NAIS

A few weeks ago I wrote my senator regarding NAIS, the animal tracking proposal that keeps resurfacing. I basically expressed the often seen argument that if our dearest value is freedom, it is anti-American to track every farm animal everyone owns and to make it more difficult and more expensive to RAISE FOOD for ourselves. It is RIDICULOUS to think the government wants to know how many chickens I have, where I bought them, how many died, WHY the died, and if they ever leave my property (and where they went and how long they were there...) And of course, in order to do this without mixing everything up, the best way is to plant a chip in every farm animal. Let's just go ahead and tattoo a bar code on the forehead every animal and be done with it.

The government wants every state to do this, but the small farms have been pissed off enough to hold them back so far. Except in Wisconsin. Sucks to own chickens there.

Anyway, so here is my senator's response.

Dear Ms. Rood-Emmick:



Thank you for taking the time to contact me about animal identification proposals currently being considered by the federal government and individual states.



The incidence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Exotic New Castle Disease, and Avian Influenza in the United States, as well as the known interest of terrorists in attacking our food supply, suggest that it would be helpful to discern quickly the origins of food in our supply system.



However, I agree that each of these proposals must be considered within the individual freedoms enumerated by our Constitution. I also agree that any program that would financially harm small farms and hobby operations, as well as provide disincentives to our youth participating in county and state fairs, would not be beneficial to rural Indiana.



I will continue to closely follow the debate surrounding potential identification programs. Thank you, again, for taking the time to contact me.



Sincerely,


Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator