CNN reports, every cow in the United States may someday have a unique ID number.
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman Tuesday announced the framework for a National Animal Identification System.
The system has been in the works for at least 18 months, but development was hurried in the wake of the discovery of a Washington dairy cow infected with mad cow disease last December. Some 57 countries have banned imports of U.S. beef, devastating the industry.
“We want to allocate an individual identification, just like you and I have Social Security numbers,” said Bill Hawks, an undersecretary of marketing and regulatory programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
After a Holstein cow tested positive for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy known as BSE, in Washington last year, the federal government stepped up efforts to more efficiently track animal diseases.
The USDA recently launched the first phase of its National Animal Identification System with $18.8 million in funding. The long-term goal of the project is to be able to identify farms where a specific animal lived within 48 hours of a possible outbreak.
Fourdraine said the same database that keeps track of animals’ geographic movements can also keep information on health, vaccinations, and lineage.
The USDA says it will be “technology neutral” about the tracking system. Farmers can use any of a variety of tracking methods — from physical tags to biometrics and DNA tracking — as long as it provides critical data about animals’ movements. RFID, or radio frequency identification, is now leading the herd among tracking technologies.
The U.S. Animal Identification Plan eventually will include many other species, from bison and sheep to goats, llamas, alpacas, poultry, even 11 species of fish.
Privacy advocates worry that the technology will allow other uses, such as real-time tracking of customers in stores, or even after they leave stores. Senator Patrick Leahy warns of the potential risks RFID tagging may pose to privacy and civil liberties. Thus far there are no federal bills or laws related to RFID privacy concerns.
More information is available at MIT’s Autoidcenter.org, EPCglobal, RFID.org, RF-ID Journal, buyrfid.com, ACSIS.com, RFID toolkit, rfidtalk.com and nocards.org. WiFi Planet overviews RF-ID technologies.
Dailywireless has more on RFID including Mad Cow RF-ID, Handheld RF-ID Readers, Airport RF-ID, Tracking RF-ID, Digital Angel, RF-ID: From Soup to Nuts, Tracking Ship Movements - And You, Homeland Insecurity, Marathon RF-ID Tagging and Port Security with RF-ID, Intelligent Transportation and RF-ID Tracking from Space?.
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