By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
A farmers’ advocacy group has followed through on its threat to sue the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the USDA over the state’s implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia circuit, on Sept. 8. The plaintiffs’ legal representative, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF), sent the state a letter last May, threatening to sue if it didn’t stop its implementation of NAIS, which includes as part of its program mandatory tagging of livestock with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The group, which represents a number of Amish and non-Amish farmers in Michigan, says that NAIS violates the religious freedoms of some of its clients.

“MDA provided a nonsubstantive response to the letter,” said Judith McGeary, a Texas-based lawyer who is a member of the group’s board and is familiar with NAIS issues. “NAIS does not have a sound scientific basis. It’s a very costly program, and it’s a very intrusive program. Some of our farmers have religious objections to it.”

A spokeswoman for the MDA said she could not comment on the pending litigation, except to acknowledge that it had received the complaint on Sept. 16. In May the spokeswoman, Jennifer Quimby-Holton, responded to the “Intent to Sue” letter by stating that the MDA stands by Michigan’s cattle identification industry program.
“We believe it’s well within the Animal Industry Act,” she had said.
She also referred Farm World to the state’s attorney general’s office, which did not return a telephone call or a request for a comment via e-mail by press time.

According to the MDA’s literature, the electronic livestock identification program was launched in Michigan in November 2001 as part of the state’s bovine tuberculosis (TB) eradication plan.
Michigan is one of only a handful of states to use electronic animal ID on a regular basis. The MDA believes the technology is increasingly important in light of emerging diseases such as avian influenza and BSE, or “Mad Cow” disease, as well as TB – and most recently, chronic wasting disease.

But the farmers involved in the lawsuit believe that they should be exempted, based on religious grounds. Some of them believe that such tagging constitutes the “mark of the beast,” a sign of the devil that’s discussed in “The Book of Revelations” in The New Testament. They also believe that farmers who sell directly to consumers should not be subjected to rules that require electronic tagging of their livestock.

Gregory Niewendorp submitted written comments to the farmers’ advocacy group that may be included in the lawsuit. Niewendorp is a small cattle rancher in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

“There are individual farmers in this country, like myself, and the number is growing, who do not depend upon current commercial trade channels. Our market is not even 100 miles away, but in our own local communities,” he wrote. “And if the buyer of our product is dealing directly with the producer, there simply is no need for a national registry of every animal that we have on our farms.”
In addition to asking for an exemption based on religious beliefs, the lawsuit is requesting the program be suspended because, according to McGeary, the USDA has not conducted an environmental impact assessment as well as an assessment of the impact NAIS will have on small businesses, as required by law.
“One of the disturbing things about NAIS is what it does to the Amish,” she said.

The state and federal governments have 60 days to formally respond to the lawsuit.