The USDA has stated that the existing programs are sufficient to protect the American consumer from Mad Cow Disease (BSE) and thus NAIS is unnecessary. The quote below is direct from the USDA’s own web site about BSE they state that there is no need for the proposed National Animal Identification System because the existing protective measures are sufficient. This is very interesting in light of the fact that the USDA has been using BSE as the major argument for NAIS.
Q: Are the protective measures in place sufficient to ensure the safety of the human food supply in light of the June 2005 BSE positive cow?
A: Yes, the protective measures put into place in July 2004 by FDA ensure that cattle materials that carry the highest risk of transmitting the agent that causes BSE are excluded from human food, including dietary supplements, and cosmetics. These measures, along with similar measures established by USDA, provide a uniform national BSE policy and ensure the safety of human food.
Note the use of the past tense “similar measures established“. This document was dated January 15th, 2004 and was up dated September 15th, 2005 so it is current information. All of this is pre-NAIS. NAIS is in the future tense still as it is not even proposed to be established until 2009.
The USDA’s existing measures are sufficient to handle BSE, and other disease for that matter. In otherwords, NAIS is a redundant and unnecessary waste of billions of dollars in tax payer and small farmer monies and time. So why are they doing it you might ask? NAIS is not about disease. NAIS is about increased meat export markets for the large producers and meat packer industry. NAIS is about profits. NAIS should not be a mandatory government program forced down the throats of small farmers, homesteaders and pet owners. It should be strictly voluntary and those who are going to benefit from NAIS should be the ones paying for it, not the American consumers who won’t even be eating that exported meat.
Just so as to make sure the USDA does not try and hide this page, like the shell game they have already played out, I have archived a copy of it and a screen shot. I would suggest that if you find interesting pages on the web you save them to your hard drive as well as bookmarking them. Thus there is a distributed network of backups of important documents so the government can not deny things later.
The Need For Nais…
Walter at NoNAIS.org brings us some interesting information about the need for NAIS. All along the government has proclaimed that Nais is necessary to control diseases like BSE. According to the US Food and Drug Administration;
Are the protective …
Trackback No Mandatory Animal ID — February 28, 2006 @ 6:47 am
The Need For Nais…
Walter at NoNAIS.org brings us some interesting information about the need for NAIS. All along the government has proclaimed that Nais is necessary to control diseases like BSE. According to the US Food and Drug Administration;
Are the protective …
Trackback Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere — February 28, 2006 @ 6:48 am
Below you can find links to the laws which are already on the books which deal with agricultural emergencies:
County (name) in which you live:
Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan also known as CEMP
State:
Look under your state name and Comprehensive Emegency Management Plan (CEMP)
Look particularily at ESF 25 dealing with animals and all appendix’s under ESF #25
Executive Order 12656–Assignment of emergency preparedness responsibilities-Continuity of government
National Response Plan
Comment Cathy Sorenson — February 28, 2006 @ 9:47 am
This is the USDA Disease Protocol RIGHT NOW: (sufficient don’t you think?)
From GAO (Government Accounting Office) Report 05-214
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05214.pdf
Disease Protocol:
If an animal is suspected of having a disease a sample would be collected from the animal.
Federal officials will Federal Express the sample to NVSL or Plum Island.
USDA technicians would diagnose within 3-4 days.
During this time all other animals in the vicinity of the sick animal would be quarantined.
Should the USDA confirm the “presence of a disease” the affected herd and all cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and wildlife-infected or not-within a minimum 10 kilometer zone around the infected farm would be killed. Pg 31
If the disease were to spread beyond the initial zone, authorities would continue to quarantine and kill animals until the disease was “stamped out.”
Yet until animals are vaccinated, USDA will have no recourse but to slaughter animals in a systematic manner to contain the spread of the disease. Pg 37
Confirmatory testing is done for several reasons, including economics and trade relations. USDA officials told us they believe that caution should be used in spending public funds and that the particular virus and strain or type of virus must be known before expending resources.
Rapid diagnostic tools are designed to yield results in less than an hour and are intended to be used outside of specialized laboratories, at the site of an outbreak. Importantly, the tools can detect disease before the animal shows clinical signs of infection. Pg 32
Decon- the person who collected the sample, can then be decontaminated using a common solution, such as acetic acid (vinegar)in the case of FMD.
The mobile unit would be located just off the farm to eliminate contaminating the unit. Procedures would be the same as those for any official taking a sample from a farm suspected of having a highly contagious disease. Pg 35
Comment Cathy Sorenson — February 28, 2006 @ 10:57 am
I agree with this post except for this part:
“This document was dated January 15th, 2004 and was up dated September 15th, 2005 so it is current information. All of this is pre-NAIS.”
Not it isn’t. In the Draft Strategic Plan it states the “effort began to take shape in April 2002”. In Oct 2002, APHIS established the National Identification Development Team who in 2003 worked on the initial draft of the US Animal Identification Plan. Then it states that 12/30/03 the Sec of Agriculture “announced additional protection to guard against BSE and indicated that USDA would expedite the implementation of the NAIS”
Comment Brian — February 28, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
The last cow found infected with BSE was a 12-year-old in Texas, three years older than the law which disallowed the feeding of brain tissue to calves. They were able to trace her back to her herd, and 29 of her prodginy were tested (two were found infected). They were capable of doing this without NAIS. Ergo, there is no need for it.
Comment b_heart — March 1, 2006 @ 6:32 am
I show at AQHA horse shows, and we have to show medical records for our horses to be able to show. What good could come from having the goverment get involved.
Comment Horseapple — March 1, 2006 @ 7:41 am
Horseapple’s comment says it all, food and non-food animals alike! If the private sector is getting the job done, then why get the corruption of government involved?
NAIS is at best redundant and at worst will cause the rules to be relaxed, by either creating a false sense of security or by imposing even more counter-productive mandates.
Animals are an investment of time and money. Only a fool would take chances with such an investment.
It seems to me that the real risk of disease is not the animals, but the fools. Let’s tag and track them!
Comment Jason — March 1, 2006 @ 11:15 am
Thank you for all your work to fight for our freedoms. I would like to send you a donation. What is your mailing address or can I do it through pay pall instead?
[I’m not really setup for donations and so far my own costs are pretty minimal. Some people have sent me checks in the mail. So far I have not done anything with them as I’m not sure how to handle them. A better idea would be for you to use your money to buy advertisements in your own local newspapers, classified papers, make up bumper stickers to pass out for free, t-shirts, lawn signs, buttons, etc. Anything that will get the word out. Quite a few people have done this and it frees me up of the task of having to figure out what to do with money. :) You can find artwork for these sorts of things if you need it in these two directories: ImagesMisc and Ads. There is also the NoNAIS Poster and the NoNAIS Handout. Have at it and spread the word! -WJ]
Comment Karen — March 10, 2006 @ 8:10 pm