For information on food safety bills, scroll down this page to the second action alert  

Action Alert #1: Submit Comments to the Subcommittee

At the Congressional hearing last week, it was very clear that many members of the Subcommittee on Livestock believe that NAIS should be mandatory because they view NAIS as a food safety program and critical for animal health in case of a “catastrophic outbreak.”  One member said, in essence, that the costs to farmers financially and in loss of privacy must be weighed against the "cost in human life" if NAIS isn't implemented.  But there is absolutely no scientific basis for these claims!

The reality is that NAIS will do nothing to improve animal health or food safety.  What NAIS will do is impose government surveillance and significant expense on animal owners for no real benefit to the public.  The only ones who will benefit from NAIS are the meat packers and exporters, tag manufacturers, database managers and other large corporations.  For more information, go to www.farmandranchfreedom.org

TAKE ACTION:  You can send written testimony to the Subcommittee before Friday, March 20.  Send your testimony to the Hearing Clerk, Jamie Mitchell, at Jamie.Mitchell@mail.house.gov or fax to 202-225-4544.   Put “March 11 Hearing – Animal Identification Programs” in the subject line.  Keep your comments clear, polite, and concise.

And be sure to send a copy to your Representative and Senators!  A copy of your letter to the Subcommittee makes a great follow-up to the phone call we suggest below (see Take Action #2 – Food Safety Bills).

Sample Letter

Email to Jamie.Mitchell@mail.house.gov  or fax to 202-225-4544.

The Honorable David Scott
Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture
Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
1301 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C.  20515-6001
 
Re:  Testimony for March 11, 2009 Hearing on Animal Identification Systems
 
Dear Chairman Scott and Subcommittee Members:

I urge you to reject the USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS).  I am a _________ (horse owner, small farmer, consumer of organic foods … tell them why you care about this issue) 

Never before in the history of our country has a person had to report to the state simply because he or she owns animals. NAIS represents an unprecedented expansion of the government bureaucracy into people's private lives and infringes on our property and privacy rights. NAIS will impose heavy burdens on livestock owners, driving many small and medium-size farmers and ranchers out of business. These burdens will also discourage people from owning livestock, such as horses, as pets. The economic effects will be wide-reaching.

The questions and testimony at the hearing indicated that there are two critical misconceptions about NAIS, namely: (1) that NAIS is needed for animal disease control; and (2) that NAIS is needed for food safety.  Both are incorrect.

The government already has in place existing programs and systems that, while not perfect, are sufficient to track disease.  Despite repeated requests, USDA has completely failed to produce any scientific studies or analysis to date that shows how NAIS would improve the ability to respond to a disease outbreak.  In fact, the one-size-fits-all approach of NAIS runs counter to basic epidemiology and risk assessments.  Disease must be addressed on a species-specific basis, with an understanding of the causes of the different diseases and the ways the diseases are transmitted.

As for food safety, NAIS will not address the most common sources of food contamination, such as by e.coli or salamonella. The tracking under NAIS ends when the animal dies, while contamination by bacteria and viruses occurs after that point, either at the slaughterhouse or during processing.  If the Subcommittee wants to devote resources to traceability in the meat supply chain, I suggest you start by tracing back the contaminated meat found in processing plants to the slaughterhouses where the contamination originated.

Rather than protecting us from disease, NAIS will increase the consolidation of our food supply into the hands of large companies who are willing and able to accept the financial burdens, and the government intrusion of NAIS. This will make us more vulnerable, not less, to the spread of disease and disruptions in food supply, whether from natural disasters or terrorism. Our safety and security lie in a diversified, local food supply.  

I request that you stop the implementation of NAIS by the USDA and work with both producer and consumer groups on real solutions to our animal disease and food safety issues. 

Sincerely,
Name
Address
City, State Zip

Action Alert #2: Flawed Food Safety Bills in Congress

Many of you have been hearing about HR 875, a food safety bill that has been introduced in Congress.  Although some of what has circulated the internet is not accurate, HR 875 does pose serious problems for small farmers and their consumers.  Unfortunately, there are already four other "food safety" bills that also pose serious problems:  HR 814, HR 759, S 425, and S 510.  HR 814 is essentially a mandatory NAIS bill, while the others focus on produce, processed foods, and game under FDA jurisdiction.

We understand the pressure that Congress faces to improve the safety of the mainstream food supply.  But the proposed bills would create significant burdens on small farms, which are not the source of the food safety problems.  Congress needs to focus on solving the real problems, not simply expanding agencies!  All of the food safety bills suffer from a “one-size-fits-all” approach.   The federal agencies’ past actions clearly show that, unless Congress places strict limits, they will impose burdensome and unfair regulations and enforcement actions on small farms.

We don't know which of these bills will move forward to committee hearings -- or perhaps another bill, not yet filed, will be the one to move forward.  So we encourage everyone to send a clear message: Protect our farms from bad regulation!

TAKE ACTION:  Call your U.S. Representative and Senators.  If you do not know who represents you, you can find out at www.congress.org or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.  Ask to speak to the staffer who handles food safety issues.

Talk with the staffer about why you support local foods.  Tell them you oppose S425, S510, HR 814, HR 759, and HR 875.  Ask that they support a food safety bill that focuses on the real threats to food safety, such as uninspected imports from China and lack of inspections of massive slaughterhouses and other factory processing.

Tell them you want any food safety bill to explicitly exempt small farmers.   Explain that this issue cannot be left to the agencies' discretion, and you want any laws limited expressly to the large factory farms and processing facilities, not small and local producers.

Click here for more information on the food safety bills