Animal Implants

More on implants.  Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) are the big boys in th=
e
implant.  The mistake is in thinking they're the only ones.

The USDA is poised to roll out a national cattle and swine tracking syste=
m
because of the BSE scare last year.  This is no small endeavor.  104 mill=
ion
cattle are slaughtered in the US each year.  In Europe, the figures run a=
bout
100 million cattle, and 150 million swine.  South America?  Hundreds of m=
illions
of animals.  Huge markets.  Big money for chip companies. =20

In my mind, the real answer is not tracking every cow that is born, but t=
o
improve the living conditions of animals, reduce chemical and antibiotic =
use,
and reform the ways slaughterhouses treat animals and workers.  This woul=
d give
us a safer food supply, but the meat industry (and the banking industry, =
who do
you think holds the huge loans and credit lines that build factory farms =
and
keep them afloat?) would be inconvenienced, so...<sarcasm> let's tag ever=
ything
that breathes, and let industry take care of itself.  Self-regulation wor=
ks so
darn well. </sarcasm>=20

I realize the best way to force industry change is not necessarily throug=
h
government regulation (unfunded mandates are a hardship, and there aren't=
 enough
inspectors to enforce the current regulations).  Industry responds to con=
sumer
demands.  Trouble is, nobody cares all that much about cattle, pigs, or u=
nsafe
working conditions.


Here's an excerpt from a conference call made on August 19,2004 between
executives of the Digital Angel corporation (pet and farm animal tracking=
,
division of ADS) and reporters.

full:
http://www.vcall.com/GenTranscript.asp?ID=3D89109



<Q =96 David Talbot>: All sorts of questions to around this.  What about =
tracking
swine?  What about private sector initiatives?  Private-sector spending? =
Big
packing houses?  Or whatever that are not going to wait for the governmen=
t and
might jump ahead?  And then lastly, if that isn't enough, you alluded to =
markets
in Europe opening up.  Could you elaborate on that?

=20

<A =96 Kevin McGrath>: Okay.  Let me first talk about the US government. =
 The
projects =96 this set of pilot projects included both beef and swine.  It=
 turns
out that the projects for swine and beef were very different because of t=
he
nature of the way the animals live, but several of the projects are swine
projects and several of the projects are beef projects.  Now, with regard=
 to
large food producers =96 we actually have pilots now and have had pilots =
for
probably more than a year with several of the large producers, and unfort=
unately
we're not able unilaterally to publicize who those are, but I think at so=
me
point down the road they will be publicized and, you know, at least from =
our
perspective our interaction with them is very positive, and they seemed v=
ery
pleased with what's going on.

=20

The third question was?

=20

<Q =96 David Talbot>: Europe.

=20

<A =96 Kevin McGrath>: That was the fourth question, I thought, but with =
regard to
Europe, we are actively looking for ways to participate in the European m=
arket.
 We do have livestock participation and companion pet participation now. =
 We
participate in Europe in the companion pet side with Merial, which is a j=
oint
venture of Merck and Aventis.  And we do participate in a livestock marke=
t.  The
livestock market actually in Europe is a larger market than the United St=
ates,
and there was already a mandatory requirement for tagging.  By 2007/2008,=
 it is
expected that virtually all of that tagging with migrate from visual tags=
 to
electronic tags.  There are 100,000,000 cattle in Europe.  In every year,=
 there
are approximately 150,000,000 pigs slaughtered, and there are approximate=
ly 200
million sheep and goats.  So, it's a very, very large market.  We also ha=
ve a
multi-hundred million dollar market =96 or multi-hundred million animal m=
arket in
South America, between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile.  =
So,
again, big markets, that actually are larger than in the United States.  =
I know
that the last thing that I was going to mention to you.  The Department o=
f
Agriculture has also come out, in the last few weeks, out of the Denver o=
ffice
of AFIS, with an RFI, you know, Request for Information, regarding an ani=
mal ID
tracking system for sheeps and goats.  So, I =96 the =96 I think, David, =
you focused
on one of the critical issues.  We tend to talk about the national ID pro=
gram as
being merely for cattle, and it is not.  It is a livestock system in the =
United
States, which really will include cattle, swine, sheep, goats and poultry=
.  Now,
I think the implementation of the tagging systems will be significantly
different for each of those markets, but each of the markets themselves c=
ould be
very large.
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