A
Anonymous
Guest
This is where this info should be anyway- with the states- since they are the ones that have the major role of controlling livestock health...Keep the feds out of it....
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Today 8/22/2006 3:36:00 PM
Vermont, Others Question USDA Farm Data Confidentiality
KANSAS CITY (Dow Jones)--Amid questions about how well the U.S. Department of Agriculture can protect farmer's data, Vermont Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr has temporarily halted mandatory premises registration.
"(The) USDA had promised us complete confidentiality at every step of this process," Kerr said in a release Tuesday. "Now we have reason to believe that may not be the case. Without 100% confidentiality, we will not be sending any information on Vermont farms to the USDA database."
The issue centers around whether a database housed at USDA would be subject to a Freedom of Information Act request, said Mark Bosma, public information officer at the agency. Requests have been turned down by USDA, but lawyers at USDA told Kerr they didn't know if those refusals would stand up if challenged in court.
Vermont has its own confidentiality laws, and officials are hoping they will be allowed to maintain the data on its farms and facilitate traceback only when it is needed to fight disease, Bosma said.
There isn't a lot of information, anyway, Bosma said, explaining that all officials are asking is a farmer's name, address and the kinds of animals on the farm. Farmers aren't being asked things like how many of each animal are on the farm, he said.
Since Vermont officials brought this to light, at least two other states, Wisconsin, which has more than 50,000 farms in its database, and Massachusetts have contacted Vermont agriculture officials to thank them for uncovering the confidentiality issue, the release said. Those states said that they, too, would be withholding farm names from the national database until USDA can guarantee strict confidentiality.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources said officials there were looking for confirmation that confidentiality would be protected.
Donna Gilson, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, provided a letter secretary Rod Nilsestuen had sent to USDA Chief Veterinary officer John Clifford seeking clarification about the issue.
"If the...USDA cannot guarantee that Wisconsin premises registration information is exempt from FOIA, I hereby request USDA remove and destroy all Wisconsin premises registration information from the USDA national premises repository until such assurances are in place," Nilsestuen said in the letter.
"It is still highly unlikely that this information would ever get out, and if it did it isn't much more than you could obtain by just opening a phone book," Kerr said in the release. "However, the Agency of Agriculture and the farmers were assured that this information would be secure, and we need to know that it is."
Source: Lester Aldrich, 913-322-5179; Dow Jones Newswires; [email protected]
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Today 8/22/2006 3:36:00 PM
Vermont, Others Question USDA Farm Data Confidentiality
KANSAS CITY (Dow Jones)--Amid questions about how well the U.S. Department of Agriculture can protect farmer's data, Vermont Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr has temporarily halted mandatory premises registration.
"(The) USDA had promised us complete confidentiality at every step of this process," Kerr said in a release Tuesday. "Now we have reason to believe that may not be the case. Without 100% confidentiality, we will not be sending any information on Vermont farms to the USDA database."
The issue centers around whether a database housed at USDA would be subject to a Freedom of Information Act request, said Mark Bosma, public information officer at the agency. Requests have been turned down by USDA, but lawyers at USDA told Kerr they didn't know if those refusals would stand up if challenged in court.
Vermont has its own confidentiality laws, and officials are hoping they will be allowed to maintain the data on its farms and facilitate traceback only when it is needed to fight disease, Bosma said.
There isn't a lot of information, anyway, Bosma said, explaining that all officials are asking is a farmer's name, address and the kinds of animals on the farm. Farmers aren't being asked things like how many of each animal are on the farm, he said.
Since Vermont officials brought this to light, at least two other states, Wisconsin, which has more than 50,000 farms in its database, and Massachusetts have contacted Vermont agriculture officials to thank them for uncovering the confidentiality issue, the release said. Those states said that they, too, would be withholding farm names from the national database until USDA can guarantee strict confidentiality.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources said officials there were looking for confirmation that confidentiality would be protected.
Donna Gilson, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, provided a letter secretary Rod Nilsestuen had sent to USDA Chief Veterinary officer John Clifford seeking clarification about the issue.
"If the...USDA cannot guarantee that Wisconsin premises registration information is exempt from FOIA, I hereby request USDA remove and destroy all Wisconsin premises registration information from the USDA national premises repository until such assurances are in place," Nilsestuen said in the letter.
"It is still highly unlikely that this information would ever get out, and if it did it isn't much more than you could obtain by just opening a phone book," Kerr said in the release. "However, the Agency of Agriculture and the farmers were assured that this information would be secure, and we need to know that it is."
Source: Lester Aldrich, 913-322-5179; Dow Jones Newswires; [email protected]