Here is a letter concerning this ID and how to fight it.. I have permission to re post this in other forums~! Also you permission to copy this and send it your representatives~!
My letter to my Representatives regarding NAIS...critiques, please?
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I've pieced together a letter that I am going to send to my representatives based on several letters found on the Stop Animal ID website, as well as my own personal thoughts and because I have an awful time proof-reading something until I've moved away from the subject and come back at a later time, I thought I'd ask for help proof-reading this letter for content, repetitious statements, poor spelling/grammar, etc. Anyone want to help me out?
Here it is:
Dear Madam & Sirs:
As a taxpayer in the State of Kansas I am writing to say that I strongly oppose the implementation of the National Animal Identification System. Agribusiness, specifically The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), lobbied the USDA (after 9/11 and subsequent BSE scares) to create the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) supposedly to protect U.S. citizens and their animals from diseases. The NIAA is composed primarily to two groups – (1) large corporate producers and (2) the makers and producers of animal ID equipment. In April 2002 a task force composed of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and over 30 livestock organizations provided leadership in creating the animal identification system. Small-scale farmers involved in animal husbandry, homesteaders, and animal hobbyists were not represented. Language quoted from the Draft Strategic Plan proves this, “APHIS then established the National Identification Development Team (NIDT), a joint, State, Federal, and industry group to further advance this effort. Throughout 2003, the NIDT, consisting of approximately 100 animal and livestock industry professionals representing more than 70 associations, organizations, and government agencies, expanded upon the work plan to produce the initial draft of the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP).†(Plan, p. 4) While associations, organizations, etc. may be backing the NAIS, they did not inform their members of this proposed legislation. Chances are the members still have no idea that their freedoms are being given away.
I am writing in opposition of the National Animal Identification System because:
(1) Should the NAIS become law, we will be forced to pay fees to register our farms and animals. “Even with public funding, there will be costs to producers.†(Plan, p. 11)
(2) We will be forced to report to the national animal records repository within a short-term specified time frame the birth, death, loss of identification device, sale, or movement of any animal in our possession.
(3) We will be required to report to the national animal records repository when an animal we own attends a livestock show, participates in a trail ride, is transported to another farm for stud service, or takes part in a community parade, etc.
(4) Our personal information collected through NAIS could be disclosed – “…the USDA cannot assure the confidentiality of all the information at the present time.†(Plan, p. 15) Financial institutions were not able to keep this information confidential, so it is no surprise that USDA cannot guarantee confidentiality.
(5) The NAIS will violate the religious beliefs of minority faith communities by requiring them to become part of this computerized, technology-dependent system or abandon the livestock ownership necessary for their way of life. (Many adherents raise their own food animals and use animals in farming and for transportation. Some, by scriptural teaching, would refuse to take the “mark†of such a numbering system.)
(6) Our livestock would become part of the “national herd.†(Plan, p. 8)
Not only would small farm operators be negatively affected by the NAIS, but this legislation will do serious damage to feed store owners, farm supply houses, hatcheries that sell and ship day-old poultry, and other businesses frequented by farmers.
The most common types of meat contamination in the U.S. are the occurrences of pathogens such as listeria or E.coli in processed meat. When meat becomes contaminated at a large packing plant, millions of consumers in all 50 states are exposed to the dangerous product. Government should enact a law to closer scrutinize the large commercial food sources such as the giant broiler operations, the feed yards that produce beef, the large commercial turkey operations, and laying houses, etc. Because of over-crowded conditions and the general biological by-products of animal production, these are the places most likely to contribute in the spreading of infectious disease, not on the premises of small producers. If our government is indeed concerned with BSE, why does it not test every slaughtered animal?
Because small-scale farmers were not informed of this proposed legislation, it appears that they are willing to enter a ‘voluntary’ program as a justification of making the NAIS mandatory. We are not. Please protect the rights of those who have had no representation and, ironically, the very ones that have the most to lose – our very way of life.
Implementing the NAIS is a move that I would associate with a Communist type of government, one where the citizens have no rights but are commanded by the Government in every facet of life. This program would create millions of criminals out of honest people in the small family farms and those who refuse to surrender their rights without a fight.
The projected estimate for implementation of this plan is 33 billion dollars. Let that sink in for a second. $33,000,000,000.00 to simply implement the plan. That doesn’t include the costs to maintain it once it’s begun. That is $115.78 for every single man, woman and child in the US. It does not include the costs for farmers to microchip their animals either, so those who raise the food get to pay even more for this plan.
This plan cannot and will not do anything to make our food supply safer at all. It’s purportedly necessary to protect us from potential bio-terrorism. How? It’s impossible to protect anything through registration. The only thing that can be done is to trace it’s movements from point A to B to C, on and on ad infinitum, and destroy the small holder’s ability to provide for themselves. This plan will create a veritable monopoly by corporate agriculture and thereby seriously endanger our national economy and our food supply by creating a society that is 100 percent dependent on the government for their food needs. We saw what happens when people rely solely on the government when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. How many thousands of individuals were incapable of making their way to safer ground? How many thousands REFUSED to make their way to safer ground because they felt 'entitled' to be rescued by the government? I live in southwest Kansas in a small, rural community and yet I heard of the possible devastation that hurricane Katrina was likely to produce long before the storm reached shore, why is it then that those in the path of the storm did not take the necessary steps to ensure their safety? The answer to that question is because already we have millions of American citizens completely dependent on the government for their every need. Those of us who value self-sufficiency and personal responsibility reject this mindset wholeheartedly!
If the real purpose of NAIS is to track the food supply for instances like mad cow disease then:
1) NAIS is not necessary for horses, donkeys, guardian animals or other non-food animals - these animals are not going to enter the human food chain in our country and should NOT be tracked by the government. There are already safeguards in place for preventing the spread of disease in horses. Regulations that would require implantation of a chip to track movement and registration of premises keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates is an invasion of privacy and makes no sense for a hobby farmer who raises alpacas or a family with a pet pony.
2) NAIS is not necessary for sales direct to the consumer from the farm. In these cases there is already far better tracking of the food chain. I buy meat and eggs from small family farms in my area. I am more confident in the safety of food raised on small farms, and I fear I will lose the freedom to select my food in this way if NAIS is forced on individuals who may have to give up farming if they cannot afford expensive RFID readers or cannot keep up with the excessive reporting required by NAIS.
3) NAIS should not be at all involved with people who are raising livestock for their own family consumption. They know exactly where the food came from - they raised it. There is no need to have any government involved in our own kitchens and food that we raise in our own backyards. I see raising food for our families as a basic human right that should not be interfered with by government.
4) NAIS is a violation of the religious freedoms of Americans whose beliefs make it impossible for them to comply. For example, the Amish choose to farm and live without technology according to their beliefs and this system is a threat to their way of life.
NAIS is being implemented too broadly. To include the above groups suggests the government has ulterior motives and is trying to invade people's privacy. There should be exemptions for the above groups.
