Grandma is an outlaw

[Kat Kanning]

HENRY LAMB Henry Lamb WND Exclusive Commentary Grandma is an outlaw
Posted: July 22, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

? 2006

She didn't kill anyone. She didn't rob a bank. In fact, she didn't commit any illegal act. It's what she didn't do that made her an outlaw. We'll call her "Sally" ? so the jackboots can't track her down.

Sally got up on the morning of Jan. 2 and went about her daily chores ? fixing breakfast, feeding the animals and cleaning the house. Aside from the cold, and the new year, everything was pretty much as it had been everyday for many years. But today, Sally became an outlaw without even knowing it.

Way back in 2003, the Wisconsin Legislature enacted the Wisconsin Premises Registration Act, which became effective in November 2005. Sally, and everyone else in Wisconsin who owned even one chicken, horse, cow or any other livestock animal, was required to register her premises with the state by Jan. 1, 2006.

Sally didn't register her premises ? and became an outlaw by doing nothing.

Last week, Sally had some visitors. She knew she needed help and wrote this letter to the Liberty Ark Coalition:

    I am in need of help! I live in Wisconsin, and yesterday the USDA sent two inspectors out to try and get me to sign Premise Registration forms. I told them no and to leave. They said it is mandatory, and I told them I didn't care; I was not signing! I need to know what my rights are, how to fight them and what to do if they come back! Please help me!

First, hooray for Sally. This country needs more people with her backbone. But Sally's in trouble. According to the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium, penalties for her crime could range from $200 to $5,000.

Liberty Ark's reply included this advice:

    You essentially have three options: 1) sign up for premises registration; 2) refuse to sign up and wait for the state to bring an enforcement action against you; or 3) bring a lawsuit of your own challenging the legality of the regulations. If you choose to sign up for premises registration, that does NOT mean that you have to give up the fight!

The reply went on to explain that opposition to this National Animal Identification System is growing across the country, and that even though the Liberty Ark Coalition is only a couple of months old, nearly a thousand individuals and more than 60 organizations have signed a pledge in support of the Coalition's effort to stop this program.

Wisconsin was the first, and so far, the only state to make registration mandatory. The USDA originally announced that the program would be voluntary for a time, but would become mandatory in phases. Recently, in the face of rising opposition, the USDA has attempted to quiet the opposition by emphasizing the "voluntary" portion of the program, but without abandoning the authority to make it mandatory if voluntary participation fails to reach 100 percent.

Premises registration is only the first phase of the three-phase program. By 2007, not only are all premises to be registered, but every animal that is housed at every premises is to be tagged with a 15-digit identification number that can be read electronically. By 2009, the movement of any animal off a registered premises, for any reason, would have to be reported to a central database.

This program has been developed with very little public awareness by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture and the USDA, behind the excuse that such a system is needed to prevent or control the spread of animal disease and to protect the food supply chain. It doesn't take much critical thinking to realize that there is already a great system to control the spread of animal disease. There has not been a case of foot-and-mouth disease in the U.S. since 1929, and the five cases of BSE that have been discovered were tracked almost immediately. Food safety measures occur in the processing operation.

What sense does it make to subject millions of animal growers and hundreds of millions of animals to this massive, expensive, governmental bureaucracy ? to achieve what is already being done? A better understanding of this program, and why it is being pushed, is available here.

It will take an army of people like Sally to stop this program, and that army is growing daily.

[Pat K]

Well I have said it before= We share the planet with the insane and here they go and pass this law to prove it!!

[tracysaboe]

Another point for Wisconson to be the FLP state?

Tracy

[Lloyd Danforth]

I'm dissapointed.  I thought tis was going to be about Kat's grandmother.

[aries]

NH has this by now as well, right?

[Pat McCotter]

NH has this by now as well, right?

Yes and it is currently voluntary.

National Animal Identification System

Livestock owners can now sign up for a unique "premises identification number" for their livestock facilities through the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Division of Animal Industry.

Officials in the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Division of Animal Industry are in the process of identifying locations that manage or hold animals and assigning them a premises identification. This is an important first step to build a state and national animal identification system established through the United States Department of Agriculture.

The goal of the national system is to be able to trace everywhere an animal has been within 48 hours of a disease outbreak. The data will help identify animals that may have been exposed to a serious disease and determined where that exposure occurred. The information will help to ensure rapid disease containment and maximum protection of New Hampshire?s animals.

Animal health incidents can have large economic, human health or food safety impacts. The impetus for a national identification and tracking system accelerated after a Canadian-born cow with (BSE) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy was diagnosed in a Washington herd in 2003, the first case detected in the United States.

Premises include farms and hobby farms; veterinary clinics; stables; livestock markets; livestock trucker and dealer premises where animals are kept; slaughter, rendering and dead animal plants; livestock exhibitions; and any other location where livestock is kept.

Farmers will receive this unique identification number for farms and other property where livestock are kept. The number is assigned to a location, similar to an address.

The bottom line is protecting producers' livelihoods by ensuring animal health, assuring consumer confidence and maintaining market access. As soon as the department can record animal movements from farms, auctions, ports of entry, slaughter facilities, and all other points of concentration, the ability to respond to disease outbreaks will be strengthened.
Participation in the National Animal ID System is voluntary at this time in New Hampshire, but the expectation is for the program to become mandatory in the future. The National Animal Identification System will protect New Hampshire animal agriculture by providing producers and animal health officials with the infrastructure to:

• Improve efforts in current disease eradication and control
• Protect against foreign animal disease outbreaks
• Address threats from deliberate introduction of disease

Animal identification is designed to reduce the financial and social impacts of a potential disease outbreak. It is important to uphold and continue confidence in New Hampshire?s agricultural and livestock products.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I register?
There are currently 2 ways to register a premises in New Hampshire:
1.  http://agriculture.nh.gov/divisions/animal_industry/documents/NHVoluntaryNAISform.pdf
2.  Registrants without computer access may call Division of Animal Industry 603-271-2404 and request a form.

Who should register premises?
Any farm, including those that may only have one animal; veterinary clinics, fairgrounds where animals are exhibited; animal laboratories, markets/collection points; ports of entry; quarantine facilities; rendering plants; slaughter facilities; tagging sites; and any other locations where livestock are kept.

Why do we need an identification system?
Animal identification is not new. Animals have been identified in all of our regulatory programs since at least 1927 when the tuberculosis eradication effort began. Since Brucellosis is close to being eradicated in the United States, however, that system of tagging and identification is being phased out rapidly. Right now, several animal health programs include an animal identification component, and certain classes of livestock must be officially identified before entering interstate commerce. In addition, some animals must be identified before they can compete in shows or race on a track. So, there are multiple identification systems in place that exist for different purposes, but there is no nationwide animal identification system for all animals of any given species.

What is the advantage of NAIS?
NAIS is for disease tracking. The goal is to allow the rapid tracking of animals during a disease outbreak. The system is designed to allow state and federal officials to trace an individual animal, throughout its life, in 48 hours. The tracking system used today can take days or months to trace back animals. Even then, the search often leads to a dead end.

Is there a cost to registering premises?
No, USDA has provided funding for premises registration to New Hampshire and other states who utilize the federal registration system.

Won't NAIS cost producers a lot of money?
A disease outbreak would cost both producers and the government a tremendous amount of money. Currently, if there is a highly contagious disease, such as foot and mouth, both the industry and individual producers would suffer financially because of slow, incomplete tracing of the animals. The national animal identification system will allow the rapid tracing of animals, help limit the scope and expense of managing an outbreak and minimize an outbreak's impact on domestic and foreign markets.

Where can I obtain more information on the National Animal Identification System and Premises Registration in New Hampshire?
The United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service maintains a website dedicated solely to NAIS. The site contains the most current information concerning policy and implementation of NAIS. For more information or assistance with premises registration in New Hampshire contact Dr. Stephen Crawford at (603) 271-2404 or e-mail him at scrawford@agr.state.nh.us


More Frequently Asked Questions... http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/newsroom/factsheets/nais_qa_factsheet.shtml

Registration

If you would like to register your farm, download the NHVoluntaryNAISform.pdf. A PDF file that is printable. Mailing information is on the form. Online registration will be available soon.

[aries]

As Judd Greg Told me: "There is currently no mandatory national animal registry, you have nothing to worry about"
Jackass