National Animal Identification System

The National Animal Identification System, otherwise known as NAIS, is a voluntary government-run program in the United States intended to permit improved animal health surveillance by identifying and tracking specific animals. Administered at the federal level by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture, NAIS will also be overseen by state animal health boards.

Overview
The National Animal Identification System covers most livestock species, including cattle, bison, deer, elk, llamas, alpacas, horses, donkeys, mules, goats, sheep, swine, all poultry species, and even some fish species, under the heading of aquaculture.

Locations, or premises, where these animals are housed or otherwise handled will thus need to be identified, as this is the first component of NAIS. Afterward, the animals themselves will be identified, and, finally, they are to be tracked in their movements between the various premises. 

Once these three parts of NAIS are fully implemented, the ultimate goal of the program, traceback within 48 hours of a diseased animal's movements, will be possible. This traceback would enable animal health officials to identify all the animals and locations that have had direct contact with the animal and take appropriate measures to prevent the further spread of disease. 

Premises identification
Premises identification, the first part of NAIS, allows certain information about each premise be entered into a national database, along with a unique, 7-character premise identification number. Information will include: the assigned premise identification number; the name of the premise; its owner or another appropriate contact person; its location, including the street address, city, state, and zip code; a contact phone number; the type of operation, such as a slaughterhouse or horse boarding stable; the date the premise ID number was activated; and the date that the premise ID number was deactivated, along with the reason.

Animal identification
The next step is animal identification. Each individual animal, whether horse, cow, sheep, chicken, pigeon, etc., is given a unique, 15-character animal identification number, or, in the case of animals that remain together in groups, a unique, 13-character group identification number.

The technology to be used for identification has not yet been finally chosen, although some recommendations have been made by the different species working groups, which represent animal producers. Radio frequency identification, such as that found in microchips, retinal scanning, and DNA samples are among the possibilities.

Animal tracking
The final component of NAIS is animal tracking. This will allow a report to be filed each time one of a set of events occurs, such as a change of an animal's ownership or movement to a new premise. A report would include the animal's or group's identification number, the premise identification number where the event took place, the date of the event, and the type of event, as slaughter or a sighting of the animal.

Benefits
NAIS can allow traceback of a disease to its origin within 48 hours, which can limit the impacts of a potential outbreak tremendously. A plan like NAIS also provides marketing opportunities overseas and assures the quality of US animal products. It would also allow producers to use just one number for each animal in all programs if they should so choose, rather than following the current system of having a different number for each program in which an animal was registered.

Concerns
Some of the concerns with NAIS include financial, civil rights, and religious aspects of the program.

Financially, a system as vast as NAIS will undoubtedly be extremely costly, Additionally, there is concern that the costs of complying with the program will drive small farmers out of business due to the cost of having each animal registered. 

There are also civil rights concerns, because NAIS establishes extensive government control over livestock, which are considered to be private property. There are also concerns that the big agribusiness companies will use this system to blame their mistakes in processing which introduces contamination to the food supply on small farmers putting them out of business. 

Finally, the plans to make NAIS mandatory threaten the religious freedom of those who believe that making a “mark” is sinful, such as the Amish. The Amish also object to the use of electronic devices such as microchips. If microchip implants were required, as has been proposed in a 2004 report by the United States Animal Health Association’s Committee on Livestock Identification, it would also violate the rights of those who believe that this practice is morally wrong, such as animal rights activist and animal welfare supporters.

Official links

 * Official Government Website

Articles

 * Blog Article on Benefits of NAIS
 * Article on Amish Concerns with NAIS
 * Article on Civil Rights Issues and Financial Concerns with NAIS
 * Annotated article on legal issues and impracticality of applications on small farms

Organizations supporting NAIS

 * American Farm Bureau
 * National Institute for Animal Agriculture
 * National Pork Producers Council
 * American Veterinary Medical Association
 * United States Animal Health Association

Organizations opposing NAIS

 * Western Organization of Resource Councils
 * Tennessee League of the South
 * StopAnimalID.org
 * Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities
 * NoNAIS.org
 * No Mandatory Animal ID