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Info:NAIS | Info - NAISFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Legal Defense Fund Moves to Stop Animal ID Program; Falls Church, Virginia, (May 15, 2008) -- Attorneys for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund today sent a Notice of Intent to Sue letter to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) over implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a plan to electronically track every livestock animal in the country. The Notice asks the USDA and MDA to “immediately suspend the funding and implementation of NAIS,” and “fully and fairly examine” whether there is even a need for such a program. Taaron Meikle, Fund president, said that contrary to USDA’s claim, NAIS will do nothing to protect the health of livestock and poultry. “At a time when food safety and costs are a concern, the USDA has spent over $118 million to promote a program that will burden everyone from pleasure horse owners to ranchers and small farmers to individuals who raise a few chickens or steers on their own land for their own use.” Once fully implemented, the NAIS program would require every person who owns even one livestock or poultry animal (a single chicken or a pet pony) to register their property with the state and federal government, to tag each animal, and to report “events” to a database within 24 hours. Reportable events would include such things as a private sale, a state fair, or a horse show. The Notice charges that USDA has never published rules regarding NAIS, in violation of the Federal Administrative Procedures Act; has never performed an Environmental Impact Statement or an Environmental Assessment as required by the National Environmental Policy Act; is in violation of the Regulatory Flexibility Act that requires them to analyze proposed rules for their impact on small entities and local governments; and violates religious freedoms guaranteed by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. “We also think there are constitutional issues at stake here,” Meikle noted. “The requirement to use electronic ear tags or RFID chips violates the religious beliefs of some farmers, such as the Amish, and provisions in a memorandum of understanding between the USDA and the MDA could violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution by requiring the state to stop and inspect vehicles carrying livestock without a warrant or probable cause.” The MDA has implemented the first two stages of NAIS –property registration and animal identification – for all cattle and farmers across the state as part of its mandatory bovine tuberculosis disease control program, which is mandated by a grant from the USDA. “While touted as a disease control program, the NAIS will drive many small farmers out of business” Meikle noted, “and burden every person who owns even one horse, chicken, cow, goat, sheep, pig, llama, alpaca, or other livestock animal with expensive and intrusive government regulations.” Joe Golimbieski, a farmer from Standish, Michigan and Fund member, explains: “The cost of the tags is just the start. We’re at the mercy of whatever price the stockyards charge to do the tagging. And our farm doesn’t have extra employees to deal with paperwork. NAIS is likely to put us out of business.” Gary Cox, General Counsel for the Fund, states that “USDA and MDA have exceeded their authority and they have completely failed to follow the proper procedures. We are calling on the agencies to immediately halt implementation of the program or face appropriate action.” About The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund: The Fund’s mission is to defend the freedoms and to broaden the rights of sustainable farmers and their consumers to produce and consume local, nutrient-dense foods. Concerned citizens can support the Fund by joining at www.farmtoconsumer.org or by contacting the Fund at 703-208-FARM. The Fund’s sister organization, the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation (www.farmtoconsumerfoundation.org), works to support farmers engaged in sustainable farm stewardship and promote consumer access to local, nutrient-dense food. Editor’s Note: The Notice of Intent to Sue the (USDA) and (MDA) is available at www.farmtoconsumer.org ### Contacts: Taaron G. Meikle Brian Cummings The Press Release See the press coverage on our Notice of Intent to Sue the USDA and MDA. Livestock Marketing Association Tennessee Farmers & Freeholders Reasons to Stop the NAIS (National Animal Identification System) This costly and poorly conceived program is now mandatory in some states. It requires farmers to tag each animal, in most cases using electronic identification, and report off-farm movements to a database via computer. Here are ten good reasons to nip this program in the bud.
Donate Now to help STOP NAIS. Donate to the Fund, to defray the costs of legal, legislative and lobby actions: Donate online or download the Donation Form. In making your donation it may be helpful to consider. Donations to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund ARE NOT tax deductible, because the primary mission of the Fund is to effect change in legal, lobby and legislative arenas. The donations received are 100% usable by the Fund for the primary mission. Donations to the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation ARE tax deductible, because the primary mission of the Foundation is to educate and provide memberships to those in need. The Foundation is restricted in the support it can provide the Fund. The Foundation has established special pages for contribution for the legal expenses in specific cases, such as the case to stop NAIS and the AB1735 lawsuit. If you want to donate to the Foundation, go to click here. Release No. 0102.08 USDA IMPLEMENTS KEY STRATEGY FROM NATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM BUSINESS PLAN WASHINGTON, April 15, 2008--The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced that it has implemented a key strategy from its Business Plan to Advance Animal Disease Traceability by providing National Animal Identification System (NAIS) compliant "840" radio frequency (RF) eartags to animal health officials for use in the bovine tuberculosis (TB) control program. NAIS-compliant "840" tags provide for individual identification of livestock through a 15-digit number beginning with the U.S. country code. Through the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, the "840" tags allow animal health officials to electronically identify an animal. This increases the efficiency of animal disease investigations that involve the tracing of exposed and potentially infected animals. RFID technology also increases the accuracy of recording the animal's 15-digit animal identification number (AIN). USDA has purchased a total of 1.5 million "840" RF animal identification tags to support animal disease control programs, including the bovine TB and brucellosis programs. "Using NAIS-compliant tags with RF technology establishes a consistent data format across our animal disease programs. It will also increase the efficiency and accuracy of the on-ground animal health task force conducting bovine TB testing and response," said Bruce Knight, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs. "This effort supports a key strategy outlined in our business plan and is another step toward reaching NAIS' ultimate goal of 48-hour traceability." Recently, USDA shipped 28,000 tags to California to support bovine TB testing as part of an ongoing investigation. So far, a total of 6,600 cattle in two California herds have been tagged with "840" devices. The goal is to link the cattle to their premises of origin, so that if there is an outbreak in the future the movements of the infected animals can be quickly traced. Bovine tuberculosis investigations are currently occurring in several States. Since 2002, bovine TB detections in six states have required the destruction of more than 25,000 cattle. USDA has tested over 787,000 animals in response to TB outbreaks since 2004. RF tags have been used in beef and dairy operations for management and marketing purposes for several years. Incorporating AIN RF tags into animal disease programs promotes the standardization of identification methods and technology so that they can be used by producers and animal health officials for multiple purposes. Currently, there are five USDA-approved manufacturers that produce eight devices for official NAIS use. Seven of these devices are RFID eartags, while the other device is an injectable transponder to be used in horses and other farm animals not intended to enter the food production chain. NAIS is a modern, streamlined information system that helps producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to events affecting animal health in the United States. NAIS utilizes premises registration, animal identification and animal tracing components to both locate potentially diseased animals and eliminate animals from disease suspicion. It is a state-federal-industry partnership, which is voluntary at the federal level. For more information on NAIS, go to www.usda.gov/nais . |
FTCLDF and FTCF Board of Directors |
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