Hello Everyone. I'd like to posts my "2 cents" worth on this topic. After reading all the relevant documents I could find on this topic, I must say I am disappointed overall. Other than one poster from Ohio it seems most everyone seems to believe that this is something you/I MUST do in order to be legal to sell our eggs, hatching eggs and/or poultry of any age.
First off, the NPIP was established back in the late 1930s as "law" under the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). It is not something new, though many federal and state regulators would like us to think that it is of late.
As with almost all legal language, wording is explicit unless otherwise and clearly stated as such. Furthur, unless or until Congress changes this law to explicitely state this is mandatory, IT IS NOT. Neither may a state add to or take away from what is explicitely stated within this law. The state does have leveraging room to shape it somewhat to their own liking, and that is why we see so much variation from state to state.
Back to the legal language used in this law in the CFR, I would offer the following section of the actual law with specific attention to the bolded text ( I did this bolding ) "may participate".
"§ 145.3 Participation.
(a) Any person producing or dealing in products
may participate in the Plan when he has demonstrated,
to the satisfaction of the Official State Agency,
that his facilities, personnel, and practices are adequate
for carrying out the applicable provisions of the
Plan, and has signed an agreement with the Official
State Agency to comply with the general and the applicable
specific provisions of the Plan and any regulations
of the Official State Agency under §145.2.".
Nowhere within this law can I find where it states anything within this law is "mandatory" for anyone to "comply" with this law. Folks, this is an OFFER to contract, nothing more, nothing less. It
may offer perks for someone who wishes to do so, but for the average Joe and Jane it does not.
The reason it was not made mandatory for the average man, woman, human being, back in the 1930s unto present was because the government KNOWS it does not have a lawful right to do so based on the Constitutional mandate regarding OUR right to unfettered contract plain and simple.
I am sorry, but I get really distressed when I see people in their ignorance volunteering in ignorance to throw their God-given unalienable rights our Founders fought and died for right out the window. We have precious few left to us as it is due to this same ignorance working legally to gain a democratic majority to the point they CAN make it a 'presumed' mandate to enforce things legally, though they have no force in Law.
Wake up people! Read the Law! Read your Constitution, federal and state. Unless this code will specifically benefit your operation and is worth the loss of your freedom and the increased expense and regulation of an ever increasing degree of your personal/private business functions, you DO NOT need this.
Specifics are as follows:
United States Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
APHIS 91–55–088 July 2011
Title: National Poultry Improvement Plan and Auxiliary Provisions
as of March 22, 2011 as found in the Code of Federal Regulations
Title 9, Animals and Animal Products
Parts 145–147 and Part 56
Note: This copy of the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) and Auxiliary Provisions as it appears in the electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) is provided for information only. The official e-CFR is available on the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) Web site at
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/ and is updated daily. The official print version of the Code of Federal Regulations is updated annually and is available through the GPO Web site at
www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/.
Blessings to all .... Laurence Gilbert
