National Animal Identification System

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The National Animal Identification System, otherwise known as NAIS, is a government-run program in the United States, the USDA's Draft Strategic Plan, intended to permit improved animal health surveillance by identifying and tracking specific animals. Its purpose is to allow the government to track the births, deaths, co-mingling and all movements of all livestock in the United States. [1] Administered at the federal level by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture, NAIS will also be overseen by state animal health boards. [2]

The National Animal ID program was originally designed to give the big beef producers help in getting export markets which required disease controls. The idea is that every single livestock animal in the United States will be identified and tagged. All livestock animal movements will be tracked, logged and reported to the government. The benefit is to the big factory farms who do need this type of regulation to sell food products over seas. They get to do single ID’s for large groups of animals. Small farmers, pet owners and homesteaders will have to tag and track every single animal. [3]

Contents

[edit] Overview

If fully implemented the National Animal Identification System will affect the owners of most livestock species, including cattle, bison, deer, elk, llamas, alpacas, horses, donkeys, mules, goats, sheep, swine, all poultry species (chickens, ducks, etc), and even some fish species, under the heading of aquaculture, and any animal that may be added to the list in the future. [4]

Locations, or premises, where these animals are housed or otherwise handled will be required to be identified, as this is the first component of NAIS. Afterward, the animals themselves will be identified, and, finally, they are to be tracked in their movements between the various premises. [5]

Once these three parts of NAIS are fully implemented, the ultimate goal of the program, traceback within 48 hours of a diseased animal's movements, will be possible. This traceback would enable animal health officials to identify all the animals and locations that have had direct contact with the animal and take appropriate measures to prevent the further spread of disease. [6] The most common method of preventing the further spread of disease is a process known as depopulation, wherein government officials come on to registered premises without a warrant and exterminate animals as they see fit, commonly with guns, and eventually incinerate them. [7]

NAIS will be applied down to the backyard level. The owner of a pet Potbelly pig or a single laying hen will be subject to the same regulations as the factory farm with 20,000 hens on the premises. There will be no exceptions, and the anticipated fine is $1,000 per incident per day for non-compliance.

[edit] Premises identification

Premises identification, the first part of NAIS, requires that certain information about each aplicable premise, such as a farm or home with an animal from the previously mentioned list, be entered into a national database, along with a unique, 7-character premise identification number. Required information will include: the assigned premise identification number; the name of the premise; its owner or another appropriate contact person; its location, including the street address, city, state, and zip code; a contact phone number; the type of operation, such as a slaughterhouse or horse boarding stable; the date the premise ID number was activated; and the date that the premise ID number was deactivated, along with the reason. [8]

[edit] Animal identification

The next step in implementing NAIS is animal identification. This will require that each individual animal be given a unique, 15-character animal identification number, or, in the case of animals that remain together in groups, a unique, 13-character group identification number. [9]

The technology to be used for identification has not yet been finally chosen, although some recommendations have been made by the different species working groups, which represent animal producers. Radio frequency identification, such as that found in microchips, retinal scanning, and DNA samples are among the possibilities. [10]

[11] This does not apply, however, in those few cases where animals never leave their owner's property. [12] Those animals that leave their owner's property even for veterinary attention, butchering, exhibition, or breeding, on the other hand, must be identified. Since all animals visit a veterinarian sometime in their lives, or like horses appear in parades or at state and county fairs, NAIS applies to every farm animal in America including small, independent, “direct-to-consumer” farmers without exception. [13]

While this process is now free, the USDA has indicated that the enormous cost of implementing this plan will be born by the industry. While RFID ear tags cost only about $3 in large quantities, there is also the cost of applying them, failed tags, labor, computer systems, readers, applicator equipment, etc. The Australian NLIS experience has shown that while the promised cost was $3 per head the real cost is more like $30. Since provisions are being made to make the process less expensive for factory farms the majority of the cost will be paid for by small family farms. [14]

A Kansas State University study found that small, independent livestock farmers will pay upwards of $30 per head to register their animals, but big industrial operations will only pay about $4 per head. [15]

[edit] Animal tracking

The final component of NAIS is animal tracking. This will require a report to be filed with the USDA each time one of a set of events occurs, such as a change of an animal's ownership or movement to a new premise by either fax or email. A report would include the animal's or group's identification number, the premise identification number where the event took place, the date of the event, and the type of event, as slaughter or a sighting of the animal. [16]

[17]

According to the NAIS provisions horses taken on trail rides or appearing in parades will be required to register with the USDA within 48 hours by fax or email.

[edit] Benefits

It is argued that NAIS will benefit agri-businesses, by allowing the ability to trace a disease to premises of origin and all exposed animals within 48 hours. It will also eventually replace all current disease monitoring and eradication programs that currently exist, and provide one central program that can encompass all species and diseases. [18] It may also increase confidence in the United States' animal products providing the opportunity to maintain current and open new marketing opportunities for producers by providing a reliable source and age verification program. Several other countries already have programs in place, and NAIS would help compete with those markets that require source and age verification (like the Japanese beef market).[19]

[edit] Concerns

Some of the concerns with NAIS include financial, civil rights, and religious aspects of the program.

Financially, a system as vast as NAIS will undoubtedly be extremely costly, and there is some doubt that it will be any more effective at controlling disease outbreaks than the less expensive systems currently in place, like the Scrapies or Brucellosis programs. [20] Additionally, there is concern that the costs of complying with the program will drive small farmers out of business. [21]

There are also civil rights concerns, because NAIS establishes extensive government surveillance over livestock, which are considered to be private property. There are also concerns that the big agribusiness companies will use this system to blame their mistakes in processing which introduces contamination to the food supply on small farmers putting them out of business. [22]

Finally, the plans to make NAIS mandatory threaten the religious freedom of those who believe that making a “mark” is sinful, such as the Amish. The Amish also object to the use of electronic devices such as microchips. [23] If microchip implants were required, as has been proposed in a 2004 report by the United States Animal Health Association’s Committee on Livestock Identification [24], it would also violate the rights of those who believe that this practice is morally wrong.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Official links

[edit] Articles

[edit] Organizations supporting NAIS

[edit] Organizations opposing NAIS

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