The USDA claims there are no depopulations related to the USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
They also now say that NAIS is not a disease control or eradication program. This conflicts with the stated objectives and description of what is NAIS on the USDA’s own web sites:
Apparently transparency in government is not a familiar concept. They also take next to forever to answer FOIA requests.
Interesting. We’ll have to ask them what it is for if it’s not for disease control.
Have you also noticed they now say NAIS is voluntary for people not currently participating in a disease control program? IOW, anyone who is currently doing the right thing by testing will be automatically rolled in if they continue to test. That’s how they will get all the horse owners who use Coggins reports.
I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to post the following info about an upcoming NAIS seminar with the PA Equine Council on Nov 21&22 at the Penn National Racetrack & Hollywood Casino near Harrisburg. Hammerschmidt, PDA, ESWG members, and the Penn State researchers will all be there on the 22nd. There is a $30/person, $50/couple registration fee that must be paid by Nov 14. I can’t figure out how to hand code the link, so just google PA Equine Council and click on registration form for the 2008 forum and meeting.
Comment Barbara — October 31, 2008 @ 6:24 am
Have you watched RFID-TV’s Monday Night Live (Saturday was taken though neither show is funny anymore!) call in show. Most of the calls were carefully crafted to promote how nice and innocous premise registration will be. Bruce Knight was on the panel and claimed all sorts of animal id tags are approved by the USDA- “we do not want to get in the tag business”).
The show clearly promoted premise registration (the word NAIS was avoided) how it is free to sign up and the govt already has the info you will be giving anyway and the right thing to do!)
They hijacked all the reasons Walter gives for not needing NAIS and twisted those reasons to promote NAIS (market driven, consumer confidence, etc)and how they substitued the word COOL for NAIS. watch it and have a barf bag ready, these snakes are slicker than snot on a doorknob.
“All ya gotta do is sign up and if you want to go further with the program it is up to you!” Just like teen boys who ask for just one little kiss, then another, then another and before you know, you’ve been….well, you know the rest!
Oh and the reason they gave for importing beef…it is needed for cheap fast food burger joints while the better cuts from US beef are sold in US supermarkets and the foreign markets want those less glamorous cuts (tongue, organs, etc)
Comment esbee — October 31, 2008 @ 11:06 am
In one of those funny ironies, tongue and other organs like liver are actually high class cut although they don’t seem to have much mass appeal. It is the white table cloth restaurants that buy most of ours. While I didn’t get a white table upbringing, we did eat liver and smoked and boiled tongue. It is most delicious. Same goes for heads, hocks and trotters (pigs feet) which are great for making pigs head cheese, stews, broth and soups. There are very old country recipes for all of these things but they don’t find their way into the urban plate very often. But, with the coming economic changes perhaps people will rediscover these good foods.
Comment walterj — October 31, 2008 @ 11:15 am
I put the recent memo about NAIS going mandatory on the NH small farmers list and this the response I got from a NH vet.
Sue
Having just completed training in foreign and emerging animal diseases via Texas A&M’s Vet school and now pursing further training via Homeland security in their FAZD program which is about animal diseases that can transmit to humans I think that one has to embrace the real realities of mother nature and taking on the responsibilities of owning and transporting livestock….
In the event you are involved with livestock whether it be rabbits turkeys, cattle etc there are a number of very significant diseases that occur on US soil and in various parts of the world that if they occur or emerge in a new form can rapidly become devastating to not only the livestock industry, US commerce, and international trade not to mention potentially lethal in some cases to humans.
The list mentioned actually includes numerous diseases that are already part of mandatory surveillance programs that exist in the State of NH. Their monitoring for many years has resulted in eradication of a number of diseases both in NH and across the country. Oddly there are other numerous diseases that are not listed that if occur will stimulate a response I think you would find sobering to say the least.
I think one would be very naive to think in the event there were an outbreak of foreign or emerging animal disease that the individual would maintain any privacy or control of their farm and animals. A swift and comprehensive response would be mandated to curtail the damage. Mandatory isolation, possible special vaccine stores would be deployed, and if necessary the afflicted hot zone would be destroyed in the proper humane fashion.
As livestock owners I would encourage you to further educate yourself on this subject. I think the most important point is in the event their is an outbreak whether via mother nature or bioterroism, the first line is always going to be the FARMER/LIVESTOCK PRODUCER
NAIS is just one part of a comprehensive program to increase our ability to deal with such issues
Dr William Peternel
Rock Farm Natural Beef
Comment sue — November 2, 2008 @ 1:36 am
Dr. Peternel seems to have drunk the coolaide. I wonder if he would consent to being tagged and tracked. I mean, we should know his whereabouts, and breeding schedule. It may be vital to know who he’s co-mingled with and where his associates are now. There could be a further outbreak of idiocy and we might need to trace it back to the source and find out what other pultroons are affected. I fear that Texas A&M Vet school may be one of the sources of infection. . . .
Comment Podchef — November 3, 2008 @ 9:37 am
Sue,
I wrote him a LONG e-mail letter outlining the USDA program of reducing disease testing by 90%, having Mexicans check for disease at the border (TB now in US). Stan Painter’s testimony showing USDA ignores noncompliance reports. The fact that not one Quality Engineer is willing to defined ISO and Japan does not endorse it (ISO/OIE’s Guide to good farming practices) plus pointers to treaties regs etc. showing the corporate takeover of food.
I hope I wake the dude up.
Comment Snazy snezy — November 3, 2008 @ 10:34 am
Interesting that the USDA doesn’t have a record of eradications by state especially when they are the ones doing it where scrappie is concerned. One producer we deal with lost a quarter of his flock to eradication for scrappie when a ewe they sold 3 years before developed scrappie symptoms. It took the USDA 5 months to find and inform them of the ewe’s disease (USDA had the scrappie tag from the ewe from their farm) and then USDA confiscated a full 25% of their flock (animals “that may have been exposed” to this ewe including lambs even though she had not been in their possesion for 3 years); killing all of the animals, testing them (at the farmer’s expense), concluding that none of the animals were scarppie positive and then paying them the then market price of commerical lambs for purebreed animals. They are also required to be in the mandatory scrappie program, with DNA testing for their sheep. It has taken them 3 years and a great deal of money to recover back to the point they were with one of their purebreds, they have been cutting back on thier 2nd breed since the eradication.
Yup, the government is here to help you.
Comment Lorene — November 4, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
It doesn’t surprise me that your veterinarian would take this position.. After all veterinarians will stand to gain a lot of business when it becomes mandatory that a veterinarian be responsible for all health care of the “national” herd.. never mind that you have to feed, house and clean up after the animals, they get to decide vaccination schedules, worming schedules, and of course the mandatory chipping of all of your non pet/livestock..Its a money grab and people need to wake up to this fact and stop it before we wind up with them coming to the gate and destroying all we have worked so hard to build up on our own hook. MY horses do not belong to the national herd. The government does not pay for all their feed and medication and do the chores. My animals seldom leave the premises unless I am riding one of them down the roadside and I am damned if I will report to uncle sam every time I want to go for a ride in the park, or when one of my peacocks crosses the street. As for chipping each animal, they can go take a flying f—at a rolling doughnut if they think I will voluntarily allow this to occur here.
Comment Deb — November 5, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
Need to point out that FRID chips cause cancer. Google RFID linked cancer sept 2007. Should bring up the AP stories about how the chips cancer in mice tests and dogs etc. If they are promoting it for health reasons fight it for health reasons. Fight fire with fire.
Comment James — November 13, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
Sorry James but you show me one case that chips cause cancer other than what the critics want you to think.There’s over 10 mill pets chips and thousands of pets returned monthly because they were microchipped.I do not support this for humans but were talking about animals here.
[Tim, you really need to start doing your research before opening your mouth. Google is a valuable tool. Learn to use it. There have been articles on both this web site and others regarding research into the cancer causing effects of RFID chips. Since you’re so antagonistic I won’t bother doing your work for you since I’ve already done it repeatedly in posts in the past. As to the issue of humans vs animals, you apparently are not aware of the drive to do RFID chip implantation in humans as well. Get a clue. -WJ]
Comment Tim — November 15, 2008 @ 8:37 am
Tim,
Are you one of those people who think opposing NAIS is about animal rights? Where does our government get off ordering any private citizen to insert a microchip into their personal property? If they want to insert a chip in my horses, they better buy them first. Besides links to cancer, chips are also known to cause other adverse reactions in some animals. I’m not willing to let the gov’t use my horses as guinea pigs in their experiment.
Comment Barbara — November 15, 2008 @ 11:24 am
Astually WJ you need to update your research.Verichip has been bought out by Stanley works for 45 mill.All they wanted was The baby braclet moniters And the Roamalert for senior citizens.The Verimed patient ID.has been shelved.Nobody wants chipped.
Here we are talking about a rfid eartag in a cow for god’s sake.Get over your attitude.
P.S.If the chips cause cancer why hasn’t all the babys and seniors wearing rfid braclets developed cancer?
[Tim, my research is very up-to-date, thanks. You apparently missed all the posts that covered these topics. You really need to go back and read everything on NoNAIS.org. It should keep you out of trouble for a while. As to your last question, apparently you’re not understanding how cancer causing agents work. They don’t cause cancer in all subjects exposed to the carcinogen. Rather there is an increased risk of cancer. Additionally there is a tremendous difference between a RFID bracelet and an implanted RFID chip. Again, you need to research before you stick your foot so far down your throat. You look very funny in that position. -WJ]
Comment Tim — November 15, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
Tim are you aware of the NLIS, Australia’s version of NAIS?
They hate it AND it is not working–
text
1– failure of chips and readers, resulting in more time taken to process cattle.
2–the high fines the owners have to pay for computer glitches, even when proven it was not their fault
3—loss of ear tags and cost of replacement and fines connected to losses
4– 11 million phantom cattle in the database
5—-NLIS admits they lied that the program is succesful and loved by the ranchers when in reality it is not working and hated.
6–losing their foreign market due to NLIS not working
7—the Aussie ranchers to are warning us NOT to do NAIS.
Comment esbee — November 16, 2008 @ 8:55 am
New Public Disclosure Docs posted at:NoNAISWA
Take a moment to check them out. They may include your state. No commentary, just unadulterated government documents.
The engagement for traditional farms continues.
Comment Joy — November 16, 2008 @ 7:27 pm