May
22, 2006
Washington,
DC: Congressman Ron Paul is fighting a new federal mandate that threatens to put
thousands of small farmers and ranchers out of business.
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is an expensive and
unnecessary federal program that requires owners of livestock-- cattle, dairy,
poultry, and even horses-- to tag animals with electronic tracking devices.
The intrusive monitoring system amounts to nothing more than a tax on
livestock owners, allowing the federal government access to detailed information
about their private property.
Agribusiness
giants support NAIS, because they want the federal government to create a
livestock database and provide free industry data. But small and independent livestock owners face a costly
mandate if NAIS becomes law.
Paul
introduced an amendment to the 2007 agriculture appropriations bill that
prohibits any federal funding for implementing NAIS.
Paul’s amendment likely will be voted on this Tuesday, May 23rd.
Under
NAIS, small family farmers and ranchers will be forced to spend thousands of
dollars tagging animals and complying with new paperwork and monitoring
regulations. These farmers and
ranchers literally will be paying for an assault on their property and privacy
rights, as NAIS empowers federal agents to enter and seize property without a
warrant-- a blatant violation of the 4th amendment.
NAIS
is not about preventing mad cow or other diseases. States already have animal identification systems in place,
and virtually all stockyards issue health certificates. Since most contamination happens after animals have been
sold, tracing them back to the farm or ranch that sold them won’t help find
the sources of disease.
More
than anything, NAIS places our family farmers and ranchers at an economic
disadvantage against agribusiness and overseas competition.
As
dairy farmer and rancher Bob Parker stated, NAIS is “too intrusive, too
costly, and will be devastating to small farmers and ranchers.”