By Mary Zanoni, Ph.D. (Cornell), J.D. (Yale)
Feb 6, 2006, 18:25
Comments on NAIS “Draft Program Standards” and “Draft Strategic Plan”
I have carefully examined the Draft Program Standards (Standards) and Draft Strategic Plan (Plan) issued by the USDA (the Department) on April 25, 2005, in furtherance of the Department’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Many aspects of the Standards and Plan appear to create insurmountable legal, fiscal, and logistical problems. The comments below address five categories of problems:
- Constitutional infirmities of the proposed program;
- An enormous economic cost to animal owners, the States, the Department, and, ultimately, to American taxpayers and consumers for a program likely to be ineffectual;
- Weaknesses in the stated rationales for the program;
- A lack of consideration of alternative, far cheaper and more easily administered measures which would more effectively protect animal health and food security; and
- A lack of notice and an opportunity to be heard for medium-scale, small-scale, and home farmers, and for other citizens owning livestock solely for their own use or pleasure, in the Department’s process thus far.
This article is a must-read for anyone not convinced that NAIS is a bad thing. The article is copyrighted, so I can’t reproduce it here, but you can read it in its entirety at Magic City Morning Star
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