CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

  
 

 

 

Congressional Issues 2010
AGRICULTURE
National Animal Identification System



Stop the NAIS
by Congressman Ron Paul

May 29, 2006

The House of Representatives recently passed funding for a new federal mandate that threatens to put thousands of small farmers and ranchers out of business. The National Animal Identification System, known as 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.

In typical Washington-speak, NAIS is “voluntary”—provided USDA bureaucrats are satisfied with the level of cooperation. Trust me, NAIS will be mandatory within a few years. When was the last time a new federal program did not expand once implemented?

As usual, Congress is spending millions of dollars creating a complex non-solution to a very simple problem. NAIS will cost taxpayers at least $33 million for starters.

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.

Larger livestock operations will be able to tag whole groups of animals with one ID device. Smaller ranchers and farmers, however, will be forced to tag each individual animal, at a cost of anywhere from $3 to $20 per head. And NAIS applies to anyone with a single horse, pig, chicken, or goat in the backyard—no exceptions. NAIS applies to children in 4-H or FFA. Once NAIS becomes mandatory, any failure to report and tag an animal subjects the owner to $1,000 per day fines.

NAIS also forces livestock owners to comply 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.”

NAIS means more government, more regulations, more fees, more federal spending, less privacy, and diminished property rights. It’s exactly the kind of federal program every conservative, civil libertarian, animal lover, businessman, farmer, and rancher should oppose.

Mercantilism and the National Animal Identification System

 

The following concerns have been raised about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS):

  1. The program has had no Congressional hearings or debate, nor has there been sufficient input in the rule-making process.
  2. The program, as now designed, will be too costly and burdensome for farmers and ranchers.
  3. The program invades the privacy of every American who owns even one livestock animal, whether a horse, pet pot-bellied pig, or chicken.
  4. NAIS will not protect us against disease or bioterrorism because:
    1. it does not address the causes of disease;
    2. it does not address how diseases are transmitted;
    3. we already have sufficient means of tracking diseases and quarantining; and
    4. the recommended technology can be easily reprogrammed, so that it is ineffective against intentional (or even many unintentional) introductions of disease.
  5. NAIS will expand the government bureaucracy, at the cost of individuals' rights and the free market.
  6. NAIS will raise the cost of food, while not providing any additional food safety.

In addition to the concerns about violations of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments to the Constitution, one might also ask how America's Founders, who were concerned about the government quartering troops on private property (3rd Amendment) would react to a proposal for the government to require GPS monitoring of all animals.