NoNAIS.org

Friday, March 3rd, from 8am to 10am the Vermont Senate Agiculture Committee will be meeting in the Senate chamber to discuss “Animal ID” Vermont’s version of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Comments from the public will not be allowed although you can go and listen to the discussion. Now is the time to write the people listed below.

Here is a list of the Ag Committee members with contact information taken from The Vermont Legislature Directory for the House and Senate.

Senator Sara Branon Kittell, Chair
115 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05633-5301
437 Chester Arthur Road
Fairfield, VT 05455
Home: (802) 827-3274
Office: (802) 828-2228
Fax: (802) 828-2424
skittell@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Robert A Starr, Vice-Chair
115 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05633-5301
958 VT RTE 105W
North Troy, VT 05859
Home: (802) 988-2877
Office: (802) 828-2228
Fax: (802) 828-2424
No email available.

Senator Harold W Giard
115 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05633-5301
1786 Crown Point Road
Bridport, VT 05734
Home: (802) 758-2577
Phone: (802) 828-2228
Fax: (802) 828-2424
Email: hgiard@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Jeanette K. White
115 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05633-5301
35A Old Depot Road
Putney, VT 05346
Home: (802) 387-4379
Office: (802) 828-2228
Fax: (802) 828-2424
Email: jwhite@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Wendy Wilton
115 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05633-5301
165 Lincoln Ave.
Rutland, VT 05701
Home: (802) 773-3426
Office: (802) 828-2228
Fax: (802)828-2424
Email: wwilton@leg.state.vt.us or wiltons@sover.net

Rep. David Zuckerman , Chair
14 Germain Street,
Burlington, VT 05401
Office: (802) 863-2199
Email: dzuckerman@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. William Johnson , Vice-Chair
3603 RTE 102,
Canaan, VT 05903
Office: (802) 277-8329
No email available.

Rep. Philip Bartlett
26 Cooper Hill Road,
East Dover, VT 05341
Office: (802) 348-6691
Email: pbartlett@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. Bill Botzow
1225 South Stream Road,
Bennington, VT 05201
Office: (802) 447-7717
Email: bbotzow@leg.state.vt.us or botzow@sover.net

Rep. Brian Dunsmore
6086 Ethan Allen Highway
St. Albans, VT 05478
Office: (802) 524-3235
Email: bdunsmore@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. Stephen Green
242 Rowell Hill Rd.
Berlin, VT 05602
Home: (802) 223-6670
Email: SGreen@leg.state.vt.us or sjgreen@sover.net

Rep. Mitzi Johnson
P.O. Box 144
South Hero, VT 05486
Office: (802) 372-5272
Email: mjohnson@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. Richard Lawrence
196 Bean Pond Rd.
P.O. Box 181
Lyndonville, VT 05851
Office: (802) 626-5917 or (802) 626-5538
Email: RLawrence@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. John Malcolm
1822 Rupert Mountain Road
Pawlet, VT 05761
Office: (802) 325-3424
Email: JMalcolm@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. Scott Orr
20 Baldwin Rd.
Charlotte, VT 05445
Office: (802) 425-2257
Email: scottorrforhouse@yahoo.com

Rep. Harvey Smith
2516 Lime Kiln Road
New Haven, VT 05472
Office: (802) 877-2712
Email: hsmith@leg.state.vt.us

Dr. Kerry Rood
State Vet
Office: (802) 828-2421
Email: drrood@agr.state.vt.us

Carl Cushing
Director, Food Safety &
Consumer Protection
Office: (802) 828-2426
Email: carl@agr.state.vt.us

Thank you to Sharon for this heads up!

With the House of Representatives Bill HR 4167, the “National Uniformity for Food Act,” coming to a vote in Washington, D.C this Thursday, March 2. Congress is poised to forbid states from being able to require stricter guidelines for labeling of GMO/GE foods. This would mean you would not be able to know if a food is genetically engineered unless the federal Govi-Corp says you can know.

“no State or political subdivision of a State may, directly or indirectly, establish or continue in effect under any authority any notification requirement for a food that provides for a warning concerning the safety of the food, or any component or package of the food, unless such a notification requirement has been prescribed under the authority of this Act and the State or political subdivision notification requirement is identical to the notification requirement prescribed under the authority of this Act.”

This is a big issue because the large corporations like Monsanto are in control of the USDA and FDA. With their powerful lobbyiests and ex-employees on committes and working directly for federal government agencies they craft policies that favor them against the common person, against their competitors and against reason.

An example of this is that Monsanto introduced recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) a while back. rBGH causes cows to give more milk. Some farmers in Vermont pledged not to use this potentially dangerous drug on their cows. It is said that rBGH leads to a heavier user of antibiotics by farmers for their cows. With a surplus of milk and prices paid to farmers at an all time low it seems plain dumb to be spending money injecting some extra hormones into cows to get them to produce more milk.

I personally greatly appreciated seeing that rGBH-Free logo on the label as I did not want to feed unnecessary unproven chemicals and genetically modified materials to my children. Monsanto, the company we all love to hate, sued producers for labeling their products rBGH-Free. This is one of the most bizzare abuses of our legal system for the purposes of corporate greed. The monster, I mean, Monsanto, was stiffling free speach - people should be able to say they are not using product X.

Back to HR 4167, I urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to vote no so as to preserve state and local control for better labeling even when corruption prevents proper labeling at the national level. This is just one more example, like NAIS, where the Govi-Corp is attempting to overrule the Constitution and micro-manage our lives.

With one hand the USDA is allowing the processing of downer cows that are too sick to be able to walk and with the other hand it is shafting small farmers with NAIS using the excuse of protecting the national food supply. The real motivation is protecting the profits of the big meat producers, exporters and RFID industry. Ultimately the consumer will pay a heavy price. If the USDA can’t do its job right at this time, it certainly won’t be doing any better when we all are saddled with tagging and reporting every single animal in America right down to the last baby chick in grandma Cathy’s back yard.