Bill requiring USDA to set up animal ID program introduced

Legislation to establish a national, mandatory animal-identification program was introduced Tuesday by House Agriculture General Farm Commodities Subcommittee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Rep. James Walsh, R-N.Y., and House Agriculture Livestock and Horticulture Subcommittee ranking member Mike Ross, D-Ark.

The bill authorizes $175 million for implementation and exempts the bill from the Freedom of Information Act. Under the bill, the government would buy tags and the farmers and ranchers would be responsible for attaching them to animals. Last month, Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

The discovery of mad cow disease in a Canadian-born dairy cow in Washington state in December has increased pressure to create an animal identification system that could be used to trace the history of a diseased animal quickly.

Some livestock groups are resisting the idea of a government-run, mandatory animal identification system, saying they fear consumer and animal rights groups could use the data to sue farmers. Other farm groups say they fear a private system because the information could be used to manipulate livestock markets.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has said she is considering a system but has not set a timetable for establishing one. A department task force that includes 70 livestock groups also has been working on the issue. Peterson said he wants a national, government-run system because he does not want livestock lobbying groups to enter relationships with private companies to start systems to make money on animal identification.

Noting most countries have banned U.S. beef since the discovery of the case of mad cow disease, Peterson said if the United States does not put an animal identification system in place, it might be impossible to export beef. He also noted that the Agriculture Department ended its investigation Monday into the Washington mad cow case and managed to locate 28 of the 80 cows in the diseased cow's original herd.

The bill does not specify any system, but Peterson noted the USDA has paid for a pilot project for Holstein cows with an ear tag system that involves radio transmission to track the animals.

Asked about the prospects of the FOIA exemption being enacted, Peterson said House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., is a cosponsor, and Davis' committee has jurisdiction over FOIA.