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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Here come Big Brother and the Chicken Police
  • Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 16:51:29 -0600


Here come Big Brother and the Chicken Police
by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/gershom_big_brother.htm

According to an article by Dr. Mary Zanoni, PH.D., in the Feb/Mar 2006 issue
of "Backyard Poultry", Big Brother is about to invade the backyards of every
American who owns even one single animal that could conceivably be used as
food. Even if you are a vegan and never use any animal products yourself, you
should be concerned about this issue, because, if passed, the new U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations could spell the end of the
animal welfare movement and the triumph of factory-farm agribusiness.

For several years now, the USDA has been asking the big producers in the
meat, egg, and dairy industries to voluntarily register their herds and
flocks under the proposed "National Animal Identification System" (NAIS). The
goal, if the USDA has its way, is to make this registration MANDATORY by
January 1, 2008 -- and not just for commercial producers. Even if you have
only one chicken, turkey, goat, goose, duck, sheep, pig, cow, horse (yes,
some people do eat horse meat), ostrich, emu or whatever -- and even if they
are beloved pets that you never plan to sell or eat, you will still be
required to:

1. Register your farm or backyard flock with the USDA, including your
name, address, telephone number, and Global Positioning System coordinates
for satellite-assisted location of your home and farm. You will then receive
a 7-digit "premises ID number" to use in all reports to the USDA. (By doing
this, you are essentially consenting to be spied upon.)
2. Register each animal individually and receive a separate 15-digit
number for each animal. This will then be programmed into a microchip and
implanted the animal at YOUR expense.
3. Report within 24 hours the birth, death, sale, or any movement of each
animal to or from your property (even to take it to the county fair or the
vet!) -- again at YOUR expense.

If this sounds like some kind of weird conspiracy theory to you, check it out
for yourself at the official NAIS website (http://www.usda.gov/nais). There
you will find an overview of the plan and the stages for implimenting it,
plus updates and statistics on your own state, including how many animal
owners have voluntarily complied with the request to register their premises.
(The microchips will come later.) The USDA, in turn, is using this "voluntary
compliance" data as "proof" that people don't object to this program -- even
though most people with backyard flocks don't even know about it. At least
one state, Wisconsin, has already made registration mandatory, with over
100,000 homes and farms registered. Other states are soon to follow, unless
people wake up to what is happening and understand the REAL implications of
this for the humane and organic movements.

Although this is being touted by the USDA as a way to track animals in case
of an outbreak of a disease or pandemic such as Asian bird flu, the reality
is, that it will hit hardest on small organic and niche farmers, people who
want to raise their own eggs or meat, hobbyists who enjoy the animals as
pets, and anyone who prefers free-run poultry or eggs to those from factory
farms. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to NAIS, not even for people like the Amish,
who, for religious reasons, do not use electronic devices. In short, this
could spell the end of the family farm as we know it. Mary Zanoni writes in
her article:

"The NAIS will drive small producers out of the market, will make people
abandon raising animals for their own food, will invade Americans' personal
privacy, and will violate the religious freedom of Americans whose beliefs
make it impossible for them to comply. The NAIS will also encourage increased
industrial-scale animal farming, and discourage the humane, small-scale
production of animal foods." (Source: "The USDA's proposed 'National Animal
Identification System': A plan for Government Monitoring and your Flock,"
Backyard Poultry, Feb/Mar 2006, p. 44)

And get this: The big companies, like National Pork Producers and Cargill
Meats, get special breaks and considerations. Rather than mark each animal
individually, they can register a whole flock of poultry under a single ID
number as the birds move through the system from chick to market. But
backyard poultry owners, small-scale farmers, or even classroom incubator
projects will have to individually register EACH CHICK as it is hatched, as
well as keep up with all the paperwork that will entail. The extra costs of
all this red tape in time, labor, and equipment (including the microchips and
the computer with internet access needed for the "within 24 hours" reports)
will NOT be funded by the government. Even the USDA admits this on their
site. For small-scale family farms already on the edge economically, this
additional bureaucratic burden will be the death knell.

So I ask myself: Are the USDA and the meat industry using the "mad cow" and
"bird flu" scares to get this plan implimented without public protest? Quite
possibly. It is no accident that recent news stories about bird flu show
free-run birds being hauled off by workers in anti-contamination suits,
while, at the same time, touting the "safety" of poultry raised under roofs
or in cages in the commercial [read "factory farm"] industry. Even though
Asian bird flu is difficult to catch unless you are actually slaughtering
birds, people are now panicking over it. To the general public, the NAIS plan
probably sounds like a nice, modern, efficient way to protect the food
supply. But people in the organic, vegetarian, and animal welfare movements
know that meat produced in factory farms and feedlots is MORE likely to pose
a threat to public health. "Mad cow" disease, for example, is not caused by
free-run cattle grazing in a field. It is caused by feeding cows commercial
feeds contaminated with the virus from ground-up animal parts -- something a
cow would never choose to eat in its natural diet. As Zanoni explains:

"The NAIS is touted by the USDA and agricorporations as a way to make our
food supply 'secure' against diseases or terrorism. However, most people
instinctively understand that real food security comes from raising food
yourself or buying it from a local farmer you actually know... Ultimately, if
NAIS goes into effect, more consumers will have to buy food produced by the
large-scale industrial methods which multiply the effects of any food safety
and disease problems. (Ibid, p. 45)

What can you do? Zanoni recommends that small-scale farmers and backyard
animal owners should NOT participate in any so-called "voluntary" NAIS
registration programs. I agree. Instead, we should get organized and create
an effective movement against this unholy marriage between the USDA and the
argricorps. Here are some activist suggestions:

(continued at http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/gershom_big_brother.htm )





  • [Livingontheland] Here come Big Brother and the Chicken Police, TradingPostPaul, 04/22/2006

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