If you are among the many people who have been working diligently against the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)—writing your legislators, talking to friends and neighbors, and circulating petitions—you’re likely wondering if your efforts have made an impact. In summer 2007 I spent 10 days in our nation’s capital, lobbying against the NAIS, and I want to share with you what I learned in meetings with representatives and senators, and their staff members, including how you can make your anti-NAIS efforts more effective.

• How does Congress view NAIS?
• Status of NAIS in Congress
• Making a Difference

Why Oppose NAIS?
Before you call your legislator, make a few notes about what you want to say so you can be brief and to the point. Below are some ideas you might choose from, but for heaven’s sake don’t try to cover them all. Staffers typically have only a few minutes to take your call, so be prepared to make the two or three points most important to you.

1. NAIS is not an effective way to stop animal disease.

a. It does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of disease.

b. It does not significantly improve on current methods for identification and tracking.

2. NAIS will not improve food safety.

a. USDA itself has stated NAIS is not a food safety program.

b. Contamination of food with E. coli, salmonella, and other bacteria occurs at the slaughterhouses and afterward, while NAIS stops before that point.

3. NAIS is expensive and will hurt our economy.

a. Estimated costs from other countries range from $37 to $69 per animal. With more than one hundred million cattle, and millions more horses, sheep, goats, and other livestock, NAIS could cost billions of dollars

b. These expenses include the cost of tags, tagging and reader equipment, hardware, software, time, and labor.

c. These expenses will ultimately be paid through increased taxes and increased costs for food, fueling inflation and harming the entire economy.

4. The costs of NAIS will unfairly burden pet owners, hobby farmers, small-scale farmers, and sustainable producers. These animal owners will face higher costs than industrial producers because of economies of scale and because USDA has structured the program in their favor. Factory farms of poultry and hogs, for example, will get group identification numbers, but pastured poultry producers must tag each chicken.

5. NAIS will make us more vulnerable to terrorism, not less.

a. It will drive many farmers out of business, increasing consolidation of our food supply, thus increasing the risk of widespread accidental or intentional contamination.

b. The mandated electronic tags may be cloned, destroyed, infected with computer viruses, and reprogrammed to new numbers.

c. The database containing our personal and farm information will provide a target for hackers.

6. Our limited resources, both government and private, would be better spent on preventive measures, including:

a. Better inspection of imported food and animals.

b. Better enforcement of regulations on food processing, where most contamination occurs.

c. Increased testing, both in live animals and food products.

7. NAIS infringes on our constitutional rights, including due process, privacy, and religious freedom.

Judith McGeary is an attorney in Austin, Texas, who together with her husband runs a small grass-based farm with horses, cattle, sheep, and poultry. She is executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, where you can get tools to help fight NAIS—from educating your neighbors to lobbying your legislators. This article appeared in Autumn 2007 issue of Rural Heritage.