Secrecy in Farm Bill
From The Secrecy File:
You might think that the massive farm bill now on the table has nothing to do with government secrecy, but it does.OpenTheGovernment.org, an umbrella organization of conservative and liberal organizations, discovered a provision in the measure that would create an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act for all records related to the Agriculture Department’s animal identification system.
The National Animal Identification System tracks sick animals through the system, among other things. It includes cows with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow,” disease.
Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, is lobbying against the provision because it would “create an unnecessary bar” to finding out about the condition of animals in the nation’s food supply and how they are handled in the system.