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| PRISON PLANET.com Copyright © 2002-2005 Alex Jones All rights reserved. |
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State to initiate animal identification program
State agriculture officials said they intend to roll out a voluntary animal identification program in two weeks which will eventually become federally mandated.
Known as the Tri-National Livestock Health and Identification Consortium, the initiative was created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is a pilot program involving Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, two Mexico states and three Indian tribes in the Grand Canyon state, said Katie Decker, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Agriculture.
The program will require all livestock breeders and private livestock owners to have their animals registered into a database. The purpose is so the origins of an animal can be quickly traced back if that animal is found to have a infectious disease that could possibly threaten the food supply, Decker said.
"It's consumer-driven. The consumer wants food
safety," Decker said.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture is spearheading the program, and
Arizona agriculture officials within the next two weeks will sign a participation
agreement, she said.
Larger animals will have radio frequency identification tags implanted in their ears. Sheep and goats will likely have implanted chips, but authorities have yet to determine how they will electronically tag smaller animals, Decker said.
Shrimp and fish farms, along with swine and chicken farms, will be identified by their lot numbers and through a premise identification number, she said.
Nearly every animal, including those not part of the food supply — horses, llamas and camels — will eventually be registered, Decker said. The program will not apply to domestic animals such as cats, dogs and birds, she added.
"Our objective is to get at least 20 percent of our producers of food animals to have a premise ID by the end of this year," said Albert A. Davis, project specialist with the state agriculture department animal health program.
Once the program is in place, Davis said, agriculture authorities will be able to trace an infected animal's origins within 48 hours and be able to identify that animal's parents, siblings, herd and ranch of origin.
Concerning access to that data, Davis said: "The only person in the state who will have access to (Arizona) data will be our head state veterinarian, Dr. Richard Willer."
Willer will only have access to the data in the event an animal here is diagnosed with an infectious disease such as tuberculosis or Mad Cow disease, Davis said.
Decker said the data will be stored in a massive computer server established and maintained by RMS, a Denver-based company. RMS will serve as a "blind setup," meaning the numbers of livestock and their locations will not be in view of the government unless or until an animal is found to be infected with a contagious disease.
Whether a data collection effort of this magnitude raises personal privacy concerns is not clear, said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer information and privacy advocacy group.
"The Big Brother argument would come into play if personally identifiable information would come into play," Givens said.
Identifying and tracking "chips for pets have been around for a long time and we've not yet seen any spillover in terms of privacy implications for individuals," Givens said.
"The privacy concern about this pilot project comes if the infrastructure developed to make it possible is used for tracking other elements tied to a person's identity," Givens said, adding that she is unsure if this is a cause for concern.
Decker said the USDA will eventually require all livestock owners to participate, but federal authorities have not set a date for when they will make the program mandatory.
Davis said some breeders have raised objections and he expects some resistance.
"Privacy is a grave concern to ranchers. They don't want their competitors to know their numbers (of cattle)," Davis said.
One area cattleman said he thinks the program is a good idea and that his company will sign up.
"I'm all for it," said Scott Shill, cattle and feedlot manager for Wellton-based McElhaney Cattle Co.
"It will improve our ability to track diseases and any kind of problem with the system. It will help solve disease problems," Shill said.
Citing recent concerns over Mad Cow disease in Canada, Shill said the program "will be an asset to trace back within our system any (infected) home grown or imported livestock"
The last reported case of Mad Cow disease in the United States was in December 2003 and was found in a cow imported from Canada at a Washington state dairy. That cow had not entered the nation's food supply.
Shill said his company already keeps detailed records on the cattle it buys and sells.
Regarding those who may oppose the program, Shill said he thinks there will be some "with a protectionist attitude" but they will later come to accept the program once they see the benefits.
Two years ago the Yuma County Junior Livestock Committee adopted similar rules for animals exhibited at the fair, said Sandi Liska, former office manager for the committee who also had been a deputy brand inspector.
"We had implemented this two years ago because it was coming down the turnpike," Liska said.
Animals shown at the fair currently must have premise IDs of various types issued by the USDA from the originating breeder, Liska said. Those identifiers include metal tags or tattoos and are specific to the breeder or the origin of that animal, Liska said.
People bringing an animal to the fair must also present health certificates and shipping papers, she said, adding that livestock that originate in Arizona do not require a health certificate but do require shipping papers and premise identification.
"It's a nuisance but it's a good nuisance," Liska said, comparing the record keeping of animals to shot records schools keep on child immunizations.
"Arizona itself has always been known for having the strictest import rules, so we're two or three years ahead of everybody else ... it has kept our state free of disease," Liska said.
Liska said swine, sheep and goat breeders from other states tend to be the ones who resist using identifiers.
"There a lot of breeders out there who are out for the money and are not concerned about the problems these kids have if they can't get their animals into the fair," she said.
"Even though the pilot program is controversial, it pays now for these ranchers and farmers to get in on the ground level because it will save them money for the tags," Decker said.
The state agriculture department for now will provide the animal tags, which cost $3 each, to livestock owners at no cost. When the program becomes mandatory, livestock owners will have to pay for those tags, Decker said.
Decker said the consortium is one of several similar volunteer animal identification programs in 45 other states.
The state agriculture department will begin an outreach effort soon, Decker said.
The cost of this program is just over $3 million and the money comes from participating states and the federal government, she said.
Decker said agriculture authorities in two weeks will
launch another animal identification program in Arizona, California, Oregon
and Texas that applies only to dairy cows and calves.
