Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2006 17:39:03 GMT -5
I don't want to cause any more upset on this issue. I just want to share the letter that I've sent to the local papers as well as my representatives in Washington. Any feedback you all can give me is appreciated. Unfortunatly I don't have Joanns gift with words although I've tried to state facts as I believe them to be.
Dear Sir or Madam,
The purpose of this correspondence is to make you, and your audience aware of the National Animal Identification Plan being touted by the USDA at this present time. This plan is also referred to as the NFAIP, and the NAIS. They are all one in the same.
Agribusiness, specifically The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), lobbied the USDA (after 9/11 and subsequent BSE scares) to create the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) supposedly to protect U.S. citizens and their animals from diseases. The NIAA is composed primarily to two groups – (1) large corporate producers and (2) the makers and producers of animal ID equipment. In April 2002 a task force composed of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and over 30 livestock organizations provided leadership in creating the animal identification system. Small-scale farmers involved in animal husbandry, homesteaders, and animal hobbyists were not represented. Language quoted from the Draft Strategic Plan proves this, "APHIS then established the National Identification Development Team (NIDT), a joint, State, Federal, and industry group to further advance this effort. Throughout 2003, the NIDT, consisting of approximately 100 animal and livestock industry professionals representing more than 70 associations, organizations, and government agencies, expanded upon the work plan to produce the initial draft of the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP). While associations, organizations, etc. may be backing the NAIS, they did not inform their members of this proposed legislation. Chances are the members still have no idea that their freedoms are being given away.
The proposed plan calls for every single farm animal in the US, including some fish, to be microchipped and entered into a central database to track the movement of animals from the farm of origin and every point in between. If you take a lamb to the vet it will be scanned into the system or you won’t be able to have it vetted; if you desire to take another lamb to the butcher it will be scanned into the system or you won’t be able to have it butchered. The projected estimate for implementation of this plan is 33 billion dollars. Let that sink in for a second. $33,000,000,000.00 to simply implement the plan. That doesn’t include the costs to maintain it once it’s begun. That is $115.78 for every single man, woman and child in the US. It does not include the costs for farmers to microchip their animals either, so those who raise the food get to pay even more for this plan.
This plan cannot and will not do anything to make our food supply safer at all. It’s purportedly necessary to protect us from potential bio-terrorism and disease. How? It’s impossible to protect anything through registration. The only thing that can be done is to trace it’s movements from point A to B to C, on and on ad infintum, and destroy the smallholder’s ability to provide for themselves. This plan will create a veritable monopoly by corporate agriculture and thereby seriously endanger our national economy and our food supply. It’s difficult enough to try to make a living wage in agriculture now, this plan will make that nearly impossible.
I am concerned that the national animal ID system is too invasive into the lives of ordinary citizens who are not large-scale producers of animals for food, but who farm on a small scale or have one or two animals as pets. If the real purpose of NAIS is to track the food supply for instances like mad cow disease then:
1) NAIS is not necessary for horses, donkeys, guardian animals or other non-food animals - these animals are not going to enter the human food chain in our country and should NOT be tracked by the government. There are already safeguards in place for preventing the spread of disease in horses. Regulations that would require implantation of a chip to track movement and registration of premises keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates is an invasion of privacy and makes no sense for a hobby farmer who raises alpacas or a family with a pet pony.
2) NAIS is not necessary for sales direct to the consumer from the farm. In these cases there is already far better tracking of the food chain. I buy meat and eggs from small family farms in my area. I am more confident in the safety of food raised on small farms, and I fear I will lose the freedom to select my food in this way if NAIS is forced on individuals who may have to give up farming if they cannot afford expensive RFID readers or cannot keep up with the excessive reporting required by NAIS.
3) NAIS should not be at all involved with people who are raising livestock for their own family consumption. They know exactly where the food came from - they raised it. There is no need to have any government involved in our own kitchens and food that we raise in our own backyards. I see raising food for our families as a basic human right that should not be interfered with by government.
4) The NAIS will violate the religious beliefs of minority faith communities by requiring them to become part of this computerized, technology-dependent system or abandon the livestock ownership necessary for their way of life. (Many adherents raise their own food animals and use animals in farming and for transportation. Some, by scriptural teaching, would refuse to take the "mark" of such a numbering system.)
5) Our personal information collected through NAIS could be disclosed (the USDA cannot assure the confidentiality of all the information.). Financial institutions are not able to keep this information confidential, so it is no surprise that USDA cannot guarantee confidentiality.
This is the worse case of intrusion into the privacy of the people in this country and serves absolutely no purpose but to put the little guy out of business and provide unwanted control by the government. Our property will no longer be ours. We may own it and pay our taxes on it, but the government is going to tell us what we can and can't do with it. Abuse of this system is imminent.
Less then 1/2 of all the livestock in this country get into the food chain. There are no diseases that have spread so severely that every single animal in this country needs to go into a data base along with the ground they live on. There are no endemic in this country and this whole NAIS program is a scam set in motion in order to further gut the Constitution.
The shame of it all is that it is only getting publicized on the WEB in animal groups and small farming publications. Not even half the people in this country know that this has already become law (although voluntary at this time). I found out that not even the people that work for the Washington Department of Agriculture knows what the NAIS is, unless they work in the animal sections. If this is such a great thing, why is it being kept a secret? The date for this to become mandatory has been extended to 2009. But states all over this country are already making people "VOLUNTARILY" sign up by invading their property in order to test their animals for false reasons or coerce them with the possibility of fines. Once mandatory there is the threat of a $1,000 per day fine for not registering your animals and premises.
Don’t take my word for it.. It is my expectation that you will investigate this atrocity yourself and make this a public matter as it affects everyone. There are those that believe it will end up including every single pet dog, cat and bird, as well as all the exotics in this country if it's not stopped now.
The full draft of the plan can be found at the USDA web site
animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml
I hope that you reply to me with your stand on this issue.
Cordially,
Janet Opsitnick
Toledo, Washington
Dear Sir or Madam,
The purpose of this correspondence is to make you, and your audience aware of the National Animal Identification Plan being touted by the USDA at this present time. This plan is also referred to as the NFAIP, and the NAIS. They are all one in the same.
Agribusiness, specifically The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), lobbied the USDA (after 9/11 and subsequent BSE scares) to create the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) supposedly to protect U.S. citizens and their animals from diseases. The NIAA is composed primarily to two groups – (1) large corporate producers and (2) the makers and producers of animal ID equipment. In April 2002 a task force composed of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and over 30 livestock organizations provided leadership in creating the animal identification system. Small-scale farmers involved in animal husbandry, homesteaders, and animal hobbyists were not represented. Language quoted from the Draft Strategic Plan proves this, "APHIS then established the National Identification Development Team (NIDT), a joint, State, Federal, and industry group to further advance this effort. Throughout 2003, the NIDT, consisting of approximately 100 animal and livestock industry professionals representing more than 70 associations, organizations, and government agencies, expanded upon the work plan to produce the initial draft of the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP). While associations, organizations, etc. may be backing the NAIS, they did not inform their members of this proposed legislation. Chances are the members still have no idea that their freedoms are being given away.
The proposed plan calls for every single farm animal in the US, including some fish, to be microchipped and entered into a central database to track the movement of animals from the farm of origin and every point in between. If you take a lamb to the vet it will be scanned into the system or you won’t be able to have it vetted; if you desire to take another lamb to the butcher it will be scanned into the system or you won’t be able to have it butchered. The projected estimate for implementation of this plan is 33 billion dollars. Let that sink in for a second. $33,000,000,000.00 to simply implement the plan. That doesn’t include the costs to maintain it once it’s begun. That is $115.78 for every single man, woman and child in the US. It does not include the costs for farmers to microchip their animals either, so those who raise the food get to pay even more for this plan.
This plan cannot and will not do anything to make our food supply safer at all. It’s purportedly necessary to protect us from potential bio-terrorism and disease. How? It’s impossible to protect anything through registration. The only thing that can be done is to trace it’s movements from point A to B to C, on and on ad infintum, and destroy the smallholder’s ability to provide for themselves. This plan will create a veritable monopoly by corporate agriculture and thereby seriously endanger our national economy and our food supply. It’s difficult enough to try to make a living wage in agriculture now, this plan will make that nearly impossible.
I am concerned that the national animal ID system is too invasive into the lives of ordinary citizens who are not large-scale producers of animals for food, but who farm on a small scale or have one or two animals as pets. If the real purpose of NAIS is to track the food supply for instances like mad cow disease then:
1) NAIS is not necessary for horses, donkeys, guardian animals or other non-food animals - these animals are not going to enter the human food chain in our country and should NOT be tracked by the government. There are already safeguards in place for preventing the spread of disease in horses. Regulations that would require implantation of a chip to track movement and registration of premises keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates is an invasion of privacy and makes no sense for a hobby farmer who raises alpacas or a family with a pet pony.
2) NAIS is not necessary for sales direct to the consumer from the farm. In these cases there is already far better tracking of the food chain. I buy meat and eggs from small family farms in my area. I am more confident in the safety of food raised on small farms, and I fear I will lose the freedom to select my food in this way if NAIS is forced on individuals who may have to give up farming if they cannot afford expensive RFID readers or cannot keep up with the excessive reporting required by NAIS.
3) NAIS should not be at all involved with people who are raising livestock for their own family consumption. They know exactly where the food came from - they raised it. There is no need to have any government involved in our own kitchens and food that we raise in our own backyards. I see raising food for our families as a basic human right that should not be interfered with by government.
4) The NAIS will violate the religious beliefs of minority faith communities by requiring them to become part of this computerized, technology-dependent system or abandon the livestock ownership necessary for their way of life. (Many adherents raise their own food animals and use animals in farming and for transportation. Some, by scriptural teaching, would refuse to take the "mark" of such a numbering system.)
5) Our personal information collected through NAIS could be disclosed (the USDA cannot assure the confidentiality of all the information.). Financial institutions are not able to keep this information confidential, so it is no surprise that USDA cannot guarantee confidentiality.
This is the worse case of intrusion into the privacy of the people in this country and serves absolutely no purpose but to put the little guy out of business and provide unwanted control by the government. Our property will no longer be ours. We may own it and pay our taxes on it, but the government is going to tell us what we can and can't do with it. Abuse of this system is imminent.
Less then 1/2 of all the livestock in this country get into the food chain. There are no diseases that have spread so severely that every single animal in this country needs to go into a data base along with the ground they live on. There are no endemic in this country and this whole NAIS program is a scam set in motion in order to further gut the Constitution.
The shame of it all is that it is only getting publicized on the WEB in animal groups and small farming publications. Not even half the people in this country know that this has already become law (although voluntary at this time). I found out that not even the people that work for the Washington Department of Agriculture knows what the NAIS is, unless they work in the animal sections. If this is such a great thing, why is it being kept a secret? The date for this to become mandatory has been extended to 2009. But states all over this country are already making people "VOLUNTARILY" sign up by invading their property in order to test their animals for false reasons or coerce them with the possibility of fines. Once mandatory there is the threat of a $1,000 per day fine for not registering your animals and premises.
Don’t take my word for it.. It is my expectation that you will investigate this atrocity yourself and make this a public matter as it affects everyone. There are those that believe it will end up including every single pet dog, cat and bird, as well as all the exotics in this country if it's not stopped now.
The full draft of the plan can be found at the USDA web site
animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml
I hope that you reply to me with your stand on this issue.
Cordially,
Janet Opsitnick
Toledo, Washington