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USDA Drops "Big Brother" National Animal ID Program
This is great news! I knew a lot of farmers at my farmer's market were really worried about NAIS.
http://organicconsumers.org/nais_faq.cfm
USDA press release: http://tinyurl.com/ydz8h3d
USDA Drops "Big Brother" National Animal ID Program
Under pressure from small farmers and organic consumers, the US Department of Agriculture announced on February 5, 2010, that it is suspending its controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and offering a new approach to tracking animal disease and food contamination. This is a major victory for the Organic Consumers Association, our allies, and organic farmers and ranchers, who have complained that the USDA's goal of tagging every farm animal in country wouldn't do anything to prevent disease, would be unnecessary and expensive for small and organic farmers, and couldn't be enforced without violations of privacy and religion.
Already, the implementation of NAIS in Wisconsin has resulted in an Amish farmer and a small-scale cattle rancher being charged and fined for not registering, and in Michigan a cattle farmer's herd was put under quarantine and forcibly tagged when he wouldn't submit to the state's mandatory NAIS program.
The new framework focuses only on animals that move in interstate commerce. So, small producers who raise animals and move them within a State, Tribal Nation, or to local markets, as well as to feed themselves, their families, and their neighbors are not a part of the framework?s scope and focus.
Re: USDA Drops "Big Brother" National Animal ID Program
"Under pressure from small farmers and organic consumers, the US Department of Agriculture... "
Wow, that's not something you hear often! That's great!