Missouri legislators have introduced several bills in both the House and the Senate to limit or stop NAIS.  One of them, SB 931, was passed by the Senate on February 19, 2008, and has now gone to the House.  It has not been assigned to a committee yet, and word is that it won't be for a couple of weeks.

The committee approved a substitute of SB 931 which is much shorter than the original bill.  It now states:

267.168. 1. The state of Missouri may support a voluntary animal identification program, subject to appropriation. The department of agriculture shall not mandate or otherwise force national animal identification system (NAIS) premises registration without specific statutory authorization from the Missouri general assembly.  
2. Any person who participates in the national animal identification system may withdraw from the system at any time. All personal information relating to a participant shall be deleted from the system when the participant withdraws, unless the participant is part of an ongoing disease investigation.

This bill is not as strong as previous bills, and does not include explicit protections against coercion.  But it is a positive step.  The pro-NAIS organizations oppose the bill, so the legislators need to hear from the grassroots!

Take Action

SB 931 has not yet been assigned to a committee in the House.  As soon as it is, we will post the members of the committee. 

1)  Contact the Governor:

Office of the Governor
Room 216, State Capitol Building
Jefferson City MO 65101
Telephone: (573) 751-3222

Website contact form: http://www.gov.mo.gov/constituentform.htm

2)  Contact your Representative.  If you don't know who represents you, you can find out at http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx

Message: "I want you to support SB 931and stop NAIS in Missouri." Then you can talk about the reasons NAIS should be stopped and this bill should be passed.

If you have a few minutes, ask to speak to the staffer who handles agricultural issues.  Have a discussion beyond the basic message that you want them to support SB 931.  Ask them what they already know about NAIS, explain your objections to it, and respond to the issues they bring up. Stay in touch through email after the phone call, so that they know you really care about this issue.

Talking Points 

• NAIS will hurt Missouri's economy:
  • There has been no cost analysis by USDA or Missouri Department of Agriculture 
  • Costs of the program include the cost of the tags, hardware, software, time and labor 
  • Many small farmer and ranchers cannot afford these costs 
  • Service providers (veterinarians, feed stores, auction houses, meat processors, etc.) will be harmed when the farmers and ranchers go out of business. 
  • Remaining farmers will pass the costs on to consumers, adding to inflation
• Neither the USDA nor the state agency has scientific proof show that NAIS will improve disease control:
  •  It does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of disease, in domestic or wild animals.
  • It does not significantly improve on current methods for identification and tracking of disease.
• NAIS is not necessary for the market. Age- and source-verification is already available through the USDA's Process Verified Program
• NAIS will not improve food safety:
  • USDA itself has stated that this is not a food safety program
  • Contamination of food with e. coli and other bacteria occurs at the slaughterhouse or afterwards, while NAIS will stop before that point.
• NAIS will not protect against terrorism:
  • The microchips chosen by the state can be cloned, destroyed, or infected with computer viruses, and reprogrammed. Any terrorist or thief can use this.
  • The database of information, created by the state agency and available to USDA, will provide a target for hackers.
• NAIS infringes on people's constitutional rights, including due process, privacy, and religious freedom.
• USDA states that NAIS is voluntary at the federal level, so there is no "federal mandate" requiring Missouri to implement this program.
• Other states are also rejecting or limiting NAIS, so Missouri will not be disadvantaged by refusing to participate.

More Information

 Missouris' legislative website: http://www.moga.mo.gov/

Last updated January 28, 2008