May 14, 2004

Nancy Bryson, Legal Council

United States Department of Agriculture

1400 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, DC  20250-1300

Dear Ms. Bryson,

          The mission of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) is to be the forum for building consensus and advancing solutions for animal agriculture, and to provide continuing education and communication linkages for animal agriculture professionals.

          The enclosed position statement, “Confidentiality of Producer Records", was promulgated by the NIAA Animal Identification and Information Systems Committee and adopted by the NIAA Board of Directors during the 2004 NIAA Annual Meeting on April 8, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

          We support the development and implementation of a national animal identification system as outlined in the U.S. Animal Identification Plan with the understanding, as noted in the USAIP, that producer data required by the system be kept confidential and exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Rick Sibbel

Chairman of the Board

CC:   Dr. Mark Engle, Chair, Animal Identification and Information Systems Committee

        Dr. Robert Fourdraine, Vice Chair, Animal Identification and Information Systems Committee