For years, Congress has been hearing the agri-industry, technology companies, and trade associations all say that NAIS is a good thing.  It will take time and repeated efforts to make them understand differently.
 
One of the critical issues in this fight is the 2007 Farm Bill.  This is different from the Appropriations Bill – the Farm Bill addresses USDA’s authority and programs, not the funding.  The U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee is now soliciting feedback on this bill.  You can submit comments online at http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/feedbackform.html  You can also send comments to:
 
House Committee on Agriculture
1301 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: 202-225-0917
Email: agriculture@mail.house.gov
 
In addition to submitting your comments to the Agriculture Committee, send them to your Representative and Senators.  If you don't know who they are, go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home and enter your zip code in the box on the left-hand side of the screen.  All of Congress will vote on the Farm Bill, so we need to educate all of them!
 
It is important to keep your comments clear and simple.  Either write a short statement, or use headings and subheadings to lead them through your arguments.  Personalize your comments, and explain how NAIS will affect you.  Make sure you clearly summarize your main points at the beginning of your letter, and tell them exactly what you want them to do.  Below are some talking points that you may wish to use.
 
If you have questions about this action alert, please contact judith@farmandranchfreedom.org 
 
Our voices are being heard in Congress.  In the fight over the Ron Paul Amendment, Congressman Duncan (Tennessee) quoted myself, FARFA Director Ron Freeman, and FARFA member Everett Phillips in a speech on the House floor - http://www.moreliberty.org/more_liberty/2006/05/speech_against_.html
 
Let’s keep working together to stop NAIS!
 
Judith McGeary
Executive Director
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
www.farmandranchfreedom.org
Join our mailing list at www.farmandranchfreedom.org/list/?p=subscribe
Donate online at www.farmandranchfreedom.org/join-online.html
 
Talking Points:
 
1.  NAIS was developed at the request of large industrial agriculture and technology companies.  The USDA has not involved representatives of the vast majority of animal owners, including small farmers and ranchers, homesteaders, and hobby animal owners.
 
2.  USDA has not analyzed the costs of the program, including the costs of the tagging, reporting, and the management of the databases.  The people who will bear these costs are those who are actually raising the animals; the people who will profit are large agricultural corporations, technology companies, and database managers.
 
3.  NAIS intrudes on people’s private lives and property rights unnecessarily.  NAIS will subject an animal owner to more surveillance than a gun owner or even a convicted sex offender.
 
4.  The burden of the program will fall disproportionately on small farmers and ranches.  These farms and ranches will face higher costs than large facilities because of economies of scale.  In addition, USDA has defined group identification in a way that will benefit only large confinement operations.  NAIS will force many small farmers out of business.
 
5.  By burdening our small farms and ranches, NAIS will actually increase the incidence of disease by eliminating those producers who use management methods focused on animal health and welfare.  NAIS will also undermine the growing local foods movement, which has revitalized our local economies and provided consumers with choices in what they eat.
 
6.  The Amish, Mennonites, and adherents of some other faiths cannot comply with NAIS without violating their religious beliefs.  While the USDA has claimed that 100% participation is necessary for disease control, this is not true and it is not appropriate to violate people’s personal and religious freedoms for this flawed program.
 
7.  NAIS cannot control disease or food safety because it does not address:
(a) the causes of disease, especially differences in management
(b) the vectors of disease transmission, including animal product imports, wild animals, and insects
(c) the unique issues posed by each species and each disease
(d) the major food-borne illnesses, which are due to poor practices at slaughterhouses and in post-slaughter food handling, and cannot be identified by tracking live animals
 
8.  We already have well-established systems for identifying and tracking animals.  We should also enforce our import restrictions, to prevent diseases from entering the country in the first place.
 
9.  NAIS is based on flawed technology.  The ISO microchips are designed to be reprogrammable, so anyone can easily change the numbers.  It will make us more susceptible to bioterrorist attacks, not less.
 
10.  NAIS is not necessary for our export market.  There are better ways to reach agreement with Japan and other foreign countries, including allowing those meat packers who wish to export beef to test their beef for BSE.  If tracing is a market benefit, let the market implement it, not a mandatory government program using our tax dollars.