permaculture

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

*USDA Drops "Big Brother" National Animal ID Program*

Under pressure from small farmers and organic consumers, the US 
Department of Agriculture announced on February 5, 2010, that it is 
suspending its controversial National Animal Identification System 
(NAIS) and offering a new approach to tracking animal disease and food 
contamination. This is a major victory for the Organic Consumers 
Association, our allies, and organic farmers and ranchers, who have 
complained that the USDA's goal of tagging every farm animal in country 
wouldn't do anything to prevent disease, would be unnecessary and 
expensive for small and organic farmers, and couldn't be enforced 
without violations of privacy and religion.

Already, the implementation of NAIS in Wisconsin has resulted in an 
Amish farmer and a small-scale cattle rancher being charged and fined 
for not registering, and in Michigan a cattle farmer's herd was put 
under quarantine and forcibly tagged when he wouldn't submit to the 
state's mandatory NAIS program.

--

Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
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