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**NAIS**; also Codex Alimentarius, OIE, and WTO
Topic Started: Thursday, 29. December 2005, 11:26 (1,798 Views)
msequine
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Congress Using Money as Leverage to Make NAIS Mandatory
Quote:
 
It's been no secret that Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the chair of the House Appropriations Ag Subcommittee, wants a mandatory National Animal Identification System. Last week she emphasized that message telling USDA and the livestock industry to agree to a mandatory program or ...

DeLauro ... says a mandatory program is needed to provide assurance against economic calamity and to protect our export markets. The move was not totally unexpected. Earlier Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Chairman of the House Ag Committee, said he would support cutting off funding for the program unless USDA finds a way to make the program mandatory.

...
USDA has found through its recent listening sessions around the country almost no support for a mandatory program. In fact they are finding an organized uprising that is calling for an elimination of the program.
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msequine
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http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=14369
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The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will receive no new funding under a 2010 spending bill a proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration appropriations subcommittee. Chairwoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Ct.) announced bill details on June 11.
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"Until the USDA provides details as to how it will implement an effective ID system, continued investments into the current NAIS are unwarranted," DeLauro said.
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"It's time to sit back and see what is workable and what is feasible," she said. "If it's not NAIS, it could be something else."
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msequine
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msequine
Thursday, 18. June 2009, 08:58
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"It's time to sit back and see what is workable and what is feasible," she said. "If it's not NAIS, it could be something else."
They just don't give up. Guess we'll see if they try to pass off the same program with another name.
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msequine
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http://www.farmfutures.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=CD26BEDECA4A4946A1283CC7786AEB5A&nm=News&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=927D233D21124DD291147B321A000C01

Ag secretary says concerns on Capitol Hill to be answered with specific recommendations.
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The National Animal Identification System is under fire with a recent U.S. House Appropriations committee recommending the end to funding the program. ... during a conference call on Wednesday, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, notes there's more work ahead.

Vilsack notes that NAIS is "work in progress and a work in process." ... With less than 35% of premises identified, the issue is getting added attention.

...

... "We want to give the listening sessions process its full measure of consideration," he says. "Then we will come up with a set of suggestions that would improve participation, but I can't tell you what those recommendations would be."

If a listening session is headed your way, plan on attending.
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LeLoo
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How can we find out where the listening sessions are being held?
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msequine
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Here is the remainder of the listening sessions:

Quote:
 
June 18
Mission Hotel
3649 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501

June 25
Jane S. McKimmon Center
1101 Gorman Street
Raleigh, NC 27606


June 27
Hamilton County Extension
1143 NW US Hwy 41
Jasper, FL 32052


June 30
Embassy Suites Omaha – LaVista
12520 Westport Parkway
La Vista, NE 68128


You'll find the entire list of sessions at the USDA's NAIS Feedback site .
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LeLoo
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:thanks: NC would be the only one I might could make it to, but I won't be able to get there on the 25th. :(
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msequine
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And from the "They're STILL NOT listening Department"

http://www.farmfutures.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=CD26BEDECA4A4946A1283CC7786AEB5A&nm=News&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=FBC13C5904744D1EA18DB886A5DBD90E
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Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., chair of the House Agriculture Subcommittee of Appropriations ... followed up her remarks during subcommittee markup about the National Animal Identification system by eliminating all funding in the appropriations bill. She said that until USDA finishes their listening sessions on NAIS and comes up with a workable plan to put Animal ID in place she sees no reason for any more money going into the program.

...

Vilsack says it's not a closed matter that there is still a long way to go in the appropriations process and there are still several listening sessions remaining, from which Vilsack says he is getting lots of ideas.
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msequine
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From the Canadian Free Press

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/12254
Quote:
 
Were NAIS “listening” sessions a decoy for livestock, land owners
Opposition to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) at the USDA’s “listening sessions” around America revealed more than 95% of America’s livestock owners were against it. Disgust at the USDA’s attempt to foster NAIS onto American agriculture was nationwide.
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Then they began to read through the flood of “food safety” bills now in Congress...all focused on regulating American ranchers and farmers and livestock owners, and not on dangerous un- or lightly-inspected food from Third World and other countries being imported daily into the United States.

And people in the Agricultural community began asking: ... Has NAIS been declared “dead” and so-called “food safety laws” that were waiting in the wings suddenly been trotted out, ready to replace it ...?”
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Along with these current “food safety/hidden NAIS bills” comes “best farming practices” that would force a people on their own land to:

* Feed their own animals what the government determines,
* Treat their animals medically as the government decrees,
* Plant only GMO and government-approved seeds, and
* Chemically spray their crops—as, when, and with what the government orders—based on the WTO’s CODEX Alimentarius rules, regulations, and standards which the U.S. signed, making the nation’s agricultural and trade laws subservient to the WTO’s CODEX.
Quote:
 
NAIS is also camouflaged in:

* HR 875,
* HR759,
* HR814,
* HR1332,
* S425, and
* S510.
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msequine
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http://www.agweek.com/articles/?id=4720&article_id=14487&property_id=41
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FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — Minnesota cattle producers are bristling at the idea of the U.S. Department or Agriculture imposing the National Animal Identification System on the livestock industry and of further government intrusion in their business.

“The biggest solution in agriculture is to get the government out of it,” says cattle producer Jerry Enderline of Fergus Falls, Minn. “Out of the grain business, out of the livestock business — completely out.”

Enderline is a strong supporter of free trade and says he hasn’t been able to make a profit feeding cattle for 10 months. He says he resents government intrusion into his industry and the fact that he does not have the final word on some issues regarding is own operations.
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USDA has been sponsoring listening sessions on the subject of NAIS to gain input from the public. But R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard says these sessions are designed to hear suggestions for improving the identification system, rather than outright objections to implementation of the system.

“If USDA is allowed to frame the debate to that of focusing only on how to fix NAIS, then our ability to stop NAIS in its tracks is weakened,” he says.

Bullard goes on to say that once NAIS is “scrapped completely,” then U.S. livestock producers will be prepared to work with USDA to develop an overall strategy for prevention, control and eradication of livestock disease and to develop separate strategies to improve the safety of meat.

The comments made at the sale barn in Fergus Falls — unanimously against NAIS — seem to support a longstanding tradition of individualism within the cattle industry. Even cattle haulers — including driver Craig Elfering of Long Prairie, Minn. — are skeptical of outside influence.

Elfering sums up his feelings this way: “The government’s just always looking for another way to make a buck.”
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msequine
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National Disease Strategy Not NAIS Requested by R-CALF
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R-CALF USA recently sent a letter to the Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., expressing its appreciation for her decision to hold back further funding for the National Animal Identification System until USDA finishes its listening sessions. R-CALF USA states in its letter that the U.S. needs to create a national strategy to improve livestock disease prevention, control and eradication instead of implementing NAIS.

According to the letter, the NAIS proposal tramples over the rights and privileges of U.S. family farmers and ranchers, and the program isn't an effective vehicle to achieve animal health and livestock market benefits. Along with saying 'no' to NAIS, R-CALF says farmers and ranchers across the country have said at listening sessions that USDA is inviting the introduction of diseases into the U.S. R-CALF President Max Thornsberry says it's unconscionable that USDA is knowingly introducing dangerous diseases, citing BSE from Canada and TB from Mexico, while blaming livestock producers for not cooperating with its failed NAIS program.
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msequine
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NAIS, a way to control...?
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Agriculture leaders, as well as farmers and ranchers, are watching the outcome of the many congressional bills that are being discussed on Capitol Hill. They question whether farmers and ranchers will survive if additional permits and taxation are implemented. Two of the issues currently being discussed are the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) that is included in House Resolution (HR) 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, and the probable taxation of cattle by means of changes in the Clean Air Act.

Those who have followed the NAIS controversy may have read editorials written by Henry Lamb, chairman of Sovereignty International Inc.

“The NAIS is an important part of controlling the rural population,” Lamb said.

Lamb, in a June e-mail interview, explained how NAIS opponents have linked the identification program to Agenda 21.

http://www.wilsoncountynews.com/article.php?id=23824&n=agriculture-today-concept-of-sustainable-development-government-control
 
Agenda 21, a document of which many people are unaware, is "a 300-page, 40-chapter "soft law" policy document, adopted at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It was signed by 179 heads of state, including George H.W. Bush," Lamb said.

Lamb summed up Agenda 21 as "a set of policy recommendations that its authors believe will result in the ideal "sustainable" world. The recommendations are not legally binding, but when signed by a head of state, the nation is obligated to make no policies counter to the recommendations in the document. President Bill Clinton issued an Executive Order which created the President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) in 1993."

Lamb said the president's council existed until 1999. During those six years, the council "implemented the recommendations in Agenda 21, even though the nation was not required to do so." Although the president's council ceased, the policies still exist in other departments of government.

"The concept of sustainable development, as set forth in Agenda 21, relies on government control of virtually all facets of human activity " including economic activity. What is now happening with GM and the financial markets is consistent with the concept of sustainable development: government control," Lamb said.

Sustainable development is not limited to only financial markets and the automotive industry; the agriculture industry is being affected also. The National Animal Identification System, which has been the subject of much controversy, can be linked to the concept of sustainable development.

"The NAIS is an important part of controlling the rural population," Lamb said. Some opponents of the NAIS program have linked the identification program to Agenda 21.
Lamb said, “NAIS is not a direct result of a specific recommendation set forth in Agenda 21. It is consistent, however, with the policy goals and recommendations of Agenda 21, in that the concept emerged from committees of the World Trade Organization, and was quickly incorporated into the ‘sustainable development’ concept which requires government planning and control.”
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Lamb has produced several videos on the NAIS issue and sustainable development, which can be found on Sovereignty’s Web site. In one, Lamb addresses how the government may enter private property, citing data from the American Planning Association publication titled, “Growing Smart Legislative Guidelines.”

“The model legislation contained in this book [“Growing Smart Legislative Guidelines”] provides many ways for government officials to enter private property and impose fines, and in some cases, actually ‘take’ private property without just compensation,” Lamb said. “One of the great concerns about NAIS is that once private property is registered in the program, no one knows what rights the federal government may have to the property. Since there is no law yet, nor any published regulations, no one can know what rights the USDA may claim. It is reasonable to conclude that they would claim the right to enter the property to ensure that animal counts and other information has been reported accurately,” Lamb said.
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Lamb foresees that NAIS will aid in the implementation of the cattle gas tax being discussed under the proposed changes in the Clean Air Act because of the April 17 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finding regarding greenhouse gases.

“NAIS, if implemented, will give government absolute control over the production of all livestock products, not only by permits and punishment, but by direct taxation as well. With every livestock premises and every livestock animal tagged and reported to a government database, it would be a simple matter to levy a tax on every animal — such as the EPA’s recently proposed flatulence tax — and enforce collection of the tax by direct confiscation, if necessary,” Lamb said.

In another video regarding NAIS, Lamb mentions Kansas State University, which conducted the cost benefit analysis of the NAIS program. He identifies this university as the same university that received a grant for the establishment of an animal identification center. Lamb believes this “constitutes a conflict of interest.”

The public who closely watched the NAIS hearing sessions across the nation, including one in Austin, may have noticed how the government tried to use the consensus method.

In the video, “Sustainable America … A New Consensus,” Lamb explains that consensus is not an agreement, but the absence of an expressed opposition.

Lamb said that the USDA “set out to ‘listen’ to individuals in the morning, and hold break-out sessions in the afternoon conducted by trained facilitators to achieve ‘consensus’ around seven specific questions.

“We [the Sovereignty group] were able to inform and educate local grass-roots leaders in every city as to how to avoid the ‘consensus’ process and take control over the meetings. These folks were extremely successful and completely overwhelmed the USDA,” Lamb said.

Lamb warns the public in a March 14 press release titled, “Lawmakers trash the Constitution,” that the government will make NAIS mandatory through HR 875 or a similar bill.

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msequine
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Senate's $14 million for NAIS comes under fire
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A broad coalition of grassroots agriculture, organic, and consumer organizations is urging the Senate to drop $14 million for the National Animal Identification System from the fiscal 2010 spending bill for the Agriculture Department. The funding was included in the committee markup of the bill on July 7; the bill has not gone to the floor for a final vote. The Senate action comes even though the House zeroed out spending for the beleaguered animal identification program.

In a letter to both Senators and House members, the coalition charged that NAIS places "unfair burdens on family farms and sustainable livestock operations." It also claimed that costs for small operators would be higher than for large confined animal operations where animals could be identified as a pen or a flock – rather than individually. The organizations in the coalition also charged that the program had been promoted by companies, such as eartag and database companies, "who stood to profit directly. These conflicts of interest have never been addressed." The coalition noted that USDA is holding listening sessions in an attempt to resolve the controversy surrounding NAIS, but charged "our unofficial estimate is that more than 90% of the people who have attended the meetings have spoken against NAIS."

If the $14 million for NAIS remains in the Senate appropriations bill after floor debate, it will face another challenge when the bill goes to conference to be reconciled with the House version. Coalition members have vowed to continue to lobby to stop the program.
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msequine
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USDA Urged To Heed Producer Testimony and Scrap The National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
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The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to actually listen to and honor the comments offered by the nation’s livestock producers during the USDA's multi-city listening tour on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and scrap the program.

"A common thread that ran through much of the testimony at the USDA hearings was that existing prevention and tracking programs for animal diseases together with state laws on branding and the existing record-keeping by sales barns and livestock shows provide the mechanisms needed for tracking any disease outbreaks," said Pete Kennedy, acting president of the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

"NAIS is simply not needed," he added. "The USDA continues to confuse industry support for efforts to identify and eliminate animal diseases with support for NAIS, despite the fact that some 80 percent of the people who testified during the hearings testified against USDA's animal identification program," he said.

Kennedy’s comments came as the USDA wrapped up its 14-city listening tour with a session in Omaha last week. During the tour more than 1,600 people attended listening sessions; almost 500 people testified; and more than ...
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msequine
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Jolley: Five Minutes (not) with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack

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For those of you expecting to see the long-promised interview with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, let me set the stage. In early June, I traveled to Jefferson City to attend an NAIS listening session. I was joined by several hundred distinctly angry people who wanted to personally give the Secretary a piece of their mind. I'm using the singular version of the word because they were of a common opinion. Many voices, one mind.
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I contacted Caleb Weaver, Vilsack's press secretary, and asked if he might be willing to answer a few questions.

NO problem. He asked me to send the questions to him and he would get right back to me with the answers.
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We missed the first deadline,the questions got lost along the way. I sent them again and thought the new date might be even better since the deadline would fall just after the final listening session in Omaha.
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I waited for his responses last Thursday – until 11:39 PM. Weaver then emailed a note saying he wasn’t going to be able to deliver in time... How about next Friday (today),” I asked? NO problem, again.
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Then came the word by email at around noon yesterday. Vilsack would be unable to answer but Dr. John Clifford, the USDA’s chief vet, would respond and his answers were attached.
Click link for Q/A's
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msequine
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http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090714/NEWS02/307149981
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..., farm groups say the system will be costly to farmers — especially to small farms that would have to put tags on every animal. The largest farms, called concentrated animal feeding operations, would be exempt from that requirement and would have one NAIS identification number for an entire herd.

But large agribusinesses favor the program, ...
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In one of the stiffest challenges to the program, the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund sued the USDA to block the system and has said the department should focus instead on enforcing existing laws, including inspections of slaughterhouses, and should bar the import of animals from countries with known disease problems.

The USDA recently finished a tour of 14 locations around the country to take suggestions on the program. Officials are still considering those comments, which news reports and industry groups say were largely negative from producers.

"The USDA continues to confuse industry support for efforts to identify and eliminate animal diseases with support for NAIS, despite the fact that some 80 percent of the people who testified during the hearings testified against the department's animal identification program," said the group's acting president, Pete Kennedy.

Whether the department can reach decisions before Congress makes a final decision about funding remains to be seen. In public comments, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has stressed that Congress is in early stages of setting the budget.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $14.6 million for the program, meaning a House-Senate conference committee likely will make the final decision. The Senate could vote on its bill this month but a final spending measure may not come until after the annual August recess.
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msequine
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Court dismisses Mich. farmer-led livestock-ID suit
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A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a Michigan farmer-led lawsuit seeking a halt to a national program that identifies individual livestock and poultry to track the movements of diseased animals.

U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in Washington, D.C., wrote in a decision released Thursday that the National Animal Identification System is neither a federal law nor a federal regulation. It is instead, she wrote, an identification and tracking program developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and adopted by state agriculture departments on a voluntary basis.

The civil suit was filed by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. The Falls Church, Va.-based legal group represents farmers and consumers who follow the sustainable-agriculture movement promoting the production of healthy and affordable food using environmentally sound farming practices.

The organization, along with more than a dozen farmers -- all but one of whom was from Michigan -- sued the USDA in September.

"We're disappointed in the ruling," said Pete Kennedy, the group's president. "We're still of the belief that NAIS will drive many small farmers out of business."

Kennedy said all legal options, including an appeal, were being considered.

USDA spokesman Caleb Weaver said the agency was "pleased with the decision to dismiss the lawsuit." He said the agency just finished a series of 15 hearings on the animal identification question.

"This feedback will inform USDA's next steps on this important issue," Weaver said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture started rolling out the ID program in 2003 and says it's intended to ...
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msequine
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http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=17229

Not very NAIS
New rule means some won’t participate at fair
Quote:
 
LONGMONT — To enter her children’s goats in this year’s Boulder County Fair, Kellyjo Younggreen would have to register her Broomfield farm with the federal government.

So, even though Cassidy, 13, and Ryan, 11, won 10 awards at last year’s fair — not counting the awards Cassidy won for her rabbits — the family won’t be competing at the Boulder County Fairgrounds this year.

For the first time, the county fair is requiring all entrants for livestock competitions — except rabbits and dogs — to have premises identification numbers, or PINs.

Premises registration is the first step in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Identification System. When a property owner, such as Younggreen, registers for a PIN, she must provide contact information; tell what operations are conducted on her property, such as production, exhibition or slaughter; and tell what species she keeps on the property.
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“It probably will be their last year in 4-H,” Younggreen said, explaining that showing animals is a requirement of 4-H.

Not competing also creates a financial problem, because competitors who sell their livestock get money for next year’s project.

“Because of the premises ID, I can’t sell the meat pens,” Cassidy said, referring to a competition in which a group of three rabbits is judged on the quality of their meat.

The USDA administers 4-H, so 4-H is supporting NAIS and requiring premises registration for livestock projects, according to a 4-H document on Colorado State University’s Web site.
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The Younggreens are not the only family refusing to register their property or participate in NAIS.

Debbie Taylor’s children, 11-year-old son Tyler and 10-year-old daughter Dakota, also raise goats they have shown at the Boulder County Fair. When the goats are just 3 days old, Tyler and Dakota choose the goats they want to enter for competition, Debbie Taylor said.

She had not paid much attention to NAIS until the family tried to register for the fair, she said.

After learning more about the program, which she considers intrusive, Debbie Taylor decided not to participate.

“I kind of feel like the government doesn’t need to know every move I make,” she said. “We (would) have to report every time we leave the farm and how many animals we take.”

Because she wanted the kids to compete in the fair, though, she appealed in writing to the CSU Extension office and the Fair Board, arguing that NAIS violates the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment.

...

Although her appeal to the fair board was refused, she still was hopeful Wednesday.
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msequine
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USDA Partners with Private Company to Help Sell Ear Tags
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has partnered with Allflex, a private multinational firm that manufactures and sells ear tags in more than seven countries, to help Allflex market, promote and sell ear tags to U.S. cattle producers. Both USDA and Allflex contributed $10,000 or more to become “Platinum Level” sponsors of the private industry conference ID∙INFO EXPO 2009 to be held August 25-27 at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo. Among the stated purposes of the conference is to further participation in USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a program that would significantly increase the market demand for ear tags.

“This is a perfect example of how USDA is inappropriately using taxpayer dollars to further the interests of private multinational companies,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who also chairs the group’s animal health committee. “This huge contribution clearly shows that USDA is catering to the interests of multinational corporations to the exclusion of the hard-working men and women who are being besieged both by ear tag companies and USDA to force them to comply with NAIS.”

In each of the 14 NAIS listening sessions held throughout the U.S. during May through June, overwhelming opposition was raised by U.S. farmers and ranchers against the USDA’s NAIS program.

“Despite this overwhelming opposition, and despite repeated pleas from U.S. farmers and ranchers that USDA cease catering to the interests of multinational corporations and begin listening to the concerns of U.S. citizens, the agency obviously is forging ahead to help its corporate friends,” Thornsberry said.

“Allflex is among a select list of USDA-authorized ear tag manufacturers, so its help from USDA to boost demand for ear tags under NAIS is certain to boost the company’s marketing opportunities,” he added. “We are appalled by USDA’s brazen financial partnership with Allflex and urge Congress to immediately cut all further funding to USDA for the purpose of promoting NAIS.”
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msequine
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http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091008/NEWS02/310089911/-1/NEWS

Livestock ID program funding slashed

Quote:
 
WASHINGTON — A program to track livestock nationwide will be on life support until the U.S. Department of Agriculture improves its performance.

Congress was on the verge Wednesday of approving just $5.3 million for the National Animal Identification System, which has spent $142 million since 2004 but registered barely a third of ranches, farms and other sites that would be expected to participate.
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The National Milk Producers Federation, representing farmer-owned bargaining cooperatives, has called for a mandatory system to bolster public confidence in food safety.
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To the program's critics, the system lacks the teeth to attract enough participation and has been poorly implemented by the USDA. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., ... has said the system ought to be mandatory, an argument that has gained momentum in Congress as the program languishes.

All those people who opposed NAIS and went to the Listening Sessions to state why, and the media reports that it's opposed because the "system lacks the teeth to attract participation?" And Congress, following along their usual path of not listening and doing whatever they want, now wants to make NAIS mandatory. Unbelievable!
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LeLoo
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honestly, I think I hate CONgress. and I don't hate . . .
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msequine
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http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091013/OPINION02/310139978

Mary-Louise Zanoni
 
Your Oct. 8 article on reductions in funding for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) tells only half the story. NAIS is not "generally supported by farm groups." While it may be supported by some members of the food-industrial complex, it is almost universally rejected by the grass-roots organizations that represent actual farmers and consumers. According to recent letters to Congress and submissions during USDA comment periods, the organizations vehemently opposed to NAIS include the Northeast Organic Farming Association, Empire State Family Farm Alliance, Regional Farm and Food Project (Albany), Food and Water Watch, the Organic Consumers Association, National Family Farm Coalition, Progressive Agriculture Organization (Pennsylvania), Farm Aid, Cornucopia Institute, Family Farm Defenders and dozens of other groups representing the interests of independent farmers and the consumers who benefit from a diversified system of family-scale production and alternative marketing.

As originally designed by the USDA, the animal identification system would require not only commercial farmers, but everyone who owns horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, or any other livestock, to report within 24 hours the births, deaths, sales, purchases and changes in location of each of their animals. So is it any wonder that livestock owners have been in open rebellion against this program?

Nor is it accurate to say that the program as instituted to date has been "voluntary." For example, here in New York, to obtain USDA grant money, the Department of Agriculture and Markets simply dumped their existing state databases - for example, of horse owners who had obtained required Coggins tests, or of cattle owners who had vaccinated their animals - into a giant new USDA NAIS database. The animal owners had no way of knowing that their requests for routine tests would, without any prior warning, result in their inclusion in the (supposedly "voluntary") NAIS program. Ag & Markets and the USDA later claimed that unwilling participants could (after the fact) get their data removed from the NAIS database. But USDA documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit revealed that, even when animal owners make written requests to be removed from the NAIS database, USDA does not in fact expunge the data.

From May through July 2009, USDA conducted "listening sessions" on NAIS throughout the country. Thousands of actual farmers took valuable time away from their work to attend these sessions, and over 90 percent of those who testified were against national animal ID.

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msequine
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Quote:
 
Nor is it accurate to say that the program as instituted to date has been "voluntary."
A year or so ago, the state of North Carolina required residents to register w/NAIS in order to purchase emergency hay which the state purchased with state TAX dollars.

See: http://www.ncagr.gov/HayAlert/EmergencyHay.htm
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msequine
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And on that same "voluntary" note:

NAIS Enforcement Gets Underway in Wisconsin


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...the state of Wisconsin, ...has mandated the first prong of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) National Animal Identification System (NAIS) through agency rule making, prosecution of individuals ... has begun.

On Sept. 23, 2009, an Amish gentleman named Emanuel J. Miller, Jr., was taken to Clark County Court in Neillsville, Wis., for an evidentiary hearing on complex civil forfeiture for failing to register his premises. The case immediately moved to the first stage of trial. Miller and his father, as well as their church deacon, testified as to their objections to being forced to use the NAIS premises identification number (PIN).

On Oct. 21, 2009, in Polk County, Wis., R-CALF USA Members Pat and Melissa Monchilovich are going to trial for the same charges of complex civil forfeiture. Pat and his wife raise cattle in Cumberland, Wis., and failed to register their property as a premises with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, as Wisconsin's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) requires by regulation.

...

Although the statute that enables Wisconsin's DATCP to require premises registration does indeed allow for exemptions, when DATCP wrote the regulations, it disallowed exemptions. This is a major issue, particularly with the Amish community (and others) who hold religious objections to the NAIS.
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At issue in the Wisconsin cases ...are ...the first enforcement actions in the implementation of NAIS. The fines in the charges brought against Miller and the Monchilovichs are between $200 and $5,000.
...
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msequine
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Global Animal Management (GAM) Launches Newly Designed Web Site
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ROSELAND, NJ -- 10/19/09 -- Global Animal Management, Inc, (GAM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, announces the launch of its newly renovated web site, www.mygamonline.com, designed to educate consumers on the importance of animal identification and to serve as a portal to GAM's products and services.

"GAM offers a variety of products and services that touch all segments of the cattle and livestock industry," said Jim Heinle, president of Global Animal Management. "Our new web site is particularly designed to communicate the value of animal identification and verification services, making it easy for the consumer to understand."

Educational videos provide insight into the importance of animal identification, age, source and health protocols, and regulatory requirements, including the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) laws. The videos further detail many of GAM's products and services, including Tri-Merit®, Auction Check(TM), GAM TAGs(TM), and CattlePost(TM), and how these products and services seamlessly work together to provide value-added solutions to animal identification. The web site will soon feature information on GAM's additional products and service solutions, including Eye-D(TM), Animal Tracker (GMVS)(TM), GAM Premises Management System (GPMS) and Customized Data and Delivery/Reporting.

Consumer and media downloadable literature on animal identification and tracking is available on the web site under "Tools and Resources," as well as industry links, providing direct sources to the animal food and health industry.

"GAM's product portfolio is the only complete solution offered to the cattle industry that effectively integrates radio frequency identification into value added services such as age and source and process verification, diagnostics and genomic," added Heinle. "Many of GAM's products offer the producer an opportunity to qualify for market premiums otherwise not available through traditional marketing channels. We offer these services in a simple, convenient and cost effective solution to the producer."

In addition to the many educational enhancements on www.mygamonline.com, the web site serves as a portal to GAM's products and services, providing a one-stop shop to GAM's complete animal identification solutions. The web site also makes it convenient to find a local sales representative and to sign up for product updates and new product information.

GAM offers products and services for individual or group animal identification, storage, processing, analysis and reporting. GAM was the first company to have USDA interim-approved identification database with electronic ear tags approved by the NAIS. For more information on GAM's animal identification and verification solutions, log on to www.mygamonline.com.


About Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is a leader in research and dedicated to the development, production and marketing of innovative, high-quality animal-health products for all major farm and companion animal species. For more information about Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health visit: www.intervet.com and www.intervetusa.com.

Schering-Plough is an innovation-driven, science-centered global health care company. Through its own biopharmaceutical research and collaborations with partners, Schering-Plough creates therapies that help save and improve lives around the world. The company applies its research-and-development platform to human prescription and consumer products as well as to animal health products. Schering-Plough's vision is to "Earn Trust, Every Day" with the doctors, patients, customers and other stakeholders served by its colleagues around the world. The company is based in Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA, and its website is www.schering-plough.com."


SCHERING-PLOUGH DISCLOSURE NOTICE: The information in this press release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to expectations or forecasts of future events. Schering-Plough does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from Schering-Plough's forward-looking statements, including market forces, economic factors, product availability, patent and other intellectual property protection, current and future branded, generic or over-the-counter competition, the regulatory process, and any developments following regulatory approval, among other uncertainties. For further details about these and other factors that may impact the forward-looking statements, see Schering-Plough's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including Part II, Item 1A "Risk Factors" in the Company's second Quarter 2009 10-Q, filed July 24, 2009.

Tri-Merit, Auction Check, GAM TAGs, and Cattle Post are property of Intervet International B.V. or affiliated companies or licensors and is protected by copyrights, trademark and other intellectual property laws. Copyright © 2009 Intervet International B.V. All rights reserved.

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msequine
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http://www.cattlenetwork.com/NAIS--Simpler-Technology-Fuels-Fire/2009-11-16/Article.aspx?oid=940803

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No sooner have most people pronounced NAIS dead-on-arrival, than a number of recent events may have breathed life back into the U.S.A.'s National Animal Identification Scheme. A combination of market forces aligned with a simplified tracking technology, and some rare positive news may have reinvigorated USDA's moribund, voluntary animal traceability initiative.

First the news headlines. Even though the U.S. House of Representatives had voted to cut off funding for the NAIS as part of the Farm Bill, a joint House-Senate conference committee agreed a few weeks ago to continue funding the program to the tune of $5.3 million for fiscal year 2010-2011.
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However, a growing number of Congressional members have made it clear they want to ... expand the number of farms and ranches that have registered with the NAIS premises database from the current anemic 35% to closer to the 90% needed for an effective national system.
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The second piece of good news for NAIS supporters is that U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in Washington, D.C., dismissed a civil suit filed by the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund and a group of Michigan cattlemen against the USDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) over the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
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Apparently, a number of national governments ... have made or are poised to move their systems from voluntary to mandatory.
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msequine
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NAIS Moves to the World Stage thru S 510
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Animal traceability is gaining governmental support in two key US beef markets, which may bolster reinvigoration of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in the United States, despite a recent funding cut. Japan and South Korea are now moving toward mandatory traceability on imports. South Korea plans to mandate animal monitoring by 2010, and Japan’s new prime minister vowed to mandate it for beef imports, according to a pro-NAIS report at Food Safety News.

Though NAIS remains a voluntary program despised by independent ranchers, we may see its full implementation under S 510, (fka HR 2749), the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). A summary by the Congressional Research Service advises that S 510:

“Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to … improve the capacity of the Secretary to track and trace raw agricultural commodities,” and it “[r]equires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems.”

Linn Cohen-Cole wrote a scathing critique of the FSMA in HR 2749: Totalitarian Control of the Food Supply. She believes that S 510 will mark “an end to US sovereignty over food.” She (and many others) perceive it as part of a World Trade Organization plan to grant corporations control over all food. S 510 will be raised in the Senate in January.

Behind Global Animal Tracing


The top markets for US beef are ...
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LeLoo
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:(
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msequine
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I still say there is a reason that they did not scrap this after so much opposition across the US. Our "leaders" agreed a few years ago that US citizens would participate in this global program.

It's all about control IMO. It does nothing to address food contamination caused by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), OR unsanitary conditions of meat processing plants, which were deregulated under the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) program. HACCP removed independent inspections, so food processing plants now monitor themselves. Yeah, that's worked really well. I think most of us have seen the video of the employees using their equipment to run over cows or drag them around when they were too sick to stand. OK, I'm digressing a bit and it's time to get off the :soap

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msequine
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Quote:
 
NAIS: http://nonais.org/

From an email:
Right now, huge numbers of small farms across France which were known worldwide for their cheeses, are gone. They were not allowed to sell cheeses their families had profitably sold for generations because they suddenly couldn't meet the new corporate EU "food safety" standards, (See the PBS show "The Cheese Nun" for a view of this.) Those standards were arranged carefully by corporations specifically to get rid of farmers and S 510 is designed to "harmonize" with those EU laws.

Here's what the EU is doing and what S 510 would do
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