NAIS Issues
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=8979726&content_dir=ua_congressorg
Everyone, my pulished article on the NAIS, on www.Congress.org has been read more than 2000 times, in less than 2 weeks running. ~ Dean A. Ayers, Glenwood, Iowa - DeanOSI@wmconnect.com
Someone, in the Nation, is interested in NAIS, and the reasons, Against it!
Soapbox Alert: Animal Identification System is Exactly the "Wrong" Answer!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Iowans_Against_NAIS/
Do you know about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) that the
government is working on implementing?
NAIS is a system that the USDA is proposing to identify all livestock in the
United States and also identify all premises (locations with any livestock or
pets).
This includes all birds, sheep, cows, pigs, horses, llamas and many other
animals. The NAIS regulations can also be easily amended by the USDA to include
any and all animals and pets of any kind, to include your dog or cat, and caged
birds, like parrots.
The stated goal is to be able to have 48 hour trace back of all meats from the
consumer to the farm where the animal originated incase of illness or
contamination. The actual goal appears to be total "control" of the food chain
by the government, all the way from farm to fork.
1) They are including livestock sold directly from small farms to the end
consumer where there is already 100% track back in much less than 48 hours. If
you buy locally from the source you know exactly where your food came from.
2) They are snaring homesteaders by including even livestock you might keep for
your own consumption. The government is implementing huge "non-compliance" fines
if you don't report your backyard flock of chickens, your summer feeder pig,
your lawn mowing sheep, etc. This will take away your right to raise your own
source of eggs, meat and wool.
3) They are including animals that are not in the food supply such as pets like
horses, llamas, etc that are not intended for consumption.
Under the plan every single animal must be identified. Any births, deaths and
movements on or off the farm will be required to be logged and reported to the
government. If you take your sheep to a show you will have to track their
location and submit paperwork to the government. If you go for a trail ride with
your horse you will have to report that to the government. If your pig has
piglets you'll have to report that and then if some of those piglets die or you
eat one you'll have to report that.
Pretty soon after that the government is going to want to charge a consumption
tax every time you eat one of your own animals. After all, unless you buy all
your food then you're not paying sales tax, you're not helping the Gross
Domestic Product grow, you're not paying your share. You think I'm joking? You
are required by law to pay taxes on any barters you do. It is only a tiny step
from that law and NAIS to a tax on every chicken, every egg, every pig, every
sheep, etc. Then they'll go for your tomatoes and carrots. (No, I am definitely
not paranoid enough.)
All this identification, tattooing, labeling, tagging, micro-chipping, RFID
equipment and paper work is going to cost money. Who do you think is going to
pay? You! That's who. NAIS will increase the cost of food both to those who
raise it and for consumers at the farmer's market and at the supermarket. This
is going to require more government bureaucracy to manage which will eventually
lead to more fees and taxes collected by the government to manage a system
tracking your life and making it ever more expensive.
Under the plan the government requires you to track the animal movements as well
as your premise location (your home) with GPS and address coordinates. All
animal locations and movements must be logged and reported under penalty of
confiscation and fines. Furthermore the USDA will not guarantee to keep the
information confidential because of the Freedom of Information Act. This means
that radical animal rights groups (like E-ll-F and Pee.Ee.Tee.Ah a.k.a. Pet-ah)
will be able to find out exactly where you live and precisely what you have for
animals. These terrorist groups have already attacked farms and destroyed
property killing people and animals. Now they'll have even more data to use
figuring out who to target. Lovely.
Will this give us any better security? No. Almost all of the cases of food born
illness and recalls are caused by contamination at the slaughter house, packing
plant and further along the chain of supply. Perhaps this sort of thing is a
good idea on the large scale producers, the factory farms, the big slaughter
houses. It is not needed in our back yards and homesteads. It is not necessary
for small farms selling direct to the consumer or other end users. It is
certainly beyond reason for non-food pets.
Virtually all of the remaining cases of food born illness like Mad Cow and the
like are the product of bad practices like feeding animals back to their own
species and over crowding. These are problems that are not related to the small
farms, the homesteaders and the backyard flocks. NAIS won't solve these
problems. Furthermore, Mad Cow, to take the government's favorite scarecrow, is
something that takes years to decades to infect. A 48 hour trace back is going
to do diddley-squat.
At the very least NAIS should allow exemptions for pets, homesteaders, backyard
flocks and small farms that sell direct to the end user. These groups already
have better than 48 hour track back and are not the threat. The threat is big
agri-businesses, "factory farms" that lock millions of animals in cages and
generate ideal conditions for disease to run wild through animals with
suppressed immune systems and antibiotics in their feed. These are the
corporations that grind up cows and feed them back to the cows. They are the
ones that routinely feed antibiotics to their livestock producing new strains of
drug resistant super-germs. They are the ones generating enormous mountains of
waste and pollution the taints the air and the water. They are the problem. If
they are so gung-ho for NAIS then let them implement it for themselves.
NAIS will lead to more centralization of our food supply and bigger government.
The big corporations that already control too much of our food supply will
control even more of it. More control over the system of production by fewer
corporations and individuals is a threat to our nation. This is the last thing
we need. What we need is decentralized local production to ensure the safety of
our food supply.
If all our food comes from a few sources then it is in great danger for
everyone.
If our food comes from many small localized farms then we have greater national
food security.
In summary, We the People, have a Right to Bear "FARMS."
NAIS is exactly the wrong answer.
Dean A. Ayers
Glenwood, Iowa
DeanOSI@wmconnect.com
IOWANS AGAINST THE NATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (NAIS)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Iowans_Against_NAIS/
Take Action Now!
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=8979726&content_dir=ua_congressorg