Wisconsin Farmers and NAIS

[Guest guest]

Please pass this on to everyone you know and copy and post every

where that you can think of.

We don't have much time to make our voices heard and try to defeat

this.

December 30, 2007http://nonais.org/index.php/2007/12/30/wi-nais-

changes/

WI NAIS Changes

Alert - State — walterj 8:22 am

Relayed from Dona:

Below you will find the official public hearing notice from DATCP

about their proposal for the next implementation phase of the

federal National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in Wisconsin.

We strongly encourage you to participate in these hearings if you

can and to spread the word to others who will be affected by this

draconian state surveillance program that is unprecedented - at

least in U.S. history.

If you can not attend in person, you can also submit written

comments to DATCP. Better yet is to contact your elected officials,

write a letter to your local paper, call into talk show radio, and

otherwise publicly express your opposition to this program. Based

upon our experience organizing farmers and their allies, if even one

person speaks up there are about a dozen others who feel the same

and then find the courage to add their voice, too.

DATCP's Hearing Dates and Locations:

Monday, January 7, 2008

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Fox Valley Technical College

1825 N. Bluemound Drive, Room A160

Appleton, WI 54912

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection

2811 Agriculture Drive, First Floor – Room 106 (Boardroom)

Madison, Wisconsin 53718

Thursday January 10, 2008

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Department of Natural Resources West Central Region Headquarters

1300 W. mont Avenue – Room 158

Eau , WI 54701

As many of you may know, Wisconsin has become a national

battleground state on NAIS. DATCP and its partner WLIC (which

actually administers the program as a private subcontractor) have

received millions in taxpayer funding to bring this program into

existence, and now many bureaucratic jobs and corporate contracts

depend upon its implementation. When over 10% of WI dairy farmers

refused to voluntarily register their premises, the state was unable

to make good on their threat to pull milk licenses since the state's

economy could not afford to criminalize so many productive farmers

overnight.

Nonetheless, DATCP is now denying milk licenses to new dairy

farmers, including many Amish who strongly oppose NAIS for religious

reasons, even though grass-based Amish dairy operations are one of

the fastest growing segments of the entire industry. The proposed

rule change would also allow the state to register farmers against

their will and without their knowledge. Worse yet, we know that

DATCP/WLIC intend to move towards mandatory RFID chipping, phase two

of the federal NAIS program, despite recent scientific studies

revealing that RFID chips cause cancer, and thus pose a health

threat to both livestock and people. A farmer in MI recently had

sheriff deputies under state orders enter his land to place RFID

chips in his cattle against his will. And then there is the

disturbing story of the Faillace family in VT, documented in the

book " Mad Sheep, " where a USDA led SWAT team invaded their farm to

seize and destroy all of their animals wrongly suspected of

harboring some prion type disease.

Family Farm Defenders has been an outspoken critic of NAIS for years

now, and recently helped form an organization called Free Wisconsin

Pastures with the purpose of filing a lawsuit against

DATCP/WLIC/USDA if necessary to stop this absurd program from

destroying the future of farming in our state.

For more info on this effort, please visit our website:

www.familyfarmdefenders.org and look under NAIS

Of course, we would rather NOT have to take this issue to court,

which is why it is so paramount that family farmers and others

concerned about the future of agriculture in WI exercise their

democratic freedom to express their opinion and let our elected

officials and DATCP bureaucrats know that NAIS is not acceptable in

any form.

Please pass this information along to others and thank you for your

support.

- Peck

executive director

Family Farm Defenders

1019 on St. #B

Madison, WI 53703

tel./fax