TALKING POINTS

* Funding NAIS is throwing good money after bad, supporting a program that is not sound economically or scientifically.

* USDA has failed to provide any scientific basis to support the claimed benefits of NAIS. USDA has also has failed to address the many technological and practical barriers to NAIS ever working.

* Existing disease control programs, combined with measures such as brand registries and normal private record-keeping, provide cost-effective traceback. A new and costly program such as NAIS is unnecessary and potentially counterproductive.

* NAIS will impose high costs on small farmers and many other animal owners. The costs of NAIS go far beyond the tag itself, and include: premises registration database creation and updates; tags and related equipment, such as readers, computers, and software; 24-hour reporting requirements, imposing extensive paperwork burdens; labor for every stage of the program; stress on the animals; qualitative costs, from loss of religious freedoms, privacy, and trust in government; and enforcement.

* NAIS will not provide food safety benefits. NAIS will not prevent foodborne illnesses from e. coli or salmonella, because the contamination occurs at the slaughterhouse, while NAIS tracking ends at the time of slaughter. NAIS will neither prevent the contamination nor increase the government’s ability to track contaminated meat back to its source.

* Putting more money into NAIS is a waste of precious tax dollars that could be better spent on measures that truly improve animal health and food safety.