NAIS 101

Industrial agriculture and technology companies are urging the government to adopt a program that will drive many small farms out of business, burden horse owners, invade our privacy, increase the cost of meat, and expand the government bureaucracy.

If the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is made mandatory, anyone who owns even one horse, chicken, cow, pig, sheep, goat, or any other livestock or exotic, will have to:

• Register their property with the state and federal government;
• Identify each animal, in most cases with electronic identification;
• Report events to a government-accessible database within 24 hours, including every dead or missing animal, private sales, and regional shows.

NAIS will:

• violate individuals' Constitutional rights, including freedom of religion and right to privacy;
• reduce the availability of local, organic, and grass-fed foods;
• raise the cost of food, because tagging and tracking costs will be passed on to consumers;
• create a massive government bureaucracy.

NAIS will not:

• make food safer since most food-borne illnesses, such as e coli and salmonella, are due to food processing and handling practices - not live animals;
• protect us against bioterrorism - the proposed microchips and radio tags are easily reprogramed and large databases are easy targets for terrorists or other criminals.

NAIS is both a federal and a state issue:

• The USDA says that the NAIS is voluntary at the federal level. But, USDA is funding the States to implement NAIS at the state level, and that funding creates incentives for States to use mandatory, misleading, or coercive methods in order to increase participation. And, Congress is considering putting NAIS in bills to fund and implement NAIS.