No Mandatory Animal ID

Animal ID opponents gaining steam

Another rebellion is brewing across the hinterland. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has targeted ranchers, farmers, horse owners, homesteaders, organic gardeners and chicken-owning grandmas for participation in a new National Animal Identification System. The targets are unhappy and are organizing to see that the USDA cannot force participation in this new high-tech government program.

Sen. Jim Talent and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, both from Missouri, have introduced legislation in both chambers that will prohibit the USDA from imposing a "mandatory" animal identification program on livestock owners. The bills will also prohibit the use of federal funds to support any state program that mandates participation.

The USDA and the promoters of the NAIS are furious. The American Farm Bureau Federation, in particular, has been a strong supporter of the program. But many individual Farm Bureau members, and some county and state organizations, oppose a mandatory program and are supporting the Talent-Emerson bills. There has been more than casual talk about widespread defections from the Farm Bureau because of the national association's support for the program.

The National Cattle and Beef Association is also concerned about losing members because of the association's outspoken support for NAIS. NCBA's response to the introduction of the Talent-Emerson bills was considerably less caustic than was the American Farm Bureau Federation's. NCBA's recent increase in membership fees and the emergence of the competitive R-CALF organization were already causing concern about member loyalty for the NCBA leadership. According to a congressional staffer (who must remain anonymous in order to keep his job), the NCBA folks are softening their position on NAIS.

The grass-roots community is ramping up its opposition to the NAIS and generating support for the Talent-Emerson bills.

Yes, the people can make a difference. It seems to be unusual in this day and age but it happens. Keep writing the Senators and Congressmen and state officials. Let them know how unhappy you are about this. Quit those organizations that support it and join organizations that oppose it. Our message is starting to get through. Keep the pressure up.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it does organize people to oppose it.

Posted by Sarpy Sam in Opinion Piece at 04:44 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

NAIS to deal with BSE not A-OK

Shortly after another "mad cow" was discovered in Alabama, there was a rash of articles in the press citing the event as convincing evidence that the USDA's National Animal Identification System should move forward as quickly as possible. Nowhere did any of the articles mention that the NAIS will do nothing to prevent, control or even slow the disease. (emphasis added)

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, widely known as "mad cow disease," is a chronic, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle. BSE takes years to develop in cattle, not days or weeks. Moreover, the disease is not contagious. The USDA says: "It's important to note that [BSE and related diseases] are not communicable diseases – they do not spread easily like viruses."

If this disease, promoted as justification for the NAIS program, is not contagious, why, then, is it necessary for the USDA to construct this massive program to register every premises that houses any farm animal, tag each animal with an electronic monitoring chip, and track every off-premises movement of every animal through a centralized database?

This is the same question I have been asking. Why do we need this massive invasion of our privacy for a non-communicable disease that isn't a problem, by the USDA's own admission, in the US? I think this answer's it.

The corporate giants who dominate the major trade associations, pay expensive lobbyists and fill the campaign coffers of politicians are the real instigators of the NAIS. These are the only people who will benefit from this program by streamlining their vertical integration of the marketplace. In the end, it is the consumer who will pay the increased costs at the supermarket.

Same thing I have been saying, the big meat packers are going to be the big winners here. They are using the money from their bank accounts to buy the USDA officials and politicians they need to get this instigated for their benefit and to the detriment of consumers and producers.

Where might this lead in the long run?

There is another, more serious negative effect. If the NAIS can be constructed to trace the origin of animal diseases that may threaten human life, why not use the system to trace human diseases that most certainly threaten human life? Why not require an electronic chip to be placed in every AIDS victim, or every flu victim, or every released felon? A system that can trace the movements of every animal in the nation could surely just as easily trace the movement of every person in the nation.

Don't laugh or think for a moment that there are not those who believe this kind of system would be a major improvement over the disorderly "freedom" that Americans enjoy. Political uproar would block the program in an instant were it being openly developed for people. But once the program is developed for animals, the next step is a very small step, indeed.

Again, the same thing I have said here before. It's just a small step to integrate this same system in the human population and control and monitor them the same way. Maybe this whole NAIS is a test run of the databases to perfect them for use in monitoring more mobile humans. Didn't think of that, did you? I know call me a conspiracy theorist. I'm just throwing out ideas, if they scare you that's your problem.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it could lead to tagging and controlling all of us.

Posted by Sarpy Sam in Opinion Piece at 05:48 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)