Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 11:42 PMSubject: [Floridiansagainstnais] Goverment RegulationsI am forwarding this from another group I am on. I have taken out the other email addresses but you really need to go voice your opinion on this government site along with contacting the presidential site regarding NAIS. The web addresses are in this email
Liberty Ark Alert: January 16, 2009
USDA Publishes Proposed Rule on NAIS
WHAT'S HAPPENING:
USDA has published a proposed rule that would mandate NAIS premises registration and animal identification for several key animal disease programs. This includes scrapie, brucellosis, tuberculosis, and Johne’s. If this rule is adopted, hundreds of thousands of people who own cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs will be forced to register their property and use only tags approved by the USDA for NAIS.
This proves, yet again, that NAIS is NOT a voluntary program at the Federal level. Participation in these disease control programs are often mandatory, or necessary for economic reasons, for farmers to stay in business. Converting the programs to mandate NAIS Premises Registration effectively makes NAIS an involuntary program, contradicting USDA’s continued claims that NAIS is voluntary.
TAKE ACTION:
Submit comments on the proposed rule. You can submit comments on the proposed rule through March 16, 2009, using either the online portal or regular mail:
1. Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal to submit or view comments, as well as related materials.
2. If you mail your comments, send two copies of your comment to:
Docket No. APHIS-2007-0096
Regulatory Analysis and Development
PPD APHIS Station 3A-03.8
4700 River Road Unit 118
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238
You should clearly state that your comment refers to Docket No. APHIS- 2007-0096.
We will send out sample talking points to help people in submitting comments as soon as possible.
Here are some of the key points of the proposed rule:
1. If the rule is adopted, the NAIS Premises ID Number (PIN) would be the ONLY form of premises identification allowed for official uses such as federal disease control programs.
2. The proposed rule states that it will still allow the use of the National Uniform Eartagging System, but it would be linked to the NAIS PIN.
3. USDA claims that it has determined that the proposed rule is "not significant for the purposes of Executive Order 12866," which requires a cost-benefit analysis of federal regulations. But the agency never completed a cost/benefit analysis (and refuses to release its draft analysis). So it has no proof that the proposed rule’s benefits outweigh the costs to be inflicted on the animal owners.
4. The bottom line: The proposed rule would mandate portions of NAIS though official federal regulations.
Excerpts from the Proposed Rule
Below are a few excerpts from USDA's explanation of its proposed rule. The full notice and proposed rule can be found here.
From p.1635:
"[W]e are ... requiring that all PINs issued on or after the date on which this proposed rule becomes effective would have to use the seven-character alphanumeric code format." [Ed. note: the NAIS PIN]
"Identification eartags, as well as other devices or means of official identification, such as backtags and tattoos, that employ a premises-based numbering system that include a PIN could not be applied to animals 1 year or later after the date on which this proposed rule in finalized if the PIN does not employ the seven-character form."
"[T]his proposed rule would not require the use of the AIN. Other animal identification numbering systems currently recognized in the regulations for use on official eartags, such as the National Uniform Eartagging System and premises-based numbering systems that combine a PIN with a producer's livestock production numbering system, will continue to be so recognized. If the AIN is used, however, on an official eartag or other device (currently, it is only used on eartags and implants), only the format with the 840 prefix would be acceptable for use on animals tagged 1 year or more after the date on which this proposed rule in finalized."
From p.1636:
"Our proposed definition of official eartag would also require such eartags, including those that use the National Uniform Eartagging System, if issued or distributed in conjunction with a Federal disease program, to be correlated with the PINs of the premises to which they are issued, by means of the Animal Identification Number Management System (AINMS) or other recordkeeping systems approved by the Administrator. (Both the National Uniform Eartagging System and the AINMS are discussed in greater detail later in this document.) For this proposed requirement to be met, official eartags used in animal disease programs could only be issued, going forward, to registered premises that have PINs."
"Our proposed definition of official eartag would also require that when AIN eartags are used, the AINs would have to be correlated with the PINs of the premises to which they are issued, meaning that AIN eartags could only be issued to registered premises that have PINs."
From p.1637:
"The definition of official eartag in Sec. 79.1 would be amended to remove the option of using the National Uniform Eartagging System in the NSEP [National Scrapie Eradication Program]."
Online Voting
The official website of the President-elect has set up a section where people can vote on ideas, and the top ideas will be presented to President Obama after he is sworn in.
Several suggestions to stop NAIS have been posted. The one that has garnered the most votes so far is Eliminate NAIS.
You can find all the ideas that mention NAIS by searching the citizens briefing book. Please go vote for eliminating NAIS.
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