Action Alert
March 21, 2007
Contact the Chair of the Water and Agriculture Committee!
SB1428 passed the Arizona Senate by a vote of 19-10. It has now been assigned to the House Water and Agriculture committee. The committee Chairman is State Representative Lucy Mason. She hasn't scheduled the bill for a hearing yet. We have only one more chance to get a hearing on the bill! The committee meets on Thursdays, and the agenda will have to be posted before 5 p.m. this Friday (March 23). Between now and Friday morning, we need to persuade Rep. Mason to put SB 1428 on the agenda.
Call or fax Representative Mason NOW and ask her to set SB 1428 for a hearing. Tell her "I want you to give SB 1428 a hearing." Calls and faxes are better than email. If you use email, put "Give SB 1428 a hearing" in the subject line.
Phone Number: (602) 926-5874
Fax Number: (602) 417-3001
lmason@azleg.gov
You can find more information about the bill at:
www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1428. As
always, if you have questions or concerns, you can reach us at
noah@libertyark.net.
Talking points for calls:
NAIS is an important issue to me and many other people in Arizona. SB 1428 deserves a hearing.
NAIS will hurt Arizona's economy:
- There has been no cost analysis
- Costs of the program include the cost of the tags, hardware, software, time and labor
- Many small farmer and ranchers cannot afford these costs
- Service providers (veterinarians, feed stores, auction houses, meat processors, etc.) will be harmed when the farmers and ranchers go out of business.
- Remaining farmers will pass the costs on to consumers, lowering demand for local foods
Neither the USDA nor the state agency has scientific proof show that NAIS will improve disease control:
- It does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of disease, in domestic or wild animals.
- It does not significantly improve on current methods for identification and tracking of disease.
NAIS is not necessary for the market. Age- and source-verification is already available through the USDA's Process Verified Program
NAIS will not improve food safety:
- USDA itself has stated that this is not a food safety program
- Contamination of food with e. coli and other bacteria occurs at the slaughterhouse or afterwards, while NAIS will stop before that point.
NAIS will not protect against terrorism:
- The microchips chosen by the state can be cloned, destroyed, or infected with computer viruses, and reprogrammed. Any terrorist or thief can use this.
- The database of information held by the government and private industry will provide a target for hackers.
NAIS infringes on people's constitutional rights, including due process, privacy, and religious freedom.
USDA states that NAIS is voluntary at the federal level, so there is no "federal mandate" requiring Arizona to implement this program.