For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Karin Bergener at (330) 298-0065, or Judith McGeary at
(512) 243-9404
Email: bergener@config.com or judith@farmandranchfreedom.org
USDA provides an "OPT OUT" procedure
for NAIS
In a dramatic reversal of policy, the USDA has decided to provide an "OPT OUT" procedure for people whose
premises have been registered in the National Animal Identification Program. Complaints have continued to mount in several
states from landowners who have discovered that their premises
were registered in the NAIS without their knowledge or permission.[i]
On Friday, January 26th, Ben Kaczmarski, a spokesman for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told the
Liberty Ark Coalition,
http://libertyark.net, that the USDA has decided to provide an "opt out" procedure. Even though the protocol has not yet been fully defined, Kaczmarski
said the procedure would require a person who wants to opt out, to
write a formal request to be removed from the NAIS,
tfrom the state NAIS coordinator. This procedure, not yet published by USDA, would require the state NAIS coordinator
to confirm the validity of the request, and advance the request to USDA. The USDA will then, presumably, remove the name from
the registry, according to Kaczmarski.
State NAIS coordinators can be located at this website:
http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/contac...ories.shtml>The new "OPT OUT" procedure was received with enthusiasm, and skepticism, by the farm and ranch community. "Many people
are sure to file requests for removal of their premises from the NAIS registry in the coming weeks," said Judith McGeary,
a member of the Liberty Ark Coalition Steering Committee. "And we are set up to monitor the process to see just how long it
takes, and what bureaucratic obstacles have to be overcome."
"Opponents of the NAIS are skeptical because the USDA
has a history of saying one thing to the public," says McGeary, "while doing quite another thing behind the scenes." Another
Steering Committee member, Randy Givens, says: "Everyone in the grassroots community should take heart at this evidence of
their joint efforts, but people should also remember that this is a proposed protocol that can be changed at any time. This
opt-out procedure is just one aspect of the evolving plans for NAIS at both the federal and state levels."
Opposition
to the NAIS forced the USDA to renounce its planned time-line to make the NAIS mandatory starting in 2007. The new USDA policy
calls for a "voluntary" NAIS, but behind the scenes, the USDA has poured funds into states that worked to make the program
mandatory at the state level.
Another tactic being recommended by the Animal Identification Committee of the United
States Animal Health Association is to create a list of "Consistent States" that require official identification of all breeding
cattle. States not on that list could face restrictions of interstate commerce. Though this recommendation has not been adopted
by the USDA, these behind-the-scenes maneuvers give credence to the concerns of NAIS opponents as to the sincerity of the
USDA's announcement that the NAIS is, and will continue to be, a voluntary program.
