Wisconsin Ag Connection - National/World News - Future of Animal ID System Unclear

National & World Ag News Headlines

Future of Animal ID System Unclear
USAgNet - 08/20/2009

Some animal owners express opposition during public meetings on the NAIS. Facing resistance from food animal owners and pressure from Congress, federal agriculture officials are reconsidering how the national animal disease tracing system is structured.

Officials with the Department of Agriculture said they heard substantial support for animal disease traceability during a series of public meetings but many animal owners indicated concerns. Cost, privacy, bureaucracy, liability in the event of a disease outbreak, and the religious implications of such animal identification are behind ongoing opposition to the department's National Animal Identification System.

The USDA has not gotten enough food animal producers to participate in the NAIS to achieve the desired animal tracing ability, and members of Congress have expressed frustration over funding the program. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack delivered this message to the stakeholders in animal agriculture who attended a May 21 meeting in Birmingham, Ala., according to a meeting transcript.

"I know there are very strong feelings on all sides of this issue, but I don't want us to get to the point where Congress says they will not continue to fund the system," Vilsack said. "If that were to happen, I would doubt the reliability of our market, and that's not where we want to be."

Vilsack said the USDA needs to hear from and accommodate people with concerns about how a disease tracing system would be administered. He said the U.S. needs such a system to market its livestock as the "highest quality and best in the world."

Neil Hammerschmidt, program coordinator for the NAIS, told JAVMA that individuals who were concerned about the government program were most highly represented at the 15 meetings of USDA officials and stakeholders held between April 15 and June 30.

"We certainly heard the ongoing negative concerns or concerns about NAIS putting the small producer out of business-concerns about premises registration causing one to give up the rights to their property,"

Hammerschmidt said. "And so, a lot of the concerns that were expressed were certainly concerns that had been presented prior to these meetings, but it certainly was a good process in letting individuals air their concerns maybe more publicly and clearly."

About 525,000 premises were registered with the NAIS by July 5, according to the USDA. They account for about 36.5 percent of the estimated 1.44 million premises in the United States.