Animal ID program to remain voluntary (AP via Yahoo! News) The Bush administration is abandoning plans to make farmers and ranchers register their cows, pigs and chickens in a nationwide database intended to help limit disease outbreaks. [News Source]

Government won’t make animal ID mandatory (WAVY 10) WASHINGTON Farmers and ranchers won't be required to register their cows, pigs and chickens in a nationwide database. [News Source]

Animal identification won’t be mandatory (USA Today) Farmers and ranchers won't be forced to register their cows, pigs and chickens in a nationwide database aimed at helping track the outbreak of disease, the Bush administration said Wednesday. [News Source]

Bush Admin. Keeps Animal ID Tracking Program Voluntary (Fox News) Bush administration decides to keep an animal tracking program aimed to prevent the outbreak of disease voluntary. [News Source]

Animal ID won’t be mandatory (AP via Yahoo! News) Farmers and ranchers won't be forced to register their cows, pigs and chickens in a nationwide database aimed at helping track the outbreak of disease, the Bush administration said Wednesday. [News Source]

Diet for a hot planet. The emerging meat-eaters of the emerging economies -- especially China -- are driving industrial agriculture into the tropical forests of South America, sending greenhouse gases skyward in a dangerous new linkage between the palate and the warming of the planet. [News Source]

State watches for diseased whitetails. Since 2002, the VDGIF has been closely watching for an ailment known as chronic wasting disease to show up in the Virginia whitetail herd. [News Source]

US advocates raise red flags on ‘beefy risks.’ United States consumer advocates are sounding the alarm over potential risks of consuming U.S. beef. [News Source]

Official defends decision to permit imports of U.S. beef. A government decision to lift a ban on imports of U.S. beef early this year was appropriate according to the guidelines of the World Trade Organization and the International Office of Epizootics, a health official said yesterday. [News Source]

Anti-FTA protests turn violent in South Korea, unions strike (AFP via Yahoo! News) South Korean farmers and activists have clashed with riot police in at least three provincial cities in protests against a free-trade deal with the United States. [News Source]