Another "Issue of GREAT Importance": Say NO! to N. A. I. S.

Discussion in 'Blogs' started by wildernessgal, Dec 29, 2007.


  1. wildernessgal

    wildernessgal Backwoods is a callin'

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    Please"GET INFORMED & SPREAD THE WORD!" Our ACTIONS or LACK THERE OF affect EVERYTHING... and the only way things are going to "GET BETTER" is if we let others know & FIGHT IT!!!! IGNORANCE is definately not bliss & just what our out-of-control government want so that they can continue their merry way, doing as they please wasting our hard earned tax dollars, all the while taking advantage of our busy hardworking lives/using our lack of time to take away our FREEDOMS! Come on peaple WAKEUP & HELP OTHERS TO WAKE-UP.... BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!?

    ~W~


    But anyway, what is NAIS?

    The National Animal ID program was originally designed to give the big beef producers help in getting export markets which required disease controls. The idea is that every single livestock animal in the United States will be identified and tagged. All livestock animal movements will be tracked, logged and reported to the government. The benefit is to the big factory farms who probably do need this type of regulation. They get to do single ID’s for large groups of animals. Small farmers, pet owners and homesteaders will have to tag and track every single animal.
    There are no exceptions - even small farms that sell direct to local consumers will be required to pay the fees and file all the paper work on all their animals. Even horse, llama and other pet owners will be required to participate in NAIS. Homesteaders who raise their own meat and grandma with her one egg hen will also have to register their homes as ‘farm premises’ and obtain a Premise ID, tag all their animals and submit all the paperwork and fees. Absurd? Yes - There are no exceptions under the current NAIS plan. The USDA has slipped this plan in the back door without any legislation. This is going to be very expensive and guess who is going to pay for it in higher food prices… You!



    Can NAIS affect me?

    NAIS will help some big corporations, like the big beef producers, by opening up export markets for them to other countries.
    NAIS will hurt a lot of different people including consumers, pet owners, children, homesteaders and small farmers.
    Consumers will face higher meat prices under NAIS because the cost of producing meat will go up with the addition of fees to the government to support the NAIS program. The cost of other foods, like vegetables, will likely also go up as well since the manure from meat animals is used to fertilize the soil to grow better crops. Most importantly, NAIS will result in many small farms going out of business. The consolidation of the meat industry into fewer, big, agri-biz producers means they will have more control of the market and be able to charge higher prices for the same product.
    Pet owners will be forced to register their family horse, pet sheep, llamas and other ‘livestock’ that aren’t part of the food chain. This will cost them money and be a hassle with paperwork and premise ID fees each year. Furthermore, every time you want to take your pet to the vet, on a trail ride or even just cross the road you’ll have to submit paperwork with the government and probably pay a fee. Every time. In time, they plan to do the same for pet dogs and cats. See PAWS legislation and the Vermont Pet Merchant bill that requires you to register as a pet dealer if you cat has kittens or your dog has puppies.
    Children who are in 4-H or Future Farmers of America will have to register their parents house as a farm and get a Premise ID as well as paying the annual fees and doing paper work every time an animal is bought, sold, shown or moved. This will also stifle county fairs which are already on fragile footing. Figure you’ll not be seeing livestock at fairs of the future - there will just be the midway and amusement rides that are poorly inspected, but no animals.
    Homesteaders, people who grow some of their own food, will have to register with the government as a farm and obtain a Premise ID. They’ll also have to pay the annual fees associated with that and fill out the paperwork on all of their livestock. Every time you have chicks, goats, piglets or other animals born you’ll need to register it with the government. Every time an animal dies you’ll have to register it with the government. Got a predator problem? Expect to fill out a lot of paperwork. Have an animal escape the fence and cross the road or go onto a neighbor’s property? Fill out more forms and the neighbor may have to fill out forms, too. Animals come on to your property uninvited? More forms. And no, there are no exceptions. Every livestock animal must be registered, tagged and tracked from birth to death.
    Small Farmers who sell direct to their customers will be devastated. Small farmers already work at higher costs than the big factory farms. Under NAIS they’ll have to identify each and every animal at a high cost because they can’t use the group identification techniques of the big Agri-Biz corporations. The big guys do all-in/all-out animal management. Each mass group of animals are of one gene stock and the same age. The factory farms need only apply for one ID to cover the entire group of thousands of animals. Small, traditional-style farmers have many, genetically diverse animals of different ages on their farms. Each individual animal will be required to have an ID. The result is that the cost of farming will go up greatly for small farmers. This is likely to be the final nail in the coffin of small farming. Developers will be over joyed as they buy up farm land at rock bottom prices to divide up into condos and strip malls. Rural America will turn dingy with pavement. Gone will be the fields, pastures and meadows filled with grazing livestock. Vermont can kiss it’s tourist industry good-bye.
    Sugar Mountain Farm Customers who buy our pastured pork, pigs, piglets, lambs and chickens will be looking at higher prices because it will cost us more time and money to fill out all the government’s paperwork and pay their ridiculous new fees. I would estimate that this will raise the price by $10 to $15 per animal, possibly more since the full fee structure is not yet known. More over, if you’re buying live animals like laying hens, lambs or piglets then you’ll have to get a Premise ID from the government for your home, pay the annual Premise ID fee and do any paperwork for each and every livestock animal you have as well as paying the associated animal fees. Currently you save money and get better meat by raising it yourself or buying our pasture raised products. Under NAIS you’ll pay more money for the same thing without any benefits.
    Big Agri-Biz are the clear winners under NAIS. They will get expanded export markets and legal liability protection at minimal cost. Because small farmers will be forced out of business due to all the additional fees and paperwork the big Agri-Biz corporations will gain more domestic market, bigger monopolies, more market control and higher profits. They’re salivating at the prospect. Not only that, but it will be harder for individuals to raise their own better quality food, it will cost them more money and they’ll face more paperwork and government regulation.
    Just what we all need - Not.


    Does NAIS Stop Disease?

    No. Despite recent claims by some, NAIS does nothing to stop disease or contamination in the food supply. NAIS was not intended for this purpose. The goal of the National Animal Identification System is to provide 48-hour trace back to the farm of origin in the case of problems so that the big agri-biz industry can increase their exports to foreign markets. NAIS is about expanded profits. Also realize that “48-hour track back” is 48 hours after the problem is detected. That could be weeks or even months after the problem actually occurred. NAIS is not about disease prevention - it is about track-back and more importantly expanded profits for the big corporate producers who want more export markets. Everything else about NAIS is a ruse to get the public to swallow their swill.
    Most contamination of the food supply happens after the animals leave the farm. For example if animal intestines are improperly mixed with ground beef, a hydraulic hose breaks in a meat cutting factory or if a cutting blade breaks and leaves metal shards in the food it makes the food unacceptible for human consumption. If the problem is not reported at the factory and gets discovered later after the food has already been distributed and possibly sold to consumers then there is a recall. We frequently hear about this happening in the news. There is already a system to handle this type of problem. We do not need a new layer of government, paperwork and fees for this. Furthermore, the problem has nothing to do with the farm which is what NAIS is focused on.
    As to disease, meat sold in stores and restaurants is already USDA inspected at slaughter and processing. If there were problems with disease in an animal then the inspectors should catch it at that level. Again NAIS does not help at all with disease prevention - it is after the fact and duplication of existing systems. The scary reality about meat from the big commercial producers is that there are not enough USDA inspectors so the inspection job is not getting done. This is part of why there are so many recalls. If the USDA would do its job then there would be no need for NAIS. NAIS is being used by the USDA as a diversion to hide from the fact that they aren’t up to snuff.
    NAIS does nothing to stop the spread of BSE (Mad Cow Disease). It is believed that BSE is caused by the big Agri-Biz corporations and factory farmers practice of grinding up old cows and feeding them back to cows. The common practice used to be to grind up cow parts and add them to the cow feed to increase the protein levels of the feed. This also saved money on the disposal of the slaughter wastes. That practice has already been banned. Enforcing that ban is the solution to BSE and related diseases.
    NAIS does not help with the much feared Avian Flu (H5N1) which is spread by wild birds. The biggest threat of bird flu and other diseases is to the large poultry factory style operations which have mono-genetic cultures. All of their livestock is the same genome and thus easily wiped out by a single disease incidence. NAIS will do nothing to protect them or consumers. NAIS will make it very hard for regular people like you and me to keep a backyard flock for egg and meat production. Once again NAIS is the wrong tool being used on the wrong patient. The real question here is if the government is forcing NAIS down our throats why does the USDA turn around and want to ship American chickens to China for slaughter and then back here again for consumption. Think money.
    A better solution is for consumers to buy their meat from local farmers who raise their livestock on pasture where this is a non-issue. Buying local also means that your food was produced locally, you support your local farmers and less petroleum is used to ship the meat across the country. We are being told that we should use less petrol, right?! Buying local keeps your money in your community rather than sending it far away to the pockets of big corporate ‘farms’. I put farms in quotes because what they do in their factories and feedlots is so far away from farming it is a joke. Big Agri-Biz does not like the Buy Local movement because it hurts their profits. NAIS will devastate the Buy Local movement - something Big Agri-Biz would love to see happen. Believe me you won’t see Tyson and the other big boys selling down at your local farmer’s market!
    One of the NAISty things about the USDA’s proposal is that under NAIS they can come in and take your livestock without a warrant, without due process, without a legal hearing. They can then destroy or redistribute your animals without compensation to you. Valuable breeding stock can be wiped out in the crack of an inspector’s handgun and you had better not get in their way or you could go to prison. Failure to register your home or farm with a Premise ID already faces a $1,000 a day fine in some states. This is a violation of our Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights as outlined in the Bill of Rights.
    NAIS will not prevent disease but it will dramatically raise costs for small farmers, homesteaders and ultimately for consumers. It will cost us money in fees, fines, tags and equipment. It will cost us time to fill out all the mountains of paperwork and track every individual little baby chick, every piglet, every lamb reporting every ‘event’. This added cost will drive many farmers out of business. The result will be a loss of local small farms and a consolidation of our food supply into the hands of fewer and fewer big corporations. NAIS is another example of Big Brother government helping Big Agri-Biz make more profits at the public’s expense. Remember to follow the money trail.




    How did it happen?

    The USDA is rushing the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) through as fast as it is legally allowed to do. This minimizes comment from the users who will be hit hardest: consumers, pet owners, small farmers and homesteaders. The government is slipping NAIS through as a regulation authorized under the Patriot Act rather than having it be reviewed as legislation. This allows them to get less public comment and notice. Comment periods have already closed on many aspects without people even being aware that NAIS exists.
    Meanwhile, the large ’stakeholders’, Big Agri-Biz, have had lots of opportunities to shape NAIS to fit their agenda at every turn of the draft development process. This is not democracy in action - this is an oligarchy of Big Govi-Corp doing what is best for their bottom line profits.
    NAIS has its origins in the desire of the big meat producers to be able to better sell their products in foreign markets. Certain countries which import beef have banned US beef imports because of worries about disease and contamination. In an attempt to open up these markets, Big Agri-Biz came up with the original NAIS draft plan.
    These big business factory farms were joined by animal tag manufacturers looking to maximize their market for unnecessary and costly products - what better way than to require all animals in America to be tagged!?! Making it mandatory was just all the more delicious.
    All of this resulted in trade agreements between the United States and other countries that require the United States to implement electronic identification on all pets and livestock for “Farm to Fork” tracking of all meat.
    These groups were able to advance their plan without legislative review by claiming it was a “Homeland Security” issue to secure our national herd and food supply against terrorists. This let the USDA to create NAIS as a regulation under the Patriot Act without the approval of our Congressional representatives. The worst part is that NAIS will consolidate our food supply into the hands of fewer and fewer giant corporations. The effect will be to endanger the very national herd and food supply they claim to want to protect - all while increasing the cost to consumers and taking away our traditional rights to farm.


    How will we stop NAIS?
    We can stop NAIS by getting loud. Politicians need to hear our voice, the roar of the common people headed for the polls to vote them out of office this November for letting things like NAIS happen. Our politicians have been either asleep at the switch or actively conspiring with Big Agri-Biz to take away our freedoms.
    The comment periods are still open. The USDA needs to know, in no uncertain terms, that people are not going to stand still for this sort of treatment. Big business should not be able to take over every aspect of our lives and profit from everything. Individual independence and freedom are more important to maintaining our national security than profits.
    Act now. Speak up. Be heard. Spread the word.
    Just say NO! to NAIS.


    What can I do to help?
    Here are some ways you can help make a difference:



    Get Informed

    The government’s most powerful tool in this battle for our rights is secrecy and apathy. Lets change that and take back our great country!
    1. Read the Handout. It explains the background and dangers of NAIS in a one sheet summary including web links to supporting documentation.
    2. Check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at left which answer the basics.
    3. See additional articles from this site and others - see links in the left and right sidebars.
    4. Extra Credit: Read the 84 pages of USDA draft regulations for NAIS. See the Technical Documents section of the right hand sidebar of this page.
    Stay Informed


    By staying informed you are empowering yourself against the government and big corporations that would steal away your rights and freedoms.
    1. Get email alerts from NoNAIS.org in the top of the right hand sidebar.
    2. Subscribe to the NoNAIS.org RSS feed or;
    3. Bookmark NoNAIS.org and come back often to check out what’s happening.
    4. Extra Credit: Join a NoNAIS discussion list - see right sidebar for national and state-by-state lists.
    Speak Out


    Let legislators, bureaucrats and other folks know what you think about NAIS. If they realize that this is a hot button topic they’ll want to be sure to come down on the right side of the fence - the people’s side.
    1. Sign a petition. This is the easiest thing to do but probably the one most likely to be ignored by the government.
    2. Give feedback to the USDA.
    3. Email Neil Hammerschmidt who is the USDA Animal ID Coordinator.
    4. Email or write your state legislative members. This carries far more weight than a petition. See the sample letters below. Paper letters have much more of an impact than email and it only costs 39¢ for a first class stamp. Even a simple postcard will do the trick.
    5. Email or write to your Congressional representatives in the House and Senate.
    6. Extra Credit: Organize a rally to get media attention, speak at a meeting or on a talk show.
    Spread the Word


    To break the government’s lock of secrecy we need to inform more people about NAIS. Once people find out about how the USDA is sneaking this through they get upset and want to stop it. So spread the word!
    1. Link to NoNAIS.org on your web pages and blogs. See these instructions. This also helps NoNAIS.org’s search engine page ranking.
    2. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. This helps spread the word so that other people know about the dangers of NAIS, can find this web site and take action. See the sample letters below.
    3. Pass out the NoNAIS handout to people you know, leave it at gatherings, libraries, general stores, etc.
    4. Hang-up the NoNAIS Poster and hang it up on bulletin boards. This is an eye catcher that includes tear off tabs with contact info to get people to come to NoNAIS.org to find out more about NAIS. A postal address is included for people who lack internet access.
    5. Become a mobile billboard - Put a bumper sticker on your car or hang the NoNAIS Poster. If you want you can even print your own bumper stickers using the artwork here.
    6. Extra Credit: Place ads in your local newspapers and advertising papers using your own ad design or one of these ads. Local sales paper ad spots are often very inexpensive running $10 to $150 per week depending on ad size and newspaper circulation. This will reach a great many people.
    7. Bonus Credit: Tattoo NoNAIS.org across your forehead. Note: this is only for extremists over the age of 18, not recommended if you work for a Fortune 500 company, permanent tattoos are, keep off the grass, void where prohibited…
    What ever you do, do not voluntarily signup for Premise ID. It is a slippery slope down into fascist Big Brother government. Many people are being “voluntarily” signed up without their permission so watch out for suspicious questionnaires in the mail or by phone. In most states, you are not required at this time to sign up for Animal ID or Premise ID, two of the components of NAIS. Know your rights.

    Feel free to use the sample letters below which you can copy to your email program or word processor, print, sign and send. For a more powerful message, modify the letter to fit your views or, best of all, write your own letters for the greatest impact.



    <B>Sample Letter #1:

    I am very opposed to the National Animal ID System. It is an invasion of our privacy and our rights. The real reason for the system is to give profits to the big meat exporters. Disease prevention can be better achieved through simple bio-security procedures without having to trample all over the Constitution. Please stop the USDA and states from implementing Premise ID, Animal ID and Animal Tracking. NAIS should be kept 100% voluntary. At the very least, we need an exemption for small farmers, homesteaders and pet livestock owners. Please go to http://NoNAIS.org to learn more about this unreasonable regulation.​
    </B>




    <B>Sample Letter #2:

    I am concerned that USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is going to destroy the wonderful Buy Local movement that has just been getting its feet off the ground. The burden of NAIS is going to be overwhelming for small farmers who sell directly to customers.​
    </B>




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    There is no need for tracking their animals nor is there any need to track the animals of pet owners (horses, etc) or homesteaders who are raising their own food. There should be exemptions for these groups. NAIS might be a good idea for those big, horrible factory farms and for big farms that sell into the commercial food distribution system, but it is a bad idea for local farmers.
    People interested in learning more about NAIS should go to http://NoNAIS.org
    “Should I sign electronic petitions?” Yes, but I do not have a lot of faith that they will be much good. I don’t think that the government listens to electronic petitions or puts much weight in them. Still, go ahead and do it because it is easy to do and maybe something good will come of it. However, do not just do that. Also take other actions as outlined above.</B></B>
    “Can I send money to NoNAIS.org?” No, I am not accepting donations at this time. I have some ideas for printing up masses of bumper stickers and decals to get the word out, but that project is in the future. Your voice and actions are what count most. Protecting our freedoms is a long haul project so be prepared to write letters every month to keep the ball rolling. If you really want to spend money, buy ads in newspapers, on Google and other places that will help spread the word. Some people are already doing this with great results.
    Talk about NAIS. Get other people interested. Spread the word. The government has conspired with big business to keep this quiet too long. We must speak up and be heard. What we need is the power of the voice of the people. The force of people speaking up and rejecting this absurd usurpation of our rights, our freedoms. Take a stand now while you still can. Lets once again make this be “America, the Land of the Free and the Brave!”
    Cheers,
    -Walter Jeffries
    Sugar Mountain Farm
    http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
    in Vermont

    All of the above came from the following WEBSITE:

    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]http://nonais.org/[/FONT]

    & a few other sites of interest :
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]http://www.grannywarriors.com/[/FONT]

    http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/

    http://www.newswithviews.com/Hannes/doreenA.htm

    The LINK below takes you to one of my favorite stories on the above described subject:

    http://www.westonaprice.org/farming/small_farms.html


    BTW, let's make a worthy NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION... to PROTECT OUR FREEDOMS FOR OURSELVES & FUTURE GENERATIONS!

    Sincerely,

    Wildernessgal
    (who sincerely gives a cr*p about what's going on in this world and think that people need to start making "CHANGES" before it's too late!)

    P.S. - HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 everyone, let's make a difference!!!!







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  2. nightshade7206

    nightshade7206 Monkey+++

    WOW! Hats off to ya. You did your homework for sure.
     
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