All kinds of (bad) puns come to mind when one reads about stakeholders and steering committees in the ongoing debate about a federal mandatory identification program for cattle. But it’s no laughing matter.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has begun a “listening tour” (thank you, Mrs. Clinton, for your awful contribution to the popular lexicon), to “gather” public opinion regarding the mandatory registration of livestock. This is a proposed expansion of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), implemented in 2004 by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), to enable a quick response to disease outbreaks. The program was developed by the USDA in response to the disclosure of the first case of Mad Cow Disease in the United States in December 2003. Participation in the current program is voluntary.
The cattle ranchers object to making the system mandatory for several reasons.
- Expense. For each animal, the required tags are estimated to cost from $10 to $20. It is enough of an expense that it would drive hobby farmers out of business. The USDA projects full implementation to cost $228 million annually. The cattle industry would be responsible for about 90%.
- Unnecessary. “I’ve spoken to vets and they say the system we have now to pinpoint diseases is actually faster than the new one,” said Arkansas rancher Warren Phillips.
- Infringement of Property and Privacy Rights. More government bureaucrats will regulate and interfere with people’s lives and businesses.
- The Constitution Trumps Treaties. Secretary Vilsack is concerned that foreign markets will reject American meat imports if mandatory individual identification is not implemented.
“Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. I say the same as to the opinion of those who consider the grant of the treaty-making power as boundless. If it is, then we have no Constitution” — Thomas Jefferson
“More and more people are recognizing that implementing NAIS will do little if anything to improve animal health or food safety in the United States since most animal health problems are the result of the high-density (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) CAFOs that concentrate thousands of animals in one location. Food safety problems begin at the slaughterhouse where NAIS traceability ends,” said Taaron G. Meikle, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund board member. “By implementing NAIS, which requires small farmers and ranchers to track each animal individually while allowing CAFOs to track all animals under one blanket Group Identification Number, the USDA would be rewarding factory farms whose practices encourage disease, while crippling small farms and the local food movement in the name of increased international sales.”
It is time to cry foul.
See Also:
Secretary all ears on animal ID tags [Arkansas Democrat Gazette; May 17, 2009]
Vast Majority of Speakers at USDA’s Listening Tour on the National Animal Identification System Say No to NAIS [Earth Times; May 15, 2009]
Arkansas Animal Producers Association
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