Veterinary Services Memorandum No. 575.19 - Dec 22, 2008 (PDF)

Veterinary Services Memorandum No. 575.19 - Sep 22, 2008 - CANCELED (PDF)

The 2007 U.S. Animal Health Report is now available.

Liberty Ark's Letter to members of the Subcommittee on:
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies in requesting that Congress stop funding the USDA's National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) (Chairman)
Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) (Ranking Member)
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) (Chair)
Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA) (Ranking Member)

February 1 call for Comments on three NAIS documents

• The USDA has called for comments on three documents:

  • NAIS User Guide

  • Program Standards and Technical Reference

  • Animal Trace Database Technical Specification

  These documents are posted here.

Legislation proposed in the 109th Congress:

• S-3862 and HR-6042 - To Prohibit a Mandatory Animal Identification Program. (Senator Jim Talent R-MO and Representative Jo Ann Emerson R-MO)

  Liberty Ark's letter to Senator Talent

• HR 3170 - To establish a Livestock Identification Board to create and implement a mandatory national livestock identification system.

• HR 1254 and HR1256, companion bills. HR 1254 establishes an "electronic nationwide livestock identification system...." HR 1256 makes information in the resulting database confidential - not available though Freedom of Information requests. Currently in committee.

• Not Yet Introduced/Numbered: Farm Appropriations Bill - to be voted on in the fall of 2006.

The NAIS Plan:

• available at www.usda.gov/nais
• USDA Traceability Business Plan, issued September, 2008 (pdf)
• NAIS User Guide, issued November, 2006 (pdf)

Liberty Ark Response

• A Guide for Small-Scale or Non-Commercial Producers, issued June 2, 2006 (pdf)

Liberty Ark Response

• Transcript
  of Tele-News Conference with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns And Dr. John Clifford, USDA's Chief Veterinarian Regarding the National Animal Identification System Washington, D.C. - April 6, 2006
• Strategies for the Implementation of NAIS, issued April, 2006 (pdf)
• Technical Supplement, issued July 26, 2005 (pdf)
• Draft Strategic Plan, issued April 25, 2005 (pdf)
• Draft Program Standards, issued April 25, 2005 (pdf)

Other Laws

• Public Law 107-188 The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002,

• Sec. 331 authorized the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to "implement a central automated recordkeeping system to provide for the reliable tracking of the status of animal and plant shipments, including those shipments on hold at ports of entry and customs." It also gave APHIS $30,000,000 to get going on the project.
• FDA section, Section 305. This Section provides that facilities holding food, both human and animal, are to be registered with the government. A "facility" is a "factory, warehouse, or establishment...that manufactures, processes, packs or holds food." The statute continues "Such term does not include farms;...." FDA regulations may be the basis used for collecting identifying information when purchasing feed.

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