NAIS - "No Animal Is Safe"
Join us March 12, 2007 for a rally
on the Oklahoma capital steps
NAIS stands for National Animal Identification System,
the ultimate intrusive govermental scheme hatched through the
cooperative efforts of the USDA, big agri-business cooperations and the
manufacturers of radio frequency identification products - collectively
known as the National
Institute of Animal Agriculture. The program will be
implemented in 3 steps:
1 - Premise Identification: You will be asked to register
your home with the government and list all the types of livestock you
own. Your location will be pinpointed with GPS coordinates.
Currently the literature being passed out by state and federal
officials states the plan is voluntary; however with a little research
you'll discover that it's voluntary only as long as they get 100%
cooperation.
2 - Animal Identification: You'll be required to purchase
approved identification devices for your animals in the form of eartags
or microchips. If you happen to be one of the huge
birth-to-slaughter operations you will qualify to tag your animals as a
group, a very large group. If you're a small farmer or
homesteader, you'll be required to tag each individual animal. If
tags cost $1.00 (a figure simply for comparison as they'll very likely
cost more than that) and you're Tyson and are tagging a group of 5,000
chickens, it will cost you .02 cents (that's not 2 cents, it's 2/100's
of a cent) per bird. If you're a family
farmer raising a small group of free-range birds for direct sale to the
consumer who desires healthy, naturally raised meat, it will cost you
$1.00 per bird, or 5,000
times more. It's easy to see how this program could decimate the
local foods movement. The official documentation touts the
advantages of increased market access with NAIS, but the markets
refered to are global and basically only benefit corporate
mega-agriculture.
3 - Animal Tracking: If you take your animal to the vet, to the
neighbor's to be bred, to the processor, anywhere where it might
"co-mingle" with other animals you will be required to notify the
government within 48 hours. If an animal is tagged and you decide
to eat it for dinner, you will have 48 hours to report your meal.
The literature says not to worry, if your animal never leaves home it
won't have to be tagged in the first place. Through attrition it
won't take long for all the non-tagged animals to be gone, so don't
think that if you're raising your own livestock for meat that you'll be
exempt. Eventually we all have to obtain replacement breeding
stock.
You may have heard that the USDA is now committed to a completely
voluntary program. Read the fine print. The recent
statements from the USDA regarding a voluntary program actually say
"voluntary on the federal level." What that means is that they'll
pay the states to do their dirty work. In Oklahoma so far it's
been to the tune of over 1.5 million dollars. If you think this
is
simply reactionary paranoia, read the Oklahoma cooperative agreements
with the USDA.
2005
Oklahoma Cooperative Agreement
2006
Oklahoma Cooperative Agreement
2007 Oklahoma
Cooperative Agreement - part 1
2007 Oklahoma
Cooperative Agreement - part 2
2007 Oklahoma
Cooperative Agreement - part 3
2007 Oklahoma
Cooperative Agreement - part 4
See how the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and OSU are bribing
youth to solicit premise registrations
Oklahoma FFA
Association letter to agriculture education instructors
Oklahoma
Youth Premise Brochure
If any of this alarms you or even just piques your interest, please
research the sites listed below. This thing is real, it's
expensive, it's intrusive and it's just plain wrong. Please join
us in the fight and, if you're an Oklahoman, join us in support of Representative
Wallace Collins' NoNAIS bill
An attorney's
analysis of
NAIS in Texas
NoNAIS.org
Read the USDA technical documents here, even when you can't find them
on the USDA site.
NAIS InfoCentral
ARAPA - Arkansas
Animal Producers Association
The Derry Brownfield Show
"Some of the best commentary and facts on NAIS in the world."
If you're reading this as hardcopy, go to
www.tabletophomestead.org/NAIS.html for access to the information links