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The USDA and the Agrobiz giants have been crafting a national animal identification scheme that threatens the traditional
freedom of self sufficiency, the privacy of Americans, and the livelihood of organic farmers, and family farms. The National
Animal Identification System (NAIS) is the creation of the Agrobiz giants Monsanto, Cargill Meat, National Pork Producers,
and others to monopolize American food production using fear tactics to advance their agenda. The NAIS scheme was not created
by any act of congress. Rather, it is merely a presumptuous bureaucratic dictate.
The NAIS plan requires two types of mandatory registration for everyone who owns even just one ;livestock animal. Every
person who owns even just one horse, donkey, chicken, pigeon, goat, llama, sheep, pig, cow, alpaca, duck, farmed fish, etc.
must register their name, home address, telephone number and Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of their home in
a Federal database. Secondly, in order for any animal to leave its birth farm, the owner will be required to obtain a Federal
ID number for it which will be kept in a national data base and have the animal biochipped. Animals will have to be registered
if they leave the farm for any reason; to go on a trail ride, to go to a show or fair, to be bought or sold, to be bred by
a stud on another farm, or to be taken to the local butcher, or anywhere else. The most likely type of ID will be a bio-microchip
containing a low power radio transmitter so that the chips can be read from a distance. NAIS would allow industry to decide
if retinal scans and DNA samples would also be required. Of course large scale Agrobiz has exempted itself from individual
identification. (Agrobiz producers will be allowed to use one ID number for groups of hundreds or even thousands of animals
that are raised and processed together.)
Americans will be required to report every time an animal enters or leaves their property, every time an animal loses
a tag, every time a tag is replaced, the slaughter or death of an animal, or if an animal is missing. Such events must be
reported in 24 hours or owners would suffer an as yet unspecified penalty. Small family farms and organic farmers will be
driven out of business by the costs of premises registration fees, individual animal ID fees, event reporting fees, electronic
tags or chips, electronic readers, home computers, Internet access, phone service, and reporting software. According to the
USDA's plan all of these costs will be born by the animal owners.
NAIS might enhance Agrobizs export markets and allow tracing of animal movements to track disease outbreaks which is its
stated goal. But it will not make the American consumer safer. The most common type of meat contamination in the United States
is bacterial, such as E coli. and Listeria. It is not discovered until masses of people become ill. Since Agrobiz processes
meat in huge packing plants with thousands of animals being slaughtered a day, NAIS is useless to determine if the contamination
was from one animal, multiple animals, or unsanitary conditions at the packing plant itself. Contaminated meat from giant
Agrobiz processor is sent to all 50 states endangering millions of consumers simultaneously. On the other hand family farms,
organic farmers, and private citizens their animals in natural and healthy conditions because they are raising their animals
for themselves and their neighbors tables. When they are driven out of the market, Americas food supply will become less safe
not more so. The consolidation of Americas food supply by Agrobiz makes it more vulnerable to terrorists. As Americas meat
industry becomes a giant monopoly where all meat is processed in a few giant packing plants then it becomes easier for terrorists
to deliberately contaminate millions of pounds of meat in one attack.
I believe that many varieties of farm animals (not just rare breeds) will become extinct as individuals give up animal
raising rather than submit to all the required fees and bureaucracy or agree to having their home pinpointed by satellite
and their personal information put in a national database. The only animals that will survive will be those that Monsanto,
Cargill and company deem the most profitable.
The USDA's NAIS Timeline:
July, 2005: All States capable of premises registration.
July, 2005: Animal Identification Number system operational.
April, 2007: Premises registration and animal identification “alerts”.
January, 2008: Premises registration and animal identification required.
January, 2009: Reporting of defined animal movements required; entire program becomes mandatory.
I urge you to take immediate action in fighting the implementation of NAIS. Widespread objection by Americans can still
stop the implementation of NAIS or at least create exemptions for religious objectors, home breeders, and/or small scale farmers
and ranchers.
Please e-mail this posting to everyone that you know. Contact breed associations, organic and sustainable farming groups,
neighbors, and family and ask them to oppose NAIS. Ask them to organize letter writing campaigns to the USDA. Write to your
Federal and state legislators. Oppose any state level implementation of NAIS. (Some states such as Wisconsin are already implementing
NAIS registration and biochipping.)
In particular, the USDA’s planned issuance of a NAIS rule for public comment in July 2006 will be a crucial
juncture. Regular updates on the status of NAIS will be posted at http://www.SurvivalBlog.com. When the public comment period
is open, submit an individual comment letter, strongly expressing your disapproval. Get involved, or our another piece of
our precious liberty will slip away.
Web Sites:
There is a blog at http://NoNAIS.org to educate people about NAIS.
Stop Animal ID has many resources and a message board.
USDA resource about NAIS: http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml
Regular updates on the status of NAIS: http://www.NoNAIS.org
You can find contact information for Federal and state legislators at: http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm or http://www.firstgov.gov
Special Thanks to Mary Zanoni, Ph.D. (e-mail: mlz@slic.com) whose excellent article in the Jan./Feb. 2006 issue of Countryside
and Small Stock Journal alerted us to NAIS.
Copyright 2006. All Rights Reserved by James Wesley, Rawles - www.SurvivalBlog.com™ Permission to reprint, repost
or forward this article in full is granted, but only if it is not edited or excerpted.
About the Author:
James Wesley, Rawles is a former U.S. Army Intelligence officer and a noted author and lecturer on survival and preparedness
topics. He is the author of the novel "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse" and is the editor of SurvivalBlog.com--the
popular daily web journal for prepared individuals living in uncertain times.
Big Brother wants to live at YOUR farm!
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a national program to identify and track livestock animals, including
poultry, horses, cattle, goats and sheep for the purpose of disease containment. NAIS plans to use RFID and GPS technology
to track animals, and requires every farm or premises be registered with government agencies, even if that premises houses
a single animal. While NAIS purported goal of disease containment appears to be beneficial, the requirement for American citizens
to register privately-owned property for tracking and monitoring purposes has very serious implications for our privacy, rights
and freedoms.
For all of us who are small farmer/livestock owners, even if it is just 2 chickens and a goat, our governments is implementing
NAIS (National Animal Identification System) to register our farms and all of our livestock. The Goal is to help track the
origin of diseases outbreaks in livestock for National Security.
We must fight this program is it is total invasion of privacy, more government intrusion and the expense of such an ID
program (i.e. radio frequency ID chips) will be a burden the livestock owner will have to bear. It would make selling live
or processed meat (poultry, beef, pork, etc) too expensive for the average consumer.
Please don't sit on your hands and think other will fight this fight. Contact your State Representatives and your Senators.
Visit NO NAIS and/or Stop Animal ID . Do it now as the whole country will be subject to the NAIS program in 2008.
A wonderful letter to use when writing your congress person:
I'm writing regarding the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I understand that the goal of the program is to
be able to track diseased livestock, so as to stop any further spread of a particular disease from the same source as the
diseased livestock. On a very large scale, this sounds reasonable, as explained by Dr. Bob Hillman, a member of the Secretary's
Advisory Subcommittee on the National Animal Identification System, Texas state veterinarian, and head of the TAHC, Texas
livestock and poultry health regulatory agency. I quote an article I found by following a link from the NAIS website. The
article is at http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/spotlights/Texas_spotlight_1204.pdf
Dr. Hillman states, This involves the unique identification of each head of livestock moved from its original herd. For
cattle, sheep, goats, cervidae (deer) and some other species of livestock, the identification device will be an electronic
ear tag, also called a radio frequency (RFID) identification device. For other species, such as swine and poultry, the number
can be applied to groups of animals, if they spend their entire production life together as a group or unit.; Forms of identification
mentioned on the NAIS website include micro-chips, retinal scans and DNA. Presumably, poultry and swine that are not a group
or unit will require individual identification. The article further paraphrases Dr. Hillman thus,When animals are sold, moved
or harvested [or die], project participants will report the event to third-party data service providers by computer, fax or
mail. I understand that this report will need to be made within 24 hours of a qualifying event.
Although the plan seems feasible, and even helpful, in large-scale agri-business settings, please take the time to consider
what this means to the average backyard or hobby farmer, who raises a few animals for their own food or pleasure. I am one
of this group, and can tell you that making this tracking a requirement for small farmers will mean the end of hobby farms.
I'll describe a couple of scenarios to help illustrate why.
I go to the feed store to buy some chicks to raise for meat. They used to be 89 cents. Now, since the feed store is required
to register each chick separately, because they're not sold as a unit, how much do you think they charge for a registered
chick? In states where NAIS is already in place, many feed stores are no longer carrying animals. In fact, the feed store
I visited today is a two-generation enterprise. The current owner/manger, who is the son of the founder, said he would quit
selling feed if he had to start registering and reporting chicks and other livestock they sell, such as rabbits. How long
do you think small farms will last without feed stores? Please know that large farms do not typically patronize feed stores
to any extent. They buy in bulk direct from suppliers.
I have chickens that run loose on my property. Let say a hen comes up missing. I'm supposed to report that in 24 hours.
A week later, I see her scratching around again. So I'm supposed to report that, too. I see her every few days for a couple
more weeks. Each time I see her or fail to see her, I'm supposed to report it, or I'm breaking the rules (which we all suspect
will become law). After three weeks or so, she marches in with several chicks. Now I'm supposed to catch all of them and haul
them down to a tagging station to be identified, since they don't live their entire lives as a unit. Being a law-abiding citizen,
I do so. Three days later, a chick is missing, probably taken by a hawk or crow or cat. I report it. A few days later, another
comes up missing. Report. A week later, my horse steps on a chick. Report. Then another hen disappears, probably to brood
another clutch of chicks. Report. You see where I'm going with this, of course. Who is really going to pay attention to all
of my reports? Who is going to pay a staffer to do so? Am I going to have to pay a staffer for several hours time to take
care of all my reports? How much will my chickens cost at that point? Will I be eating the most expensive chickens and eggs
the world has ever known, or will I give up and shop at Safeway?
Besides, does anyone honestly think that people who raise animals for their own food are going to acquiesce to this degree
of oversight? Does anyone honestly think a person is going to haul a $15.00 rabbit and her new litter down to the local tagging
station and pay heaven knows how much to have their rabbits identified? And at what age should they do that so that they don't
stress the doe out, causing her to cannibalize her babies? (This can happen when the babies are as old as four weeks of age.
Butchering or live sale is typically done at 8 weeks.)
So, as a result of NAIS implementation, all the small farmers and hobby farmers will disappear. So what, you ask? Apart
from the fact that NAIS has seriously disrupted the pursuit of happiness& for millions of hobby farmers, and destroyed
all the businesses, publications, activities, etc., that depend on hobby farmers, let's discuss genetic diversity. There are
many, very specific adaptations in livestock, which were selected for over generations. Breeds were selected that are specially
adapted to perform well despite certain adverse circumstances such as excessive heat or cold or wetness or parasite loads.
Or they are adapted to graze very hilly, rocky land; or they are foot-rot resistant to thrive in damp, low-lying pastures;
or they have terrific mothering skills, or excellent laying rates despite cold, darkness, etc.
If small farmers and hobby farmers disappear, the genetic diversity in livestock and its potential to offer solutions
to problems we cannot yet foresee will disappear as well. Why is that, you ask? Because small farmers and hobby farmers raise
these specially adapted, endangered heritage breeds. They are therefore the guardians of the genetic diversity. Large farms
and ranches, to which NAIS poses no special burden, use only a very tiny percentage of the livestock breeds available. They
use only breeds that are specially adapted to perform well in high-input, high-output confinement systems. Heritage breeds
do not perform well in these systems, being adapted to produce in more natural settings. With people becoming more particular
about how their food is raised, is it a good idea to allow the loss of these heritage breeds?
As a final note, I must address the remarkably un-American nature of a law making it impossible for people to raise their
own food. What's next, shall we outlaw home vegetable gardens so that their pollen doesn't contaminate the local GMO crop?
Let's give the agri-business lobby a little time; I'm sure they'll come up with something feasible.
While we're waiting, we can take our children for the last time to the petting zoo, the livestock exhibits at the fair,
and the community 4-H and FFA meetings. Last because the animals for all of these are provided primarily by small farmers.
This whole tracking idea, as it applies to small farmers and hobby farmers, is so unrealistic, impractical and Orwellian
that it seems like a bad dream. I keep hoping to wake up, but it doesn't seem to be happening. My only other choice is to
try to wake up the people who are in a position to avert this disaster. I hope this letter has at least begun to do the trick.
Please, please get out there and put a stop to this before any more harm is done.
Thanks for your attention to this serious matter. Feel free to print this out and write an actual letter (emails don't
have the same effect as a postal mailed paper letter) to your government representatives to fight this misguided cause.
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