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  • From: "Kate Halstead" <rockyprairie@earthlink.net>
  • To: "'permaculture'" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] NAIS
  • Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 09:57:46 -0800

I attended a presentation last summer put on by WSDA (Washington State Dept
of Ag) regarding NAIS. Came away with more questions than answers.

At that time, the most common answer to questions on the specifics of how
the program would work was "That hasn't been worked out yet." While it gave
one small hope that things could indeed be changed prior to final
implementation, I fear I saw it as more of a dodge, i.e. ...we have it all
mapped out, but don't want to say anything until it is too late...

When questioned about the cost and logistics of tracking every single
critter that moves around a given state (especially thinking of small fairs,
4-H competitions, trail rides, farmers markets, etc.), it was evident they
were not entertaining the idea of the feds bearing any of the cost. Each
state is expected to figure out (and pay for) how it will work at the
state/local level and somehow get all this dissimilarly collected data to
magically merge--within 48 hours of any animal location change--at the
national level. Anything less renders the program useless to track disease
outbreak--the purported need for the whole thing.

The woman presenting the program kept referring to the concept of
"entrepreneurial folks" coming up with "great, inexpensive" tagging/data
info systems to handle this newly perceived need. Made me wonder which
database/software/tagging manufacture companies these folks own stock in.
She spoke in glowing terms of bar code readers (like at the supermarket
checkout line) and wireless transmission, etc.

Even if for a moment I thought this was a good idea--and I don't--given our
government's glaringly apparent inability to handle the data is does receive
effectively ("Hello, Mr. President, there's a hurricane headed our way."),
all I can see is a giant boondoggle that at the very least will hamstring
small producers with redtape and bungled communications, while rewarding big
agra-business for getting even bigger. On the paranoid worst-case scenario
side--absolute control over all major protein resources in this country
residing in the hands of a few.

Lastly, what I took away from this meeting was a very chilling
undercurrent--this will happen, period. It will become mandatory, period.
The day is perhaps not that far off when owning one untagged pet chicken or
rabbit will become a felony offense in this country.

Can we stop it now? I'm not sure, but we sure won't have a prayer of
stopping, or even modifying, it if we sit on our hands. Go the website and
read what it says--IMHO even their own best propagandists can't make it
sound good.

Kate





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