A couple of weeks ago I got an note from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack’s assistant inviting me to a conference call about their findings from the 2009 listening sessions that were held last year. At the last minute the conference call got called off. This morning I got a new invitation for the conference call to be held today at 12:30 PM, Friday, February 5th. Fortunately it is is a snowy, blustery day. It will be interesting to hear what they conclude.
We already have some preliminary information based on this press release which also made it into my email box this morning:
Release No. 0053.10
Contact:
USDA Office of Communications (202) 720-4623USDA ANNOUNCES NEW FRAMEWORK FOR ANIMAL DISEASE TRACEABILITY WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2010 - Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced today that USDA will develop a new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability in the United States, and undertake several other actions to further strengthen its disease prevention and response capabilities.
“After concluding our listening tour on the National Animal Identification System in 15 cities across the country, receiving thousands of comments from the public and input from States, Tribal Nations, industry groups, and representatives for small and organic farmers, it is apparent that a new strategy for animal disease traceability is needed,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “I’ve decided to revise the prior policy and offer a new approach to animal disease traceability with changes that respond directly to the feedback we heard.”
The framework, announced today at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Mid-Year meeting, provides the basic tenets of an improved animal disease traceability capability in the United States. USDA’s efforts will:
Only apply to animals moved in interstate commerce;
- Be administered by the States and Tribal Nations to provide more flexibility;
- Encourage the use of lower-cost technology; and
- Be implemented transparently through federal regulations and the full rulemaking process.
“One of my main goals for this new approach is to build a collaborative process for shaping and implementing our framework for animal disease traceability,” said Vilsack. “We are committed to working in partnership with States, Tribal Nations and industry in the coming months to address many of the details of this framework, and giving ample opportunity for farmers and ranchers and the public to provide us with continued input through this process.”
One of USDA’s first steps will be to convene a forum with animal health leaders for the States and Tribal Nations to initiate a dialogue about the possible ways of achieving the flexible, coordinated approach to animal disease traceability we envision. Additionally, USDA will be revamping the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health to address specific issues, such as confidentiality and liability.
Although USDA has a robust system in place to protect U.S. agriculture, with today’s announcement, the Department will also be taking several additional actions to further strengthen protections against the entry and spread of disease. These steps will include accelerating actions to lessen the risk from diseases–such as tuberculosis–posed by imported animals, initiating and updating analyses on how animal diseases travel into the country, improving response capabilities, and focusing on greater collaboration and analyses with States and industry on potential disease risk overall.
More information on USDA’s new direction on animal traceability and the steps to improve disease prevention and control is available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/traceability.
-USDA Press Release No. 0053.10
I am glad to see more emphasis on disease prevention at importation. That is where the federal government should be focused. Almost all of the disease they are warning us against do not exist in the United States. The diseases would have to come in from outside. Protect our borders. Use the simplest of tools, quarantine and vaccines. This is a much more powerful and cost effective method of preventing disease than an elaborate hoax like NAIS.
I hope that Vilsack is serious about taking input from ordinary people and not just government, industry and vets. Disease prevention programs will live and die by the hand of the many, not the few. It is education that fights disease as has been historically proven time and again. Heavy handed mandates and regulations will simply produce scoff-laws, rebellion and unenforceable systems. He does not have the money or man power to drive every back road of America.
Mr. Vilsack mentions transparency - I would be very interested in a statistical breakdown of the feedback as well as the complete raw feedback from the sessions. How many people attended? How many commented at the session? How many of those were Pro-NAIS, Anti-NAIS, Other? Broken down by type (Consumer, Small Farmer, Homesteader, Larger Farmer, Corporate Ag, Government, Veterinarian…) How many commented outside of the sessions with written comments (email, paper, fax) and what was the break down there? By having the raw data as well as the USDA’s conclusions these could be independently reviewed and compared with videos of those same listening sessions. This would be most interesting given that several independent studies and polls have shown that the support for NAIS within the large industry is about 50% and the opposition to NAIS among farmers and consumers runs more like 92% with only about 4% supporting NAIS. Vilsack is offering transparency. The first step is to open up the data for peer review. I just received the response to a FOIA request I had made in early 2007 to the USDA. Not only are they almost three years late getting me the data but they only sent part of the data and acknowledge that. Not at all transparent.
I challenge Mr. Vilsack to make all the comments and recordings from the listening sessions and comment periods easily available on the web so that anyone can download them and verify the USDA’s assessments.
This does leave us with the terminal question of what to call this new inititative. NAIS, which sounds all too much like Nazi, is already taken and way too toxic. How about something a little less politically explosive this time like maybe AIDS (Animal Identification Disease System) or LOCO (Livestock Occupational Communication Organization)? That was sarcasm for those who were not sure. One must wonder about the people who would pick an acronym like NAIS and not try pronouncing it a few times to see if it sounds or maybe spells out too closely to other words with negative connotations. Apparently the USDA still has some lessons they need to learn from the marketing and communications department.
There was a time when the government officials and industry forces were sure that NAIS would become mandatory and fully implemented by January 2009. They claimed they would drive every back road and tag every animal. Times change. The USDA and Big Ag were faced with over 92% of the farmers opposing NAIS along with very strong opposition from consumers and homesteaders. NAIS has been withering and will hopefully die. Vilsack appears to be listening and the above is one more step in the right direction.
Sometimes forced government programs do die. Remember we were all going to be forced to use the Metric System back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. It hasn’t come to pass. Neither did flying cars, thankfully. In the case of the Metric System it really was a better way (units of 10 measurement) but the public rejected here in the United States. Sadly in that case we now have both (look in your auto tool set) “Metric System and the “English Imperial System” which is worse than either alone.
Let us hope that with NAIS or what ever they’ll now call it we don’t end up in that land of Heck. Time will tell. Keep an eye on what comes next while continuing to give feedback and be involved in the process.
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Update 20100205 11:34 AM - The NY Times has an article on this now.