[Jacob-list] New USDA mandatory program

[Neal and Louise Grose]

There are a few things you need to be aware of:
* This FDA rule came out of the initial push for Country of Origin Labeling 
(COOL) a number of years ago. The legislation was passed by congress, and 
then FDA bureaucracy got a-hold of it. Since then, it has been opposed by 
the beef industry because it would involve so dang much paper work. The 
dairy industry is already doing much of what is required.
* One of the chief problems initially is that the information would have 
been kept by the government, and would therefore have been subject to 
Freedom of Information Act probes. The current proposal has the information 
storage and handling contracted out to the Holstein Association and a beef 
cattle organization to prevent any body who pleases from looking up 
information on individual farms.
* We thought we had pretty much put a stop to this altogether until those 
two cows with BSE showed up. Now it is pretty much a given that something 
will happen. It should not be much beyond what is currently required for the 
scrapie program. As far as I know, the most current rules are very much like 
the mandatory scrapie program where animals that are not tagged at the farm 
must be tagged before they leave the trailer at the stockyard.

Neal Grose
North Carolina

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ARTHUR PARTRIDGE" <aztreaz at earthlink.net>
To: "jacob-list" <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 12:17 AM
Subject: [Jacob-list] New USDA mandatory program


>
> Why You Should Oppose the USDA's Mandatory Property and Animal 
> Surveillance
> Program
> http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml
>
> by Mary Zanoni, Ph.D. (Cornell), J.D. (Yale), Executive Director of Farm 
> for
> LifeTM
> P.O. Box 501, Canton, New York 13617
> Telephone: 315-265-2800 Email: <mailto:mlz at slic.com> mlz at slic.com
>
> 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" ("NAIS").
> 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.
> The Problem
> On April 25, 2005, the USDA released "Draft Program Standards" ("St.") and 
> a
> "Draft Strategic Plan" ("Plan") concerning the NAIS. If you think the
> description below sounds too bizarre to be true, please go to 
> usda.gov/nais,
> read the Standards and Plan, and check the citations.
> By January 1, 2008, the NAIS will be mandatory. (Plan, pp. 2, 10, 17.)
> 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." (St., pp. 3-4, 10-12; Plan,
> p. 5.)
> 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. (Plan, p. 10; St., pp. 6, 12, 20, 27-28.) The plan
> may also include collecting the DNA of every animal and/or a retinal scan 
> of
> every animal. (Plan, p.13.)
> 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. (St., pp. 12-13, 17-21.)
> Third parties, such as veterinarians, will be required to report 
> "sightings"
> of animals. (St., p. 25.) 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.
> (St., p. 7; Plan, p. 17.) 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.
> The Negative Effects
> 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.
> Loss of the True Security of Organic and Local Foods - 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.
>
>
>
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