National Animal Identification Scheme
For those of us in the UK who remember the emergence of BSE, the classical swine fever outbreak a few years back and the more recent foot and mouth epidemic, animal identification and traceability is unquestionably A Good Thing. So much so that it almost qualifies as a no-brainer.
It can come as quite a shock therefore to stumble across blogs unashamedly dedicated to campaigning against the USA's proposed National Animal Identification Scheme.
I've come across occasional conspiracy theories among the UK agricultural community - mostly aimed at Brussels and the European bureaucrats rather than UK politicos - but nothing on the scale suggested by the blog that I encountered this morning.
http://henwhisperer.blogspot.com/2007/01/much-to-talk-about-today.html
My question to you, gentle reader, is how does one effectively address this level of suspicion, prejudice and fear to make the case for NAIS?
It can come as quite a shock therefore to stumble across blogs unashamedly dedicated to campaigning against the USA's proposed National Animal Identification Scheme.
I've come across occasional conspiracy theories among the UK agricultural community - mostly aimed at Brussels and the European bureaucrats rather than UK politicos - but nothing on the scale suggested by the blog that I encountered this morning.
http://henwhisperer.blogspot.com/2007/01/much-to-talk-about-today.html
My question to you, gentle reader, is how does one effectively address this level of suspicion, prejudice and fear to make the case for NAIS?
posted by Helena Jensen at 9:45 AM
7 Comments:
The fear is not about the ability to trace back for disease purposes or about the program itself. It is, among other things, about the other uses to which the data will be used. We have already seen instances of the system being used for purposes other than for that which it was promised to be used. There is great distrust of the USDA and the state agricultural departments who have been signing up farmers without their consent or knowledge. USDA has PAID and encouraged states to do that. There are real concerns about the effects on property values and real estate transactions once a PERMANENT ID number has been assigned to the land. There are real concerns about the effects of this burdensome and costly system on the welfare of small farmers who are currently prodicing much healthier food stuffs than the giant mega factory farm producers. There are concerns that the money and effort to set up and manage this system would be much better used to actually prevent these kinds of diseases in the first place. That's the tip of the iceberg. I suggest before you write off those of us who don't believe this system is a good idea as nut cases that you explore more about what is really being proposed here in the States.see; www.nonais.org for starters.
One more thing....
An honest question, is this information true?
"In the UK a 2004 Parliamentary Committee Inquiry revealed that they had 700 bureaucrats chasing a herd of 10 million cattle, costing Government and industry $69 per head sold, and still had 20% of the cattle on the database listed as “missing”. "
I am Henwhisperer. Interesting to find your reference to my blog. I think I can help you sort it out. The US has a Constitution that supposedly guarantees us the right to own property without be subjected to undue government surveillance. Britain, on the other hand, has no such guarantees. The British people are used to being told what to do and how to do it since WWII. I'm not being harsh on England, been there, loved it, thought the food choices in Sainsbury's were awesome.
The USDA frequently holds up the British BSE scare to us as a threat. Isn't it true that the reason it was so hard to find the animals is because the farmers, not wanting eradication, kept moving their animals around?
The USDA is a government agency running amok. While they are stamping their feet wanting us to adopt this stupid NAIS, they are busy importing cattle and pork form foreign countries, don't want to adopt Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), are reducing the numbers of inspectors at the processing plants.
Nope, here in this country NAIS is by and for industrialized agriculture and no one else.
Thanks for reading my blog. Keep coming back.
Yes, Americans are a peculiar people. That's why we came to the new world in the first place. We desire that the billions of our tax dollars designated to NAIS be spent on logical steps like research into how to eradicate animal disease threats, more inspectors in processing plants and ports, etc. By and large we feel no need to answer to a nanny government, to be catalogued and databased. We're notorious for not accepting every intrusive scheme handed to us by a few bureaucrats with a curtsy and blind gratitude, though admittedly we've slipped a bit in modern times. It's just the way we are. We will continue to fight, and we're tickled that the world is taking note.
Respectfully,
Tabletop Homestead
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oklahomans_against_NAIS
We in the United States are predominately descended from people who left Europe to be free. My family came in the 1630's from England and rolling over to a faulty ideology simply because the WTO passed the SPS and TBT agreement and OIE and Codex want every speck of food traced all the way to the final digester is an abhorrent affront to the lives that were given to allow us to be -free-.
The reality is that disease cannot be eradicated, it can simply be mitigated. We have only a few isloated spots of brucellosis and numerous programs that adequately address disease in place already. We should not be importing meat from any other country, as that is the avenue that will almost certainly bring the 'disease of concern' the USDA is so "frightened" of into our nation.
Also, since the horrendous day of September 11th, we have seen our real freedoms seriously compromised in the name of false security. Many of us are accustomed to the fact that life is not a safe proposition regardless of the levels of surveillance imposed on honest people, and would rather take our chances with God than an out of control government.
The web page listed is a great resource.
If the UK has such a great Identification system for their livestock how did this happen?
http://tinyurl.com/3d87yg
Americans love their freedoms. We have fought many wars and lost many lives to protect those freedoms. Many of us are not so eager to give up our privacy and freedoms, nor do we love a new tax and a licesnse to farm.
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