DVD!
photo credit: adotjdotsmith
Give the Government an Earful on National Animal Identification System
Your chance to strenuously object to the Orwellian NAIS system, which seeks to number every farm animal and track their every move throughout their lifespan, is here. The USDA is holding sessions where they will listen to farmers and consumers on this program. This program is patently unfair and intrusive, it is a heavier burden on small farms than on industrial farms (they get one number for each paddock full of cows, instead of each individual cow).
This program has already failed in Australia and Europe. It costs way too much. Just think of the bureaucracy that it would create and the number of computers that it would take to track all this information. And it has failed to produce the desired result of more food safety in other countries. NAIS is meant to find the source of a pathogen outbreak, yet, it does nothing to deal with the troubling factory farming methods which create an environment for virulent pathogens. We can’t let it happen here, this one program could end our hopes for a more sustainable food system.
If you live within driving distance of one of these sessions, please plan to attend. It would be great to attend with your local farmer, or someone else who likes farm fresh food.
You can read up on the issue at farmandranchfreedom.org
USDA has posted the addresses for 6 of the 7 listening sessions on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The list is below.
NAIS is a major concern for all livestock owners, but particularly small-scale, sustainable livestock farmers because of the costs and intrusion involved. While sustainable farmers would face severe challenges under NAIS, the CAFOs effectively get a free ride because of their ability to use group identification rather than individually identifying each animal.
We’re encouraging as many people as possible to attend these listening sessions to oppose NAIS and to promote more productive solutions to animal disease and food safety concerns (like decentralizing our food supply and supporting local agriculture). You can read more about NAIS at www.farmandranchfreedom.org, and we will have flyers and other materials about the listening sessions posted soon.
Harrisburg, PA – Thursday, May 14
Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center
2300 N Cameron Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Pasco, WA – Monday, May 18
Trac Center
6600 Burden Blvd.
Pasco, WA 99301
Austin, TX – Wednesday, May 20
Embassy Suites Hotel Austin Central
5901 N IH-35
Austin, TX 78723
Birmingham, AL – Thursday, May 21
Cahaba Grand Convention Center
3660 Grandview Parkway
Birmingham. AL 35243
Louisville, KY – Friday, May 22
Crowne Plaza, Louisville, Airport
830 Phillips Lane
Louisville, KY 40209
Storrs, CT – Wednesday, May 27
University of Connecticut
Storrs Campus – Bishop Center
One Bishop Circle
Storrs, CT 06269
June 1 – Greeley, CO – location TBD – check http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/feedback
2 Comments
What!?!? No locations in Michigan, where they started to implement NAIS on March 1, 2007 under the MDA “Bovine TB Eradication” label??? Now that is your government avoiding the testing ground for NAIS, I suspect because they would have to meet up with all the people whose business they hurt.
The listening sessions have been overwhelmingly filled with people making comments AGAINST any form of mandatory NAIS.
Keep contacting everyone you can about this, we are at a tipping point. Ask them if they are really listening.
http://naisstinks.com/index.php?con=Listening_Session_051409
http://www.petition2congress.com/2/1903/veterans-against-nais
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