Memo on NAIS~~ One day closer to the regulatory grave!!!

National Association of Farm Animal Welfare

Ag.Ed@nafaw.org

Official APHIS Factsheet to Veterinary Services 2-5-10 Q & A

This is a printable version of the fact sheet.

 

There are 7 pages of government prepared repetitive gobbledygooking. Within the code verbiage are signs of things to come, and thankfully things to end.

 

It says nothing about dealing with the only disease that USDA says is costing the US dairy industry a $200,000,000 loss annually — Johne’s. No acknowledgement for a valid test method and a valid vaccination is on the horizon for Johne’s, the only costly cattle disease in the nation.

NAIS: USDA plans to seize land and livestock

A January 09, 2009 article touting the National Animal Identification System, by the USDA, is nothing less than creative advertising meant to sell an unwanted and unneeded product.  If the need for such a system was real, it would be an admittance by USDA, the agency which swallows up millions of taxpayer dollars each year, was not capable of performing the tasks assigned to it.  Isn’t that fraud?

 

USDA never alludes to its ignoring of Johnes disease which is the scourge of bovine herds.  No attempts by USDA to eradicate the disease or to stop its spread among herds while they attempt to convince livestock producers NAIS is a good and necessary tool.

 

[In 2004 the USDA estimated the Johne’s infection rate to be at 20%. Today, reliable estimates reveal over 60% of the nation’s dairy herds are co-mingled with Johne’s positive cows, a 300% increase in only four years, but the USDA doesn’t feel this is a problem worth their time. The USDA appears comfortable with this major epidemic, and has no plan for acceleration about the problem.

 

The USDA, with their own data, estimates an annual financial loss as a result of Johne’s in dairy herds to be $200,000,000. For one year the Johne’s loss is nearly as much as USDA has invested in promoting NAIS during the past 6 years. This annual loss is more than 1000% over the eradication costs of the US Avian Influenza fiasco, a statistic USDA tosses out to tout the serious need of an NAIS mandatory system.]

http://www.naissucks.com/index.php?con=nais_not_about_disease

 

This one issue alone, because of its scope and financial costs is the clear indicator that the program known as NAIS is NOT about tracking disease in US herds. Its is plainly and simply a tool being used to gain control and access to food production and to the land which is being used as collateral on the debt incurred bailing out Wall Street. 

 

If this claim of protecting the food supply were valid, why would there be any need to register your property with a Premises ID?  Simple vet tags now used identify not only the livestock, but also the vet who issued the tag and by extension the farm or ranch that obtained the vet certification.  No processor will accept delivery on a non-vet certified shipment of beef.  So where is this big national threat of not being able to track it? 

 

According to Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA):

 

About 15% of all beef consumed in the United States is imported.  Imported beef is either processed separately of MIXED WITH DOMESTIC product. (emphasis, mine)

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10528&page=13

 

As USDA knows all too well, contamination occurs at the point of processing at least 90% of the time, not in production.  USDA also knows that countries importing to the US many times either do not have the same health standards, or fail to implement health and sanitation standards, yet the agency has failed to prohibit imports on any level.

 

USDA with its proclivity for pandering to mega-corporations made sure there were provisions in the NAIS to relieve corporate producers from experiencing any significant costs that might affect their bottom lines.  For these special groups, livestock can be registered in lots and fees paid as if there was only one head.  The true costs of NAIS will be passed on to the small and independent producers.  The only real intent of the USDA is to eradicate these independents and allow corporations to seize control of production.

 

IF NAIS was simply a disease tracking tool, why do our pets have to be chipped and tracked also?  Was someone planning to start slaughtering and selling dogs and cats?  USDA wants every domestic animal, of any kind, owned for any reason to be RFID chipped.  Now what the hell would domestic pets have to do with stopping contamination or disease in livestock herds meant for human consumption.

The obvious false scenario’s planted wherever anyone will give USDA ink space are indicative of an agency on a mission for which it has neither the constitutional nor lawful authority to impose.  NAIS has nothing to do with protecting the food supply or tracking disease.  It is simply one more brick in the wall along with REAL ID and the total surveillance society being assembled a piece at a time by various agencies which have neither authority or rights to do so.

NO NAIS…NOT NOW….NOT EVER!

© 2009 Marti Oakley

NAIS: Not About Disease !! from NAFAW

January 20,2009 for public release from NAFAW.

The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) has stirred up a hornet’s nest of problems for the USDA. Dislike for the program is multiplying daily by klans of all flavors.

 

Citing the abject failure of a similar program in Australia, the total costs dumped on livestock producers, and voicing concerns about individual property rights, opponents have demanded the program be totally abolished.

 

On the other hand, the USDA claims it needs to be able to move fast in case of an outbreak of disease. At first blush it sure sounds fine and good, until you consider that people are in the middle of a major epidemic on US dairy farms, and the USDA hasn’t moved at all to stop it. Is there a tiny touch of hypocrisy showing between the lines?

 

Unsolved Multiplication

 

Sixty-eight percent of all dairy cows in America are infected with an always fatal disease called Johnes (pronounced yo knees).

 

In 2004 the USDA estimated the infection rate to be at 20%. Today, 68% of the nation’s dairy herds are comingled with Johne’s positive cows, a three-fold increase in only four years, but the USDA doesn’t feel the need to mandate an eradication program. Why? The USDA appears fine with this epidemic, and refuses any serious dialogue about the subject. The USDA, with their own data, estimates an annual financial loss as a result of Johne’s in dairy herds to be $200,000,000. For one year the Johne’s loss is nearly as much as USDA has invested in promoting NAIS during the past 6 years. This annual loss is more than 1000% over the eradication costs of the US Avian Influenza fiasco, a statistic USDA tosses out to tout the serious need of a NAIS mandatory system.

 

USDA is not totally avoiding Johne’s. A small budget is allocated for research, public awareness and informational press releases on how to manage a dairy with Johne’s. Just peanuts!

 

So, if the USDA is aware of the Johne’s epidemic, why aren’t they focusing their efforts in that direction? If you think it’s because Johne’s doesn’t affect humans, think again. Reliable information connects Johne’s with Crohn’s Disease. Crohn’s Disease, virtually unheard of in 1940, was on the rise by 1950, about the same time as the concept of factory farming showed up on the scene. Today, a generation later, up to two million US citizens and even more Canadians are infected. Most cases of Crohn’s Disease are diagnosed in children, who will suffer a life of physical misery because of the debilitating symptoms for which there are treatments, but no cures. The stark similarities of each disease causes knowledgeable scientist to be certain that once bovine Johne’s is eleminated, the same process can be effective to solve the human coequal.

 

Symptoms?

 

The symptoms of Johne’s Disease in dairy cows are identical to the symptoms of Crohn’s Disease in humans:

* Persistent diarrhea

* Abdominal cramps and pain

* Fever

* Fatigue

* Rectal bleeding

* Loss of appetite

* Joints, eye, skin, and liver pain

* Obstruction of the intestine

* Development of fissures (small cuts or tears in the anal canal)

* Abscesses

There is no cure for Johne’s or Crohn’s. Fortunately for people, there are treatments. Cows aren’t so fortunate. Johne’s is always fatal, with death coming in slow, painful extended waves.

 

What Causes Johne’s Disease?

Johne’s is contracted by ingesting feces from infected animals. Animals who are raised on clean grass pastures seldom get infected. This is where a mix happens. Dairy herds are often mixed with beef cattle herds to provide a more diverse farm income. Many beef herds with Johne’s have traced their infected stock back to dairy raised purchases.

Today Johne’s is found in beef herds but with lower percentages than dairys.

 

If the USDA and corporate proponents of the NAIS were sincere in their concerns about disease, they’d at least exhibit a good faith effort about Johne’s that is rapidly consuming America’s highly productive dairy cows. The most costly disease of our day appears to have the urgency of watching paint dry. USDA’s rubber neck attack on Johne’s shows one of the most milk-toast approaches to disease eradication in the history of USDA. Only two things are needed to permanently deal with Johne’s, one fool-proof vaccination and one fool-proof negative/positive test method. At this time neither appear to be a consideration or priority to USDA. They are totally consumed in promoting NAIS premises permanent enrollment.

 

How to Locate Infected Herds?

 

Is locating infected herds a problem with Johne’s? Perhaps a test—-if it was announced that a vaccine and valid test method has been developed, cattle owners would stampede to use it. USDA will not have any problem locating herds. The owners of infected cattle are the first to be concerned and promptly notify health professionals. As long as USDA procrastinates on a good-faith attempt to deal with Johne’s disease, anything they say about their “come hell or high water” premises enrollment is totally and completely bogus! It will be impossible to convince livestock producers that premises enrollment will do a “gnats bristle” of good to

eleminate disease when Johne’s is not a priority USDA issue. Until USDA can clean up this mess, I’ll be hard to convince producers that USDA can do better with the

quackery of a costly NAIS.

 

More info: http://www.naisSTINKS.com, http://www.libertyark.net, http://www.FarmAndRanchFreedom.org.

Quotes and data provided by Countryside, Peggy Steward, Jerri, Darol Dickinson, and Jim Silwa. Thank you.