The Farm Bill debate continues in the Senate, and now government watchdog groups are questioning exempting National Animal Identification from the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA).
The Society of Professional Journalists, the American Civil Liberties Union and others say an attempt to ban the disclosure of information from a national animal tracking system could exempt some Agriculture Department documents from freedom of information laws.
Cattle groups say such disclosure could harm their business. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which represents ranchers, has lobbied on behalf of the plan. Colin Woodall, director of legislative affairs for the group, said much of the tracking information is sensitive and unrelated to food safety.
“If it gets in the wrong hands it could be very problematic for our members,” he said. “It’s like Coca Cola having to disclose its secret formula to everyone who wants to file a FOIA request,” he added, referring to the Freedom of Information Act.
The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, included the language in the bill and is now “further examining its implications,” committee spokeswoman Kate Cyrul. Cyrul said Thursday that the provision was included because ranchers were concerned that meatpackers, retailers or the government could misuse their information.
Ranchers now may choose to participate in the tracking program, which assigns numbers to individual animals or groups of animals. That way, the government could easily find animals related to those deemed to be infected with mad cow or other animal diseases. But many ranchers have declined to sign up, partly because of the disclosure concerns.
The Senate bill would allow the department to share some of the information with states and other government agencies under certain conditions, including threats of disease or threats to homeland security. But it would be against the law in most cases for the general public to access the information.
3 Comments on “NAIS Exemption Under Fire”
Hello from your new partner….ME! No, I do not own a cow nor do I know much about milk industry (even though I once had milk goats) but thanks to NAIS I will be part of your business, not that I wanted to nor was I asked. You do know that under NAIS every last livestock animal is included, but what granny’s few hens or a pot belly pig in suburbia have to do with corporate ag is beyond me.
The USDA claimed NAIS was needed to track mad cow disease BUT when Creekstone Beef wanted to test every cow they process for BSE, the USDA says they cannot!!! Creekstone had to take the USDA to court to sue for the right to test for BSE! And what does my reporting to the USDA when I take my horse off my property have to do with big ag selling beef to Japan?
NAIS is a business plan (not a disease tracking plan) for corporate ag. Says so right on the front cover. But even parakeets in Houston high rises, backyard ponies, and pet goats are included? Why? So corporate ag can tell the world what a safe meat supply they have and Japan will buy that beef.
NAIS can best be explained like this…… I have a disease but I force YOU to take and pay for the meds, then I travel the world declaring I am disease free. That kind of lunacy benefits neither one of us. I am not against big ag making money, but the rest of us are forced to be part of the scheme and get none of the profits, just the onerous responsibilites of making it seem like big ag has safe beef. Which is so ironic because American beef is among the safest in the world. Funny, corporate ag does not feel they have to “share” their profits with the average livestock owner, yet the average livestock owner has to “share” in NAIS with big ag by tdoing all the work. Big ag reaps all the benefits of NAIS (global market) while putting all the hard work of tagging and tracking and loss of livestock through depopulation on average livestock owner. Big Ag does not have to individually tag and track their animals, they get only one lot number per groups of animals…how is that sharing?
Now after reading this, do you really want me as your partner? My husband can guarantee that I will not be a silent partner.
Hello from your new partner….ME! No, I do not own a cow nor do I know much about milk industry (even though I once had milk goats) but thanks to NAIS I will be part of your business, not that I wanted to nor was I asked. You do know that under NAIS every last livestock animal is included, but what granny’s few hens or a pot belly pig in suburbia have to do with corporate ag is beyond me.
The USDA claimed NAIS was needed to track mad cow disease BUT when Creekstone Beef wanted to test every cow they process for BSE, the USDA says they cannot!!! Creekstone had to take the USDA to court to sue for the right to test for BSE! And what does my reporting to the USDA when I take my horse off my property have to do with big ag selling beef to Japan?
NAIS is a business plan (not a disease tracking plan) for corporate ag. Says so right on the front cover. But even parakeets in Houston high rises, backyard ponies, and pet goats are included? Why? So corporate ag can tell the world what a safe meat supply they have and Japan will buy that beef.
NAIS can best be explained like this…… I have a disease but I force YOU to take and pay for the meds, then I travel the world declaring I am disease free. That kind of lunacy benefits neither one of us. I am not against big ag making money, but the rest of us are forced to be part of the scheme and get none of the profits, just the onerous responsibilites of making it seem like big ag has safe beef. Which is so ironic because American beef is among the safest in the world. Funny, corporate ag does not feel they have to “share” their profits with the average livestock owner, yet the average livestock owner has to “share” in NAIS with big ag by tdoing all the work. Big ag reaps all the benefits of NAIS (global market) while putting all the hard work of tagging and tracking and loss of livestock through depopulation on average livestock owner. Big Ag does not have to individually tag and track their animals, they get only one lot number per groups of animals…how is that sharing?
Now after reading this, do you really want me as your partner? My husband can guarantee that I will not be a silent partner.
Hello from your new partner….ME! No, I do not own a cow nor do I know much about milk industry (even though I once had milk goats) but thanks to NAIS I will be part of your business, not that I wanted to nor was I asked. You do know that under NAIS every last livestock animal is included, but what granny’s few hens or a pot belly pig in suburbia have to do with corporate ag is beyond me.
The USDA claimed NAIS was needed to track mad cow disease BUT when Creekstone Beef wanted to test every cow they process for BSE, the USDA says they cannot!!! Creekstone had to take the USDA to court to sue for the right to test for BSE! And what does my reporting to the USDA when I take my horse off my property have to do with big ag selling beef to Japan?
NAIS is a business plan (not a disease tracking plan) for corporate ag. Says so right on the front cover. But even parakeets in Houston high rises, backyard ponies, and pet goats are included? Why? So corporate ag can tell the world what a safe meat supply they have and Japan will buy that beef.
NAIS can best be explained like this…… I have a disease but I force YOU to take and pay for the meds, then I travel the world declaring I am disease free. That kind of lunacy benefits neither one of us. I am not against big ag making money, but the rest of us are forced to be part of the scheme and get none of the profits, just the onerous responsibilites of making it seem like big ag has safe beef. Which is so ironic because American beef is among the safest in the world. Funny, corporate ag does not feel they have to “share” their profits with the average livestock owner, yet the average livestock owner has to “share” in NAIS with big ag by tdoing all the work. Big ag reaps all the benefits of NAIS (global market) while putting all the hard work of tagging and tracking and loss of livestock through depopulation on average livestock owner. Big Ag does not have to individually tag and track their animals, they get only one lot number per groups of animals…how is that sharing?
Now after reading this, do you really want me as your partner? My husband can guarantee that I will not be a silent partner.