September 26, 2006
How RFID Affects Religious Beliefs
Margaret Schaut, an RFID Gazette reader, left a comment on the post Brisk sales of RFID livestock tags regarding the Amish community in the state of Indiana. She works directly with the Amish community there, and they brought their concerns to her. The United States is in the process of implementing the NAIS - National Animal Identifcation System. As part of this program, all livestock animals will be tagged for identification with several intentions including controlling diseased animals.
Several states in the USA also have their own programs - likely as a supplement to NAIS. According to an article that Margaret has posted at her Amish Community page at Squidoo, the Amish farmers were told by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) that they have to be enrolled in a three-phase program starting Sept 1st, which has already passed. Under the new rules, a number of types of "farm animals, defined as cattle, bison, swine, sheep, goats, and captive deer or elk, must be entered into the electronic database."
Non-compliance means a $1,000 per day fine, although the BOAH says that their intention is to help meat producers register, in order aid disease identification. Margaret Schaut concludes by saying, "The Amish have historically and consistently resisted certain government impositions that violate their religious convictions." The Amish also have a concern that people will eventually be tagged.
This is a situation that, honestly, had not occurred to me. I only know a little about the Amish culture, and my understandting is that certain devices (possibly just electric devices or similar) are not part of their lifestyle, are banned for use by community members. That of course creates a huge dilemma in a country that values freedom of religious practice.
Will the US or state governments make an exception in such cases? If they do, there may be conditions that mean the Amish cannot sell their livestock without the tags, and thus will lose a portion of their livelihood. Comments on older articles at this site suggest that some people feel that NAIS will spell the end of the small family and hobby farms.
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