Action Alert
February 23, 2007
DO NOT SUPPORT SB 486 AS AMENDED!
After we sent out our action alert, urging people to support SB 486 when it went to the floor, Senator Steele amended his bill. The amended version would retain Indiana's mandatory premises registration, and does not prevent coercion from being used to implement animal identification or tracking. We do not know why Senator Steele took this step, and we are trying to find out whether the previous version of the bill, which was approved by the committee, can be re-instated.
For now, we have to completely contradict our previous alert. Do NOT call your legislator to support SB 486. Continue to contact your legislator to tell him or her that you oppose NAIS.
If you don't know who your legislator is, you can find out at:
www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/
Below is a sample letter
and some talking points you can use. Be polite, concise, and explain
why this issue is important to you.
If your legislator is prepared to introduce an amendment to restore the provisions of SB 486, please let us know! We will send out another alert as soon as we have more information. As always, if you have questions or concerns, you can reach us at noah@libertyark.net.
Sample letter/email: Personalize and put it into your own words for the greatest effect!!
Dear Senator or Representative ____:
I am writing to ask you to stop the implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in Indiana. I am a ____ (small farmer, consumer, taxpayer (tell them a sentence about yourself). I am opposed to NAIS because it will impose heavy burdens on our rights and our economy, without providing any real benefits. Neither the USDA nor the Indiana State Department of Agriculture has provided any scientific basis for the claims of improved disease control. NAIS is an unprecedented expansion of the government bureaucracy into people's private lives and infringes on our property rights. NAIS will drive many small and medium-size farmers and ranchers out of business and discourage people from owning horses and other livestock as pets, resulting in far-reaching effects on our economy. The only winners in this program are the microchip manufacturers, the associations that will manage the databases, and the government employees.
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Talking points for calls:
NAIS will hurt Indiana's economy:
- There has been no cost analysis by USDA or Indiana Department of Agriculture (IDA).
- 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 IDA has scientific proof to 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, created by IDA and available to USDA, 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 Indiana to implement this program
Other states are also rejecting or limiting NAIS, so Indiana will not be disadvantaged by refusing to participate.