World Trade Organization is now directly dictating US law!!!, page 1

For several years people have been saying not only no, but HECK NO! to the World Trade Organization's idea of “Traceability” ”No NAIS” made it to one of the top slots of ideas to be presented to President Obama by Change.org news.change.org...

Unfortunately the World Trade Organization has a lot more influence over the US government compared to us peasants. The latest move by the US government makes that abundantly clear.

In direct defiance of fundamental recommendations ... the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today released an early version of its proposed rule to implement a national animal identification system titled "Traceability for Livestock Moving Interstate"

"The proposed rule, expected to be published in tomorrow's Federal Register, not only spurns the U.S. livestock industries key recommendations..., but also, it snubs the critical recommendation by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's own Advisory Committee on Animal Health, which urged the Secretary to provide at least a 120-day public comment period for the proposed rule. Instead, Vilsack is only providing a 90-day public comment period," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.

Bullard said the 90-day comment period will run at a time when tens of thousands of livestock producers are battling perhaps the nation's most widespread and devastating drought and coincides with the cattle industry's busy calf-weaning and calf-shipping season.

According to Bullard, USDA's rejection of its own advisory committee's recommendation to give producers more time to respond to the 114-page proposed rule suggests it already has decided to force this unacceptable mandate on U.S. livestock producers.

"USDA is running roughshod over the U.S. livestock industry …. "USDA officials have deceived livestock producers by pretending to seriously consider producer recommendations and then springing these unworkable and unacceptable mandates on us in its proposed rule."
"It's obvious that USDA did not listen to the multitude of U.S. livestock producers who participated in the agency's nationwide NAIS (National Animal Identification System) listening sessions in 2009 …
The public can submit comments on the proposed rule by either of the following methods:
-- Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
www.regulations.gov...#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2009-0091-0001.
-- Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2009-
0091, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River
Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.
www.r-calfusa.com...

To show how idiotic this ruling is, ”the proposed rule expressly allows producers to use hot-iron brands on their horses when shipping across state lines,” BUT NOT ON THEIR CATTLE!!!!

In 2008 they had a go at implementing Animal ID and got over 5000 comments. All the ones I read, which was most of them, were negative. www.newswithviews.com...

Actual Federal Register page from 2008: www.ocio.usda.gov...

Here is some info on the 2005 Federal Register on NAIS (scrapie ID system for sheep & goats) by a bought and paid for NGO Source Many livestock owners are disgusted with breed registers because of their turncoat activities. I refuse to register my stock any more.


There have been many USDA listening sessions on NAIS over the years: www.naisstinks.com...

....From May 14th thru June 30th, the USDA held “listening sessions” in fourteen cities across the nation. USDA asserted it wants “to engage stakeholders and producers to hear not only their concerns about [NAIS], but also potential or feasible solutions to those concerns.”
USDA hoped the listening sessions would provide a forum where stakeholders could help devise a NAIS that producers could live with. Instead, ranchers and farmers want the entire NAIS plan scrapped. Over 1600 people attended these sessions, with 500 testifying. Eighty-five percent of those who spoke condemned NAIS.
Listening Session Quotes
Darol Dickinson, longhorn cattleman from Ohio, believes the USDA plan is being forced on producers, despite objection.

“They've conveyed to us that we have no right to oppose them. They've told people, ”This is going to happen.” That doesn't sit well with independent thinking people, especially ranchers and farmers.”

Mike Callicrate, an independent cattle producer, is not at all happy with NAIS. He firmly believes that the best way to protect the food supply is to enforce existing laws and go back to unannounced inspections of factory farms, slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants.
“Today, USDA, in protecting the biggest and dirtiest meat plants, continues to block trace-back of pathogens to the source plant, a very easy and inexpensive measure that could improve food safety tomorrow.”
He blames the 2002 E. coli contamination of 20 million pounds of ConAgra beef on lack of inspections.

“USDA has done nothing to address the problems in the big packing plants where E. coli is systematically put into our meat daily while trusting these big profit-driven companies to self inspect under the HACCP hoax.”

….Barbara Steever called the USDA “disingenuous” for saying that NAIS will be used to control the spread of disease. To make her point, Steever then asked some hard-hitting questions:

“Why, then, are you lowering import restrictions to allow cattle in from Mexico that has bovine TB?
Why are you trying to bring in cattle from Argentina that is known to have a reservoir of FMD (foot-and-mouth disease)?
[Why are you allowing] cattle over 30 months of age from Canada, that have a higher risk of BSE, and disallowing private businesses from testing for BSE in response to their clients’ needs?
Why are you moving a high security disease containment facility into the middle of cattle country?”

…...Rhonda Perry, operates a livestock and grain operation. She spoke on behalf of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, representing 5,600 families. Reiterating above concerns, Perry adds:

We see industrial livestock operations all over this country that have created incredible environmental, health and food safety concerns.

Perry points out that none of today's food safety issues are caused by independent family farmers. She challenges the USDA to increase competition as a strategy to increase food safety. Bust the monopolies and decentralize food production, ”instead of looking at this unproven, ineffective, anti-farmer, corporate-driven program of NAIS.”

farmwars.info...

It seem that a government by the people and for the people no longer exists in the USA thanks to the Traitors in Washington D.C.

NAIS/traceability is only the tip of a very nasty iceberg.

The question to ask is WHY WTO has been so dogged in pushing for traceability.

According to the World Trade Organization:

"Measures to trace animals...to provide assurances on...safety ...have been incorporated into international standards... The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures...Aims to ensure THAT GOVERNMENTS DO NOT USE QUARANTINE AND FOOD SAFETY REQUIREMENTS as UNJUSTIFIED TRADE BARRIERS... It provides Member countries with a right to implement traceability {NAIS} as an SPS measure."

In simple terms The WTO “free trade agreement” allows cheap imports to cross borders without quarantine or other food safety testing. Only Traceability and the SPS measure ISO/OIE “Guide to Good Farming Practices” are allowed. The “new food safety policy” started in 1995 is about opening borders to trade.

The other idea advanced by the WTO is changed how disease and food safety is handled around the world. The USDA decided to change focus from disease eradication to disease “prevention” by changing from a zero tolerance import policy to a “scientifically-based and transparent risk assessment,” and opening US borders to trade in “low risk commodities”. This is why the USA has suddenly been flooded by tainted imports. They are obviously considered “low risk” LINK

The year after the World Trade Organization was ratified (1995) the USDA/FDA changed how it handled food inspection. Now the government uses HACCP and has closed down many of the Government food testing labs because they have turned over testing to the Ag corporations.

...when USDA "officials initially described HACCP to the industry in the mid-90's, the agency made the following enticing promises:

* "Under HACCP, the agency will implement a ‘Hands Off' role in meat inspection.
* "Under HACCP, the agency will no longer police the industry, but the industry will police itself.
* "Under HACCP, the agency will disband its previous command and control authority.
* "Under HACCP, each plant will write its own HACCP Plan, and the agency cannot tell plants what must be in their HACCP Plans."

As a result, the plant operator was required to identify potential hazards and the critical points in the process where those hazards could come into play. The plan would then identify procedures that would be used to minimize the hazard risk at those control points. The plant would be responsible for the implementation of the plan.

As a result, the inspector was no longer responsible for what was happening on the plant floor: that was left to company personnel. The new role of the inspector was to make sure that plant personnel were carrying out their duties in a manner consistent with the HACCP plan. In many cases this amounted to making sure that all of the paper work was in the proper order.

As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working out for you?"

To understand the numbers, one has to understand the nature of E. coli bacteria. Munsell writes, "E. coli and Salmonella are ‘enteric' bacteria, which by definition means they originate within animals' intestines, and by extension, on manure-covered hides. Slaughter facilities have intestines and manure-covered hides on their premises, which is where enteric bacteria are inadvertently transferred onto carcasses. The vast majority of destination facilities where meat is shipped do not have intestines or hides on their premises. They include retail meat markets, USDA and state-inspected further processing plants, and HRI accounts such as restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals, and schools."

When a downline processor who has no slaughter facility discovers E. coli bacteria in its beef trimmings or ground beef, it is because the cuts provided by the slaughter house were contaminated.... mfu.org...

The result of Corporate control of food safety is the more than doubling of food borne illness since 1997.

So what is behind all this maneuvering?

.... "The major reason for Foreman's renewed interest in food safety, however, is contained in her explanation for returning to CFA, i.e., she will seek to develop policies `that assure food safety in a global economy.'

HACCP [was] the keystone of President Clinton's globalization strategy to restrict the ability of Congress and of citizens at risk of health to make food safety a political, or policy issue.

" Under HACCP, governments withdraw from inspection for food safety as a public responsibility in favor of company-based inspection. Food products in global trade would be certified for safety by governments as equivalent, i.e., a government license would be granted pro forma to move products across national borders since food safety is a company decision. Countries that balk would be charged with a violation of their obligation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and threatened with higher tariffs or financial penalties.


"An unlikely scenario?" Leonard asks. "In fact, the U.S. already is threatening the European Union with trade retaliations for rejecting U.S. beef treated with growth hormones and genetically modified foods created by Monsanto and other biotechnology firms. If the U.S. does not adopt HACCP for meat and poultry, among the most high volume products in global trade, then Clinton's globalization strategy to put food safety beyond the reach of citizens will collapse." ... yupfarming.blogspot.com...

The large corporations are now in the catbird seat. They have gotten rid of the pesky FSIS inspectors that slow down line speed and condemn food. They have gotten rid of the rules condemning meat that becomes feces covered and can now just hose it down and sell it anyway. They now control lab test results. BUT and this is a big but, they have not gotten rid of the consumers that get sick and SUE them!!!!


Enter Traceability.

Traceability has one and only one use. That is to transfer liability from the corporations to the independent farmers.

Transfer of Corporate Liability

Wisconsin was the first state to make NAIS mandatory. The corporate response is quite interesting. Family farmers have feared that:

“One of the big goals of NAIS is to shift liability to the farmers and off of the packers and retail chains. This is despite the fact that virtually all food contamination happens at the slaughterhouse and beyond.” nonais.org...

Paul-Martin:Griepentrog on September 3, 2008 reported that this was indeed the case. He attended “quality assurance training required for Badger Vac 45.” And reported

“You [the farmer] will be required to cover ALL expenses in the event of contamination...The bottom line is that after 10 years [note the date] of below normal prices here in Wis because the state allowed Equity Livestock Coop to create a monopoly, our savior has now arrived to burden us with contracts shifting all liability to feeder cattle producers if they can’t prove they are innocent. “ nonais.org...-1395096

There was even a conference scheduled in 2009 addressing how to pass the blame to farmers.

Conference to address food-borne illness litigation

www.meatingplace.com...
“The conference will cover topics such as aligning damage assessments/expectations with the outcomes from recent resolved litigation; managing an outbreak effectively to minimize shareholder and reputational risk afterwards as quickly as possible; and how to measure and prove actual control of various players in the movement of contaminated food to accurately assess apportionment of liability....

reply to post by crimvelvet

---

It does seem to me like there is a war on the farmer. From the GM crops of Monsanto, the lawsuits associated, and now this!!

I read about this a while back and never thought it could actually be implemented without some kind of uproar. Out of all the people in the world to start a war on............it saddens me. War on drugs, war on terror, war on farmers, what's bloody next?

Cheers for the thread!

reply to post by Asktheanimals

---

You are 100% right.
Once food is monopolized...we are a goner.
There is a reason Monsanto has the "right" to go global.
There is a reason corporations lobby and get people into power.
There is a reason this is all happening.

As to the op's thread....am i really surprized by all of this??

Corporations run the planet......prove me wrong people...I dare you.

Government agencies sometimes pretend to be government agencies when they are in fact working for corporations,while ignoring laws because they have government officials by the tomatoes and in their wallets.

Can we get proper representation please??

reply to post by pstrron

---

The why they would push to hard for such control is obvious, total control of the food supply. Secondly they will then put in place the tracking of the populace in similar fashion. Not that they can't do that now with our credit cards and cell phones. They will put the law in place then implement it at a time when it will be readily accepted....

The mythical "How to boil a Frog" by raising the temperature slowly. Frogs are too smart to fall for the trick, I wish I could say the same for people!

reply to post by beezzer

---

It's th subtle, behind-the-scenes stuff that really hurts us....

That is for sure. It is all the laws (Regulations) writing carried out behind close doors by career Bureaucrats with big ties to the Corporate Cartels that are really killing this country.

The "Sausage-making" in the bureaucracies is where the "Good Intentions" shown to the public by the Mass Media get twisted into the nasty monsters we end up having to live under.

The Federal Register was 80,700 pages long in 2008 and a year's subscription is US$929.

This is why most people have no idea of what is happening or that they can influence the outcome.

Comments in the Federal Register are the only voice the average US citizen gets in government. If a regulation is VERY unpopular it can be withdrawn as the 2008 NAIS was. However TPTB is nothing if not very tenacious and are trying to get it made a regulation again.

reply to post by Asktheanimals

---

The range wars have mutated into the digital age and are the spearhead of an industrial scientific dictatorship designed to gain absolute control over all food production.
I'm sure they will extend this to all animals, pets or otherwise.
Once food is monopolized it's game over.

Allowing corporate control over everything is not a real future for mankind, maybe for mindless worker drones but not for free, creative, loving people.

This is outrageous and we don't know half the evil provisions in it.

It is just an extension of the range wars.



If you bother to do the research and follow the threads you will find the SAME families behind that mess and the mess today. The Puppet Masters have not changed.


American settlers were actually "Cannon Fodder" sent to wipe out the indigenous people and tame a wild country. As soon as the wilderness was "Tamed" and therefore worth something "the Families" moved in to take it away from the settlers. The Elite families were not going to risk THEMSELVES if they could con someone else into doing their dirty work for them.

In 1776 Farmers made up about 90% of labor force.

By 1850 Farmers made up 64% of labor force.

By 1900 Farmers made up 38% of labor force. At this point the "Elite Families" decided to make their move to bankrupt farmers with the Federal Reserve Act and the Agricultural Depression. LINKY

By 1940 Farmers made up 18% of labor force. At this point the Committee on Economic Development was formed and focused on getting rid of the rest of the farmers.

I am focusing on farmers because THEY are independent of the Elite. If you can not grow food YOU ARE A SLAVE! You may not know it but control of whether you can get a job and feed yourself makes you a slave. The end of independent farmers using the Food Modernization Act. The crippling of small independent business with Red Tape. The ending of Food Stamps, Welfare and SS. The spying and the latest move to make anonymous posting on the Web a crime, all have one aim to make us SLAVES.

By 1970 Farmers made up 4.6% of labor force.

By 1980 Farmers made up 2.6% of labor force and for the first time since the 19th century, foreigners began to purchase significant acreages of farmland and ranchland. Data Source

With the passage of the World Trade Organizations "Food safety" Modernization Act of 2010 the abolishing of of "peasant farmer ownership" is almost complete and the "Families have will assume control of some of the richest farmland in the world. Farmland that produces 25% of the World's Food Supply and is therefore a really big prize well worth fighting for.


Kissinger gave us the formula in 1970:

Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world

Originally posted by sir_slide
reply to post by crimvelvet

---

It does seem to me like there is a war on the farmer. From the GM crops of Monsanto, the lawsuits associated, and now this!!

I read about this a while back and never thought it could actually be implemented without some kind of uproar. Out of all the people in the world to start a war on............it saddens me. War on drugs, war on terror, war on farmers, what's bloody next?

Cheers for the thread!

Make no mistake, promoting a war on the folks who produce your food is a bad business. To paraphrase John Titor (whether the man was real or not, he's a good read and a genius of sorts) "when you start making war on farmers, they suddenly stop growing food, and have nothing better to do than shoot back".

It'll be a race to see who starves before they can die of lead poisoning.

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