American Policy Center » 2006 » September
- RITALIN IS POISON
- The Bush Administration’s Efforts to Cover Up the North American Union Myths, Facts — Truth
- No Mandatory Animal Identification
September 26, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
Why is America suddenly experiencing an explosion of new mental diseases and disorders never heard of thirty years ago? Why are children seemingly out of control, refusing to listen to parents and teachers, even driven to violence?
Here are two possible reasons to consider. First, it is apparent the psychology industry isn’t opposed to simply making up diseases and disorders if there is money to be made. Second, some research is suggesting that many of the growing diseases and disorders could actually be side effects of the drugs psychologists are pouring into children to “cure” their made-up diseases.
Does that sound harsh or far-fetched? Consider these facts.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are complete frauds. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever to prove either exists. Yet, today, almost seven million children have been diagnosed as being ADD or ADHD. And most have been placed on a behavior-altering drug called Ritalin, which is supposed to be the miracle answer to a non-existent problem.
THE ROOTS OF ADD/ADHD
For the past several years schools have had a problem. Some children can’t seem to concentrate on their studies, can’t sit still, can’t stay quiet or can’t keep their attention on any specific activity. At home, parents find the same children to be a disruption in the household. Sometimes the children become violent, certainly uncontrollable.
Clearly something is wrong. Children have been taken to doctors for medical exams. Nothing chemical or physical has been found wrong with them. No brain tumors, no epilepsy, no multiple sclerosis nor any of the known neurological disorders have been found in the children. Schools need answers. Parents need answers. Psychologists need to prove their credentials. So, in the dark, blind as bats, action has been taken.
Dr. Fred A. Baughman, a leading expert and critic of the ADD theory, explains the steps the psychiatry establishment took to create an answer, and establish a name, for what they believe inflicts the children. Says Dr. Baughman, “They (a committee of the American Psychiatric Association, APA) made a list of the most common symptoms of emotional discomfiture of children; those which bother teachers and parents most, and in a stroke that could not be more devoid of science or Hippocratic motive – termed them a ‘disease.’ Twenty five years of research, not deserving of the term ‘research,’ has failed to validate ADD/ADHD as a disease.”
To date, there has never been issued a single peer-reviewed scientific paper officially claiming to prove ADD/ADHD exists. Nor has there ever been a single bit of physical evidence to confirm the disease exists. So-called experts on the subject have refused to answer the simple question, “is ADD/ADHD a real disease?” Medical researchers charge that ADHD does not meet the medical definition of a disease or syndrome or anything organic or biologic.
One piece of speculation ADD “experts” cling to is MRI brain-scan research conducted by Dr. F. Xavier Castellanos of the National Institute of Health. According to his research, suspected ADD/ADHD victims show a consistent but moderate shrinkage in three key parts of the brain, thus causing the erratic behavior and consequently proving the existence of ADD/ADHD. Castellanos’ research has been grabbed up by ADD experts in conferences and in written studies for several years. Others have used similar tests with matching results. Desperate to grab hold of any shred of evidence which could back up the official ADD position, psychologists and policy makers used Castellanos’ findings to establish medication and therapy treatment for suspected ADD/ADHD patients. Consequently, the “epidemic” of ADD/ADHD has grown from 500,000 cases in 1985 to almost 7,000,000 in 1999. In most cases Ritalin is prescribed to control the disorder.
There is only one problem with the conclusions found in Dr. Castellanos’ findings. At least 93% of the children used in his research had been on long-term stimulant therapy, usually Ritalin. Likewise, the other tests also used long-term Ritalin-treated patients. According to Dr. Baughman, what the tests proved again and again was that Ritalin was causing the brains to shrink – not ADD.
In truth, no one in the medical profession or in government regulatory agencies will stick their necks out and pronounce ADD/ADHD as a real disease. To the contrary, in a series of letters to Dr. Baughman they have said the exact opposite. In 1994, Paul Leber of the Food and Drug Administration said, “As yet no distinctive pathophysiology for the disorder has been delineated.” In 1995, Gene R. Haislip of the Drug Enforcement Administration said, “We are also unaware that ADHD has been validated as a biologic/organic syndrome or disease.” In 1998, James M. Swanson of the University of California, and leading ADD advocate, said in conference, “I would like to have an objective diagnosis for the disorder (ADHD). Right now psychiatric diagnosis is completely subjective.” And even Dr. Castellanos, in spite of his extensive research, said in 1998, “I agree that we have not yet met the burden of demonstrating the specific pathophysiology that we believe underlies this condition.”
In spite of the lack of evidence for the existence of ADD/ADHD, its advocates continue to march forward, helter-skelter, issuing prescriptions for drugs like Ritalin with little concern for the long-term consequences it may bring to the patients. Russell Barkley sees Ritalin as the medical triumph of the century. Barkely boldly states, “…once convinced of an ADHD diagnosis, there’s no compelling reason to avoid Ritalin.” As Dr. Baughman explains, “Their ‘diseases’ are theories in perpetuity. As long they believe and as long as the drugs are prescribed, that’s all that matters.”
FOLLOW THE MONEY
When things don’t seem to make sense, it’s been advised many times to “follow the money.” That would be sage advise in the search for the truth about ADD. There is lots of money worth following.
Since ADD was invented by the APA, psychiatric hospitalizations to private hospitals have tripled. Admissions of children and adolescents to private psychiatric hospitals jumped from 16,735 in 1980 to 42,502 in 1986. Irving Phillips, MD and professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco says, “Patients are hospitalized for periods consistent with their insurance coverage and discharged with diagnoses that question whether hospitalization is appropriate.”
Insurance healthcare fraud is a $60 to $80 billion a year business. And the psychology industry has been very creative in finding ways to cash in. But it’s only the tip of the iceberg when seeking to calculate the massive ADD/ADHD-related profits flowing into the coffers of the industry.
The greatest source of new growth for the psychiatric industry is the schools. As education restructuring grew into a full-blown behavior-modification assault designed to change the attitudes, values and beliefs of the children, a key element to the process was to turn healthy children into “patients.” By diagnosing a child to have a mental disorder like ADD/ADHD the school could gain federal funds. It’s a growth industry.
In 1965, the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act(ESEA), education changed education forever as the seeds for today’s massive restructuring -away from academics to behavior modification -began. It was psychology’s crowning moment. The ESEA allocated massive federal funds and opened school doors to a flood of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and the psychiatric programs and testing needed to validate them. The number of educational psychologists in the U.S. increased from 455 in 1969 to 16,146 in 1992. As of 1994, child psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors and special educators in and around U.S. public schools nearly out-number teachers.
In 1991, eligibility rules for federal education grants were changed to provide schools with $400 in annual grant money for each child diagnosed with ADHD. That same year the Department of Education formally recognized ADHD as a handicap and directed all state education officers to establish procedures to screen and identify ADHD children and provide them with special education and psychological services. As a result, the number of ADD/ADHD cases soared again.
Today more than 7,000,000 children have been labeled, stamped and registered as permanent patients of the school system. 10 to 12 percent of all boys between the ages of 6 and 14 in the United States have been diagnosed as having ADD. One in every 30 Americans between the ages of 5 and 19 years old has a prescription to Ritalin. Psychologists have never had it so good. The federal trough has been very good for their industry.
With more than half of those 7,000,000 children also prescribed Ritalin, the stock-market value of its manufacturer, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, has also soared. Now that company and others are working to introduce a host of new drugs into the classroom, including Prozac and Luvox, which has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for pediatric use. Now the industry is looking to even greater growth as pre-school toddlers are being targeted by the pill brigade. The use of psychotropic drugs, like anti-depressants and stimulants, in 2-to-4-year olds doubled or even tripled between 1991 and 1995. The federal trough has been very good to the pharmaceutical industry, as well.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO DESTROY A CHILD
The federal trough has been good for the education industry, too. Schools are awash with federal funds to build in-school clinics where children will be analyzed, diagnosed and treated for whatever disease they care to make the flavor of the day. It’s in the schools where the system will make sure the children are properly cared for, out of sight and questions of the parents.
Beyond the available funding, there is also a side-bonus for the schools. If a child has a learning disorder, the schools can’t be held responsible for the fact that the student can’t learn. Bad teachers, failed curriculum and federal programs can’t be blamed for the failure of the student to learn. They’ve created an efficient system to protect themselves. It works like this: If a child has trouble with math, he is deemed to have a mental disorder under code number 315.1 – “Mathematics Disorder;” If the child can’t write literature composition she must be suffering from code 315.2 -“Disorder of Written Expression;” If the student can’t read then he is obviously suffering from code 315 – “Reading Disorder.” As stated, the whole industry is well protected – and well paid.
So the schools join in full cooperation with the psychologists to label millions of children with learning disorders. Teachers, with no medical credentials, serve as the unofficial recruiter and perform “pop-psychology” in the classroom to decide what children might have ADD.
Johnny is in the fifth grade, but only reads at a first grade level. Not the school’s fault. Johnny must be “dyslexic” or could have ADD. The teacher now becomes a brain diagnostician who decides who will be tested and who will be referred for special education or who is uneducable without Ritalin. The teacher reports these “findings” to the school administration and the wheels of control begin to turn against the child and the parents.
Woe be the child or parents who dare resist. The “team” now convenes – all for the good of the child, of course. The weight of consensus is brought to bear. Woe be the doctor who doesn’t agree with the findings. One who does will be found. Once treatment has been decided, the drugs are issued and the team is increased to include in-home social workers and the in-school clinics. The child is now community property. Now you know the true meaning of the term “it takes a village,” and the process to make it so.
It’s interesting to note that in December, 2004, in Australia, the head of the government’s inquiry into reading, Ken Rowe, said hospital psychology clinics were straining to cope with children seeking medical attention for problems caused by their failure to learn in school. “Hospitals are complaining that their clinics are being filled with kids who are being referred for things like(ADHD),” said Rowe. “But once the pediatricians sort out the children’s literacy problems the behavior problems disappear.”
POISON IN A CHILD’S SYSTEM
Psychologists will lie to you. They will tell you that Ritalin is not addictive. It is. It affects the mind. It affects the body. It can cause depression. The reaction to Ritalin by the brain is exactly the same as that of cocaine, except cocaine is shorter acting. It changes the child. Research is showing that Ritalin use is a common factor among many of the students who have walked into their schools and opened fire, indicating that Ritalin brings children to violence.
Children are dying from Ritalin use. According to Ritalin critic, Dr. Baughman, of 2,993 adverse reaction reports (AR) concerning Ritalin listed by the FDA from 1990 to 1997, there were 160 deaths and 569 hospitalizations, 36 of them life-threatening. Ritalin is known to cause cardiac arrhythmia, tachycardia and hypertension. Research has proven that Ritalin and other amphetamines can interfere with body phospholipid chemistry (complex fat), causing the accumulation of abnormal membranes visible with an electronic microscope.
Ritalin is early training to introduce children to drug abuse. Today, Ritalin is fast becoming the drug of choice by college students who were brought up on it. Reports from college campuses across the nation indicate that Ritalin use has become as popular as Coca Cola and coffee as a study aid.
A black market for obtaining Ritalin without a prescription has developed on some campuses. “People will pay $5 or $6 for one pill,” says a sophomore at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. To increase its potency, some students have started to crush Ritalin and sniff it like cocaine. After the “buzz” wears off, students report side effects of melancholy, lethargy, dry mouth, loss of appetite and inability to sleep.
Some parents report that, in the beginning Ritalin, seems to help children focus and begin to learn. But there is evidence that, over time, the drug builds up in the system causing depression and violent mood swings. In many cases, after being on the drug for several years children actually forget how to live without it. If taken off the drug they have reported feeling lost, frightened, even paranoid. This can lead the child to eventually experimenting with illegal drugs in an attempt to “feel normal” again. Research has shown that children on Ritalin are three times more likely to develop a taste for cocaine. So as the psychologists continue to invade the classrooms in ever increasing numbers, ask yourself why the drug culture is growing by ever-larger numbers through ever- younger children.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE CHILDREN?
If ADD/ADHD is not a real disease, then why the sudden epidemic of students unable to learn and unable to control themselves? What’s wrong with the children? A lot of parents don’t really want to know the answers to these questions. A disease or disorder is so much easier to accept.
Dr. Lawrence Diller, Author of “Running on Ritalin” puts the problem in perspective when he says, “Settling for Ritalin says we prefer to locate our children’s problems in their brains rather than in their lives.”
Consider how many modern families live. Both parents must work to maintain the lifestyle in the suburbs. That usually means that the whole family is up before dawn, dressed and fed. The children are dropped off at day care or school and the parents may then commute for as many as two hours each way to work. In the afternoon, children may leave school only to head to after-school day care to be picked up after dark by one harried parent. The family may then reassemble at home or meet in a restaurant for dinner. Once home, the tired children may attempt to do some homework. Soon the entire family will fall into bed for an exhausted sleep only to do it all again the next morning.
Where is the “quality time” needed by each child? Where is the opportunity for the child to just curl up in mommy’s comforting lap to find security? Everything must be organized, scheduled, rushed. Children feel the loss, and they take action for attention. They misbehave, they cry, they become defiant, aggressive. The parents seek answers and relief to the family turmoil.
The school, which is also experiencing the child’s defiance and aggression, seeks relief. Enter the school psychologist who provides the convenient answer. The child is ADD. Short term relief can come from a wonder drug called Ritalin. As a result, the real root of the behavior problems are suppressed and hidden as the child enters a drug- induced stupor. He seems to calm down, perhaps his grades even improve for a while and the problem seems to be solved.
There is more feeding the problem. School restructuring has centered around an assault on student values. Students are told in many classrooms that there is no right or wrong. Parents are instructed that students should not be told what to do. They should be allowed to experiment and “find themselves” on their own.
Hillary Clinton wrote in her book “It Takes a Village,” that corrective discipline isn’t encouraged at all, In fact, if a parent has to tell a child no, then the parent has already failed as a parent. According to Hillary, a child’s ability to self-check comes naturally, when not undermined by critical, controlling parents. “If (kids) have supportive and caring adults around them, they pick up the social clues that enable them to develop self-discipline and empathy.” In other words, Hillary Clinton is telling parents that children will basically raise themselves, with a little guidance from “the village.”
Parents, near desperation, believing what they are told about the “modern” way to raise a child, refuse to interfere with their growth. Spanking is now termed child abuse and parents can even be arrested if someone in the village decides to be a “hero” and turn in their neighbors.
What’s wrong with the children? Basically the children have started to show signs of insanity because the system that is raising them is nuts.
For more information visit the web site of Dr. Fred A. Baughman, http://home.att.net/~Fred-Alden/ or contact Citizens Commission on Human Rights, (800)869-2247.
September 20, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
“Conspiracy theories.” “Fringe nuts.” “Lies.” “Myths.” These are the words being used by officials of the Bush Administration and others to brand those who have reported on the activities of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), currently operating out of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Opponents have charged the SPP will result in the establishment of a North American Union, much on the same lines as the European Union.
In response to its critics, the SPP has added a “SPP Myths Vs Facts” section to its website at www.SPP.gov. According to the “Myths Vs Facts” document the SPP is simply a “dialog” among the three countries to “enhance prosperity.” It goes on to say the SPP is not an agreement, nor is it a treaty. It says “no agreement was ever signed.”
The truth is, on March 23, 2005, President Bush met at his ranch in Crawford, Texas with Vicente Fox and Paul Martin (then PM of Canada) in what they called a Summit. The three heads of state then drove to Baylor University in Waco, where they issued a press release announcing their signing of an agreement to form the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).
This year, on March 31, 2006, Bush. Fox and new Canadian PM, Stephen Harper met in Cancun, Mexico. This time their press release celebrated what they called the first anniversary of the SPP.
The use of the word “dialog” is a carefully selected euphemism designed to make the SPP sound like an innocent discussion among friends. To admit that it is anything more would force the government to provide Constitutional justification for its actions.
Moreover, the SPP says it won’t change our court system or legislative process and that it respects the sovereignty of each nation. And, says the SPP Myths and Facts document, it strongly rejects the idea that it is creating a European Union-like structure.
That defense is almost laughable in light of the massive activity taking place in the SPP office located in the Commerce Department.
First one must know that the European Union was also originally sold to the nations on the European continent as simply a trade and security framework. The idea, said proponents, was to create an economic structure to allow a combined European economy to compete with the United States and other economic powerhouses. Only a few years later nations were told they needed a common currency to provide seamless trade. At the same time, the working groups organizing the EU policy began to morph into what today has become a European Union parliament, which now is working to create a means of taxation, regulation of commerce and a court system.
Now, in offices buried in the bureaucratic structures of the United States, Canada and Mexico, twenty “working groups” are hard at work writing policy initiatives for the SPP, covering a wide range of issues including, the manufacture and movement of goods across the borders of the three North American nations: creating a common energy policy and common environmental regulations over the three nations; regulating E-commerce and information communications and technologies; establishing financial services, including loan policy and foreign aid policy; overseeing business facilitation, creating the rules under which businesses will operate in the three nations; establishing food and agriculture policy; and overseeing transportation and health policy.
These policy directives will infringe on every aspect of our lives. Can anyone seriously accept the Administration’s explanation that nothing really important is going on here? That this is only a friendly discussion taking place? That nothing will change in the way our government operates? If that were so, then why are we doing it? Why are so much time, money and energy being taken up in an effort that means nothing? The answer, of course, is that lots is going on.
It’s no accident that the SPP is working out of the NAFTA office of the Department of Commerce. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the precursor to the Security and Prosperity Partnership. According to investigative journalist, Jerome Corsi, a key part of the SPP plan is to expand the NAFTA tribunals into a North American Union court system.
Under Chapter 11 of the NAFTA Agreement, a tribunal conducts a behind closed-doors “trial” to decide the cases dealing with how state and federal laws may damage NAFTA business. If NAFTA investors believe state or federal laws damage their NAFTA businesses, under the tribunal the investor may sue the government and taxpayers will foot the bill. The NAFTA tribunal decision trumps the U.S. courts, all the way to the Supreme Court. Yet, the Bush Administration insists the SPP will have no effect on our court system.
The SPP says it is a myth that Congress is not involved or supportive of its actions. The truth is, to date, there has been no legislation passed by Congress to permit its actions. No taxpayer funds have been appropriated. One “hearing” was held in Senator Richard Lugar’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It was a friendly affair with friendly “dialog.” No tough questions were asked. No one was held accountable for their actions.
Meanwhile, members of Congress are beginning to become aware of the SPP activities at the Commerce Department. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) is demanding the Bush Administration fully disclose the activities of the SPP, which he says, has no authorization from Congress.
Specifically, Tancredo wants to know the membership of the SPP working groups. To date, no one knows who is involved, or is performing the work to create the policies of the SPP. Geri Word, who heads the SPP office told World Net Daily that the work has not been disclosed because “We did not want to get the contact people of the working groups distracted by calls from the public.” Yet the SPP denies it is working in secret.
Additional congressional reaction has come from Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). He had introduced a bill, “The North American Investment Act” (S.3622). Incredibly the bill contains near exact language from the book by Robert Pastor entitled “Toward a North American Community.” Pastor’s book is largely considered to be the blue print for the creation of the North American Union. Much of the contents of the book later appeared in a report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) entitled “Building a North American Community.” That report was issued just a week before the Summit in Waco.
However, once these facts were demonstrated to Senator Cornyn, he immediately took efforts to assure S.3622 would not be voted on in the Senate. His spokesman stated that Senator Cornyn “is adamantly opposed to any ‘North American Union’ being formed like the EU had been formed in Europe.” Regardless of how the Administration spins it, there is no congressional authorization for SPP actions or spending.
The SPP denies that it is planning to create a unique currency some have called the “Amero.” However, on April 6, 2006, the SPP announced the formation of the Financial Services Working Group. According to its own news release, the Financial Group will focus on “enhancing processes for addressing banking, securities, and insurance issues.” It goes on to say, “U.S. financial regulatory agencies will play a critical role in the SPP.”
In truth, the SPP is being put into place incrementally. It will take years before everything is in place. It took the European Union several years to create the Euro. However, the guiding documents from Dr. Pastor’s book and the CFR report both call for the creation of a North American currency. It is obvious, if one dissects the double speak of the bureaucratic language of the SPP, in order for it to reach its goal to “reduce the cost of trade,” “combat counterfeiting,” and “facilitate trade” among three nations trying to act as one, the drive for a single currency will not be questioned.
And finally, there is the issue of the NAFTA super highway. NAFTA was the first step in creating a North American Union. It was sold as a means to enhance trade among the North American nations. All were promised greater exports, better jobs and better wages. In truth, NAFTA is an unmitigated failure for all but a very few. The U.S. trade deficit has soared to almost $1 trillion per year; The U.S. has lost some 1.5 million jobs and real wages in both the U.S. and Mexico have fallen significantly. Yet, the agenda is set and so our government presses on.
The latest objective is the NAFTA super highway on which construction is planned to begin next year. It would bisect Texas from its border with Mexico to Oklahoma. It will travel on to Kansas City where an “inland port” is now in the final planning stages.
Plans call for a ten lane, limited access highway to parallel I-35 It would have three lanes each way for passenger cars, two express lanes each way for trucks, rail lines both ways for people and freight, plus a utility corridor for oil and natural gas pipelines, electric towers, cables for communications and telephone lines. The highway will require the taking of more than 500,000 acres of private land and is estimated to displace a million Americans from their property. Eminent Domain will be the tool of choice for the massive land grab – now made easier by last year’s Supreme Court ruling in the Kelo case.
The Kansas City Smart Port will be literally the first checkpoint on a highway that will run all the way from Columbia through the Hartland of the United States. Mexico will have a facility on the KC Smart Port site that it now insists will be Mexican sovereign land.
To make the NAFTA super highway reality, the borders of the three nations must disappear. Immigration will simply become “migration.” Border laws cannot exist. “Harmonizing” of our societies is becoming the catch phrase.
The SPP says its purpose is to guarantee security and prosperity for the three nations. The NAFTA model has already proven there will be no prosperity. The NAFTA super highway is proof there can be no security as we pave the way for more illegals to flood the nation, as truckloads of illegal drugs fly up the highway and terrorists just hitch a ride.
The United States is the most unique nation on earth. We were created out of a radical idea that free people, with their freedoms protected by the government would be happy and prosper beyond imagination. The idea worked. Now, the Bush Administration is ignoring this historic fact to “harmonize” us with Canada and especially Mexico, which is not a free country; has no property and has just proved its unworthiness of conducting free and fair elections. At risk are our culture, our wealth, and the once proud American way of life.
Americans must now understand that the battle to stop the North American Union is the last stand for a free and independent United States. That’s not a “Myth” it’s the truth.
September 11, 2006
Press Release: Liberty Ark Coalition (426 words)
Contact:
Karin Bergener (bergener@config.com) 330-298-0065
Judith McGeary (jmcgeary@att.net )
If Senator Jim Talent, and Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, both Missouri lawmakers, get their way, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be prohibited from implementing any kind of “mandatory” animal identification program. Companion bills introduced in both the House and the Senate, require that “…the Secretary [USDA] shall not implement or carry out, and no Federal funds shall be used to implement or carry out, a National Animal Identification System, or similar requirement, that mandates the participation of livestock owners.”
“This is a real step forward,” said Karin Bergener. “The grassroots community has been working hard to get legislators to pay attention to this intrusive program USDA has been trying to implement.” Bergener, an Ohio Attorney, is also a founding member of the Liberty Ark Coalition’s steering committee. The coalition was formed in April, specifically to generate and coordinate national opposition to this USDA program.
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS), has been under development by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) and the USDA for several years. It was revealed in April, 2005, with a Draft Strategic Plan and Program Standards. The plan called for (1) registration of every premises where a single livestock animal was housed; (2) tagging each animal with an identification device; and (3) reporting of any movement of an animal from the premises within 24 hours.
Originally, this plan was to become mandatory in phases, beginning in 2007 with mandatory premises registration. Grassroots opposition forced the USDA to release an updated plan in April, 2006, that emphasized that the program was “voluntary.” but when pressed by reporters, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, said the USDA had the authority to make the program mandatory if there was less than 100% voluntary participation.
The Talent-Emerson bills would prohibit the USDA from making the program mandatory, and they prohibit the use of federal funds to support state identification programs that are mandatory. Wisconsin and Indiana already have mandatory premises registration, and several other states are considering similar programs. Without federal funds, however, these state programs may be in jeopardy.
The Liberty Ark Coalition, organized in April 2006, told the Congressmen that their bills would be supported by the coalition’s 76 organizations, and more than 1100 members in all 50 states. The Coalition conducted “Town Hall” meetings in several states during August, and has launched an education campaign to help livestock owners learn how they could be impacted by both the federal and state programs.
