December 2, 2006
I am getting political on the blog today... as I feel
it is very important and I want you to understand that it is important, even if
you do not raise any animals. Be warned as this is LONG and will be put on the
Forums when I get it up this week.
I
want you to go to this site
before it goes to a vote and let them know you are against the NAIS. For
those of you who are as yet unfamiliar with the NAIS (National
Animal Identification System), it is the brainchild of the NIAA
(National Institute of Animal Agriculture) which is a group of mogul businessmen
such as the chemical company Monsanto, the National
Pork Producers and Cargill
Meat, to develop a mandatory "National Animal Identification
System" ("NAIS"). Who are all people who stand to profit from the
NAIS and as well as others which I will list at the bottom of this blog. These
mega-businesses have everything to gain from it and we have everything to loose
from it.. even you as a consumer, who just gets their meat from the grocery
store.
In essence the NAIS means that every person who owns
even one horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep, pigeon or virtually any livestock
animal, even as a pet, will be forced to register their home, including owner's
name, address, and telephone number and keyed Global
Positioning System coordinates for
satellite monitoring, in a giant federal database under a 7-digit "premises
ID number. The animals will be required to have a radio
transmitting tag on them at all times. In further 'phases to be
implemented' in the NAIS program, they may also require each animal's DNA sample
as well as retinal print of the animals eye. The NAIS will have the right to
trespass on your private property as they feel the whim. Americans will have to
foot the expenses for NAIS out of our pocket as well as out of our taxes. The
only people to profit from this are the people who put this law into being (like
Monsanto), the rest of us, as well as the animals will not.
I would like you to look at other Government programs
which start out as FREE to get people to start complying and then after a year
or three, it becomes mandatory and you are stuck (aka hooped) and have to pay
whatever fees they determine. Wisconsin and a few other States actually had NO
CHOICE about the NAIS, it was mandatory from the get-go.
Why is this program going to work when other programs
such as the feed ban are not working? That feed ban has been in effect for how
many years? The cattle are STILL getting animals feed with animal products in it
that started the BSE
("Mad Cow"). WHY? That is another government controlled program in
the US and Canada. The NAIS also states that the tracking device will be left up
to the producer? OK.. so already the program is NOT standardized? All the other
disease prevention tracking systems such as EIA, Brucellosis and other disease
control systems ARE standardized.
The US has not had Brucellosis
or Hoof and Mouth
(Foot and Mouth) in the US for over 70 years ... there are already
protocols in place on case of an outbreak. The government/USDA/APHIS are
watching the Avian Flu
thing. EIA
is tested in all horses that are moved from state to state and to go to
events/meets. A Hog Cholera
eradication program is already in place. Again.. the problem with Hog
Cholera is that it was coming from feeding hogs garbage with raw pork
parts in it. CLEAN
UP THE FEED PROGRAM AND GET THE
FEED CERTIFIED!!!
There is also a Sheep
Scrapie Eradication Program in place. What is the NAIS 'law' doing
that is not already being done and keep it from being redundant. Scrapie
actually only effects sheep. It has been around 400+ years and the only issue
with it, is .. DO NOT FEED SHEEP TO COWS as that is what CAUSED "Mad Cow
"!! If the government gets involved in the animal programs at all, it needs
to start at the bottom and CLEAN UP THE FEED PROGRAM AND GET THE FEED
CERTIFIED!!!!
In the NAIS link it says one thing about 4-H
shows being exempt and then down a little further it says a totally different
thing. What is with that? It cannot be both ways. If you are at a 4-H show.. I
used to show sheep, cattle, poultry and rabbits. I have been superintendent of
the 4-H rabbit barn for many years.. we have over 400 rabbits in the rabbit barn
alone.. at least that many poultry, 200+ cattle, 300+ sheep and who knows how
many hogs.. the hog barn was the same size as the cattle barn but 2 hogs to a
pen usually. How is a 4-H or FFA
show, which is mixed up with Open Class, not an event?? These animals live with
each other for 7-10 days and then if they head to another show (I helped run a
string of 9 Polled
Herefords and 14 Suffolk
one year and we did 4 country fairs and 2 State Fairs in a matter of 5-6
weeks), they are not even out of incubation time period for many diseases. How
many animals were they exposed to and vice-versa?
How is private sales not going to cause a disease
movement? I have seen a horse with possible EIA.. and it never went anywhere,
but EIA is passed along by flies. The neighbors had 15 horses on one side of her
ONE acre and there was 3 horses on the other side of her property. Are the flies
not going to move to the other properties? All horses within a mile around were
banned from movement within 12 hours.
Again the NAIS states the ID system will be turned back
into the hands of the private sector. Would you care to lay a bet on which of
the NIAA original members the contract/s will go to?
"Rulemaking".. well if the thing is already
in place, working or not working.. and it gets tossed in front of congress, who
have probably never been in a barn in their lives.. they are probably going to
go with the law already in place even though it is not a very good law, hey? Did
you know that most laws the congressmen vote on they have never heard of prior
to that day? That the lobbyists and such people deliberately toss 2,000+ page
books at them mere hours before they are supposed to vote on the new law?? Hey..
besides.. "THIS MANY STATES already have it in place, it must be a good
thing".
The previous pdf that the NAIS did put out some months
ago (I noted the newest one was dated June 2006).. did state microchipping.. now
they say it is a rumor.. well.. if it was a rumor.. THEY are the ones that
started it.
If you have land... they already have a way to track
your lot number.. you pay taxes on it right? Has no one heard of the Legal Land
Descriptions in Federal
Township and Range System ? Why does it need to be GPS'd as well?
Every time I have to fill out a Coggin's Test or any other report for animals
through the vet clinics, it has to be a Legal Land Description and those papers
I fill out such as a Coggin's Test, IS federal paperwork and that is both in
Canada as well as the USA. Why do they need GPS (Global Positioning System)
locations as well?
Do not believe the APHIS/USDA/NAIS/NIAA site. They
change the rules like my step-kids wear out socks.
According to the NAIS, the owner will be required to
report every time an animal leaves or enters the property as well as other
criteria. Such events must be reported within 24 hours. This will be difficult
to those who do not own a computer or have access to one to file the reports. If
I still lived in Oregon, each time I ride my horse I would have to file 2 forms
to the NAIS and probably pay a fee, they are not sure yet, but what do you bet
they will end up getting the fees?
Each time is a new pdf that the NAIS puts out.. it
radically changes. The last one I read stated that RFID tags would be used and
mandatory. Some of the tags are $10 per tag and the livestock raiser would be
responsible for the purchase of them. Your home MUST be GPS'd and registered and
that the 'powers that be' would be legally able to trespass and take any animals
as they determine.. or the whole herd without any warning as they determined.
You would be required to pay to have the place GPS'd and registered and no one
at that time knew how much the fees would be, but they did state that we would
be responsible for any fees incurred.
The corporations who came up with the NAIS, such as
Monsanto, who historically have sued farmers to gain a monopoly
in agriculture, do not have to report the mega-amounts of animals they
produce and slaughter each year. The members of the NIAA who came up with the
NAIS are corporations who manufacture radio tags for animals, computer companies
who made the computerized tracking system and the large Agribiz companies who
will be raising the livestocks by the hundreds of thousands of animals and have
yet another monopoly in agriculture. The pretense for coming up with the NAIS
plan is due to animal disease. However, there are many safeguards in place
already and some of the diseases, such as Foot and Mouth Disease, is an
economical one which does not even kill the animal nor is transferable to
humans. Foot and Mouth Disease has not been reported in the United States for
over 70 years.
Monsanto
has MONEY.. they have plenty of money to keep things going the way they want to.
Look at Measure 27 in Oregon
about labeling GM
foods. They spent $6 million dollars to keep Measure 27 from becoming a law.
They did not want Oregon to set a precedent. Monsanto is 'copyrighting'
livestock by putting human genes into hogs and chickens as well as vegetable
crops, look on their own website and verify it for yourself. Look at their past
history of 'copyrighting' crops and see how they now have 70-100% of the seed
trade.. they did the same thing previous to the seed with the chemical trade and
now they and their friends are coming full circle and doing the same thing with
the livestock. They will have completely cornered the market and all with OUR
money.. not much of theirs.
From the NAIS law, we will loose many of our rare
heritage breeds and it will make many more breeds which are not currently
threatened, extinct. The NAIS will destroy poultry and rabbit shows, which
is what keeps alot of our school aged children involved in 4-H and in school.
Many times it is programs such as 4-H which keeps our children in school,
continue to graduation and becoming productive citizens. The genetic
diversity of all our wonderful breeds will cease due to the monopolizing
of our heritage. Having biodiversity
is what prevents many livestock issues from happening as some are resistant to
certain diseases.
The NAIS law will also affect you and your family as
well as the rest of Americans due to the increased costs of animal production
and it will show on our grocery bills. Many rural people must raise livestocks
such as chickens and milk goats just to be able to survive. The NAIS will be
taking this away from them. It will effect people like me who raise my own pork
and chickens as a quality organic food for my families table. Yes, I am in
Canada at the moment, but it will affect us here as well.
I am also concerned that this law is going through
without having ever reached those who are supposed to vote on laws concerning
our American citizens. They are sneaking it in State by State and then nake it a
national law. Please help keep this from happening! Check out the No-NAIS
site.
I want to thank you for your valuable time by allowing
me the opportunity to communicate with you on these NAIS issues and I hope that
you will listen. I also want to thank you for considering that these issues are
important to all of us for now and our future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Who are the people behind the NAIS program??? People
who will stand to gain money from it. Do not just complain about them, cut off
their paychecks.Some of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture Members
AND WHAT IS IN IT FOR THEM.
AgInfoLink USA, Inc. - (Makes computer
programs for the NAIS system -TRACING)
Allflex USA, Inc. (TAG COMPANY)
APC, Inc. (BLOOD PRODUCTS TO FEED TO
LIVESTOCK)
Babcock Genetics, Inc. (SWINE GENETICS)
BioRad Laboratories (Food | Animal |
Environment Testing)
Bock's Cattle-Identi Company, Inc. (TRACING)
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.
Cargill Meat Solutions (MEAT PRODUCER and
exempt from this law)
Clarkston Consulting
Digital Angel & Electronic ID, Inc.
(TRACING)
Elanco Animal Health
eMerge Interactive, Inc.(Makes computer
programs for the NAIS system -TRACING)
EZ-ID / AVID ID Systems (TRACING)
Farms.com & PigChamp, Inc.Makes computer
programs for the NAIS system -TRACING)
Farnam Companies, Inc. (TAGS AND ID)
GlobalVetLink L.C.
Hawkeye Steel Products, Inc. (ANIMAL
EQUIPMENT)
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.(LABRATORY)
IMI Global, Inc. (TAGS)
Intervet, Inc. (DRUG COMPANY)
Iowa Select Farms (Iowa's largest pork
producing company and IN THE top ten producers of market hogs.)
Ketchum Manufacturing, Inc. (ANIMAL ID AND
PROCESSING)
Livestock Marketing Association (LOBBYISTS)
Maxwell Foods
MetaFarms, Inc. (management software (ERP) for
animal NAIS)
Micro Beef Technologies, Ltd. Makes computer
programs for the NAIS system -TRACING)
Monsanto Company (DRUG & CHEMICAL &
HUMAN DNA HOGS/CHICKENS COMPANY)
Murphy-Brown LLC (AKA SMITHFIELD FOODS
National Band and Tag Company (TRACING - WHERE
I USED TO GET TAGS)
National Pork Board (LOBBYISTS)
National Pork Producers Council (LOBBYISTS)
National Renderers Association (LOBBYISTS)
Optibrand Ltd., LLC (Livestock Identification
and Universal Data Collection)
Pfizer Animal Health, Inc. (DRUG COMPANY)
PIC USA (BOAR SEMEN WITH A range of PICmarqT
DNA markers )
Premier 1 Sheep Supplies, Ltd.(TAGS AND ID)
Propig.com (GENETICS
RMS Research Management Systems, USA, Inc.
Makes programs for the NAIS system -TRACING)
Schering-Plough Animal Health Corporation
(DRUG COMPANY)
Science Applications International Corporation
Temple Tag, Ltd. (TRACING)
VeriPrime Inc.( VeriPrime is a federation of
cooperatives)
Viral Antigens, Inc..(VIRAL ANTIGENS )
Vitalia Inc (management software (ERP) for
animal NAIS)
Y-TEX Corporation (LIVESTOCK IDENTIFICATION)