(EDITORIAL)
I sent this letter to the following people last night. Please consider doing something similar by sending a letter to your own State Representatives.
To Senator Mark Udall:
To Governor Bill Ritter:
To Congresswoman Diana DeGette:
To Senator Michael Bennet:
As one of your constituents, I ask that you please keep your eyes out for ANY attempt to legislate or bureaucratically mandate (via the USDA) a mandatory National Animal Identification System (NAIS):
https://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/
The USDA is trialing this on a volunteer-basis with the end-goal of making it mandatory. Many of us have reason to believe that the rules were written by big Agribusiness. Their goals are NOT taking into account the devastating effect such a system would have on small-scale farmers, and self-sufficient Americans. If I have a couple of goats and a dozen chickens in my rural backyard, how am I supposed to afford the time and money that would be required to license/register these animals, install the computer chip required, and report on their every move – even if that move is into my oven?
And, just as troubling, the people who wrote the NAIS rules allow a huge corporate “chicken farm” to count all of their thousands of animals as one “unit”. So thousands of chickens kept in confined cages in a dirty environment only have to be registered ONCE, yet I would have to register twelve times for my dozen chickens?
Please keep your eye out for this. Please don’t let the language fool you or your constituents into thinking it is being done for the public good. Please consider the “other side” of their argument and the detriment to the small scale farmer and self-sufficient family just trying to get by and live the American dream.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Kind regards,
Everett Sizemore
Editor – US Recall News
www.USRecallNews.com
Resident – The Great State of Colorado
It’s good to see whenever another person takes action to oppose the NAIS. NAIS is NOT a food safety plan. Even USDA admitted that in their 2006 User Guide. NAIS disproportionately affects small farms which are not part of the industrial food chain. NAIS allows big business to continue their current practices while putting their local competitors out of business. Be prepared for even more recalls if NAIS becomes mandatory.
The USDA claimed a reason for NAIS was to track and prevent mad cow disease. Yet when Creekstone Beef wanted to test every cow they process for BSE, the USDA says they cannot!!! Creekstone had to take the USDA to court to sue for the right to test for BSE! And what does my reporting to the USDA when I take my horse off my property have to do with big ag selling beef to Japan?
There are already disease protocols in place and they work. NAIS tracking stops at time of slaughter which is when many food safety issues occur by mishandling the meat.
Imagine a government program that will track a certain segment of society closer than illegals, drug dealers or child molesters. Not since 1938, when NAZI Germany required all Jews to register their homes and property, will this one segment be so closely monitored by registering their premises, microchipping their property and filing reports when that property leaves the premises…all for the benefit of certain corporations so they can sell globally…This group will be criminalized without even committing a crime. I am am one of that certain segment of society that will be under this very intrusive program just because I own, wait for it, a horse!!!! And telling the govt everywhere i go with my horse will ensure the Japanese are eating safe American beef!!!
THE FED SHOULD SPEND MORE TIME ON MISSING CHILDREN THAN ON
CATEGORIZING AND LICENSING ANIMALS. THE RATE OF MISSING CHILDREN IN THIS COUNTRY IS PROHIBITIVE.