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The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) has been alleged as a three component program, however now a fourth component
facade is starting to reveal itself.
The first step of NAIS is premises enrollment, next animal identification, and then coast to coast 48 hour animal tracing.
USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Bruce I. Knight has promised that the NAIS program is easy to
enroll and totally voluntary on the federal level, “if . . . enough livestock owners enroll so it does not have to go
mandatory.”
The NAIS program has distributed thousands of “selling” USDA press releases quoting Knight. The constant controversy
of NAIS has placed the Knight name among the top ten Internet bureaucrats according to Google, with Bruce Knight or Bruce
I. Knight showing up over 17,000,000 times.
The fourth Component is meticulously touched by Knight, “If USDA decides to make all or parts of the NAIS mandatory,
APHIS will follow the normal rulemaking process.” With rules, laws, inspections, taxes, regulations, or licensing comes
the fourth component......Enforcement.
Enforcement of NAIS is not a happy subject especially when the first component is still not setting well with the majority
of producers. However, it is a dead serious issue for animal owners who want to know what new enforcements are involved,
and their price tag, before they permanently enroll.
In 2007 the US spent nearly one trillion dollars (from taxes and borrowed funds) in regulation enforcements, policing, investigations,
and mandatory compliances. Although this was a huge expense to the citizenry, the fines, collections, penalties, licenses,
fees and private property confiscations from all law violations was an equally swelling amount; a number impossible to locate
from federal published data.
The current “rule making process” for USDA is found on line at Cornell University Law School, Legal Information
Institute, U.S. Code., Title 7 >Chapter 109> 8313. Penalties. #8313
(b) Civil Penalties, (1) In general (A)
(i) $50,000 in the case of any individual, except that the civil penalty may not exceed $1000 in the case of an initial violation
of this chapter by an individual moving regulated articles not for monetary gain;
(ii) $250,000 in the case of any other person for each violation; and
(iii) $500,000 for all violations adjudicated in a single proceeding.
Penalties appropriate to the violation is a cornerstone fundamental of the US judicial system. Enforcement is totally capricious
with USDA. One could be fined in county court $1000 for a 70 mph speed violation through a school zone, yet $50,000 for crossing
a state line with one number incorrect on a USDA issued livestock health certificate—for a perfectly healthy child’s
pony! Dr. Max Thornsberry, President of R-CALF USA says, “The USDA is a run away agency out of control, with total
disregard for U.S. citizens.”
Producers have been mystified by the massive amount of grants and funds (cooperative agreements) doled by USDA to get NAIS
closer to full mandatory mode. The nearly $150,000,000 invested to promote enrollment looks large, but ..... it would only
take 300 violations of $500,000 each to quickly earn it back.
US leaders watch other government trends closely in creating new laws and taxation. Europe has been a leader in pioneering
thought for US policy. Government animal numbering systems have been urged in a few countries prior to the marketing of NAIS
in the US. Australia is the only country to have implemented electronic tagging and rget=_blank>"Desperate
Housewives:" Big Edie Britt News
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