federal government.) The NAIS would actually subject the owner of a chicken to far more surveillance than the owner of a gun. Surveillance of small-scale livestock owners is like the government subjecting people to surveillance for owning a couch, a TV, a lawnmower.


Will the government next want to register all cats, dogs, and parakeets, and demand the global positioning coordinates of their owners' houses and apartments?

 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/17/01223/213




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS 

  a..  Visit your group "ohiocafos" on the web.
    
  b..  To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
   ohiocafos-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
    
  c..  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20051019/dfb70c21/attachment.html