FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2006

USDA Approves Allflex RFID Tags for National Animal Identification System

Allflex USA, the global leader in livestock identification, announced the approval of ISO Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) livestock identification tags by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for use in the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

“The market place is clearly making a statement that it wants this technology as
the specific identifier for cattle and bison in the National ID System,” said Brian
Bolton President & CEO Allflex USA Inc. “In our experience, validation of ISO
RFID Tags as the only official identifier in the NAIS would be a key part of the
process in bringing clarity to producers and encouraging infrastructure during
this industry-led implementation of the national ID program in the U.S.”

Today, ISO RFID tags are validated as the technology of choice in the
commercial market place with tens of millions of Allflex ISO RFID tags used in
cattle, sheep and pigs around the world. In addition, ISO RFID tags are used as
the only official identifier in National ID programs of important beef export
countries like Canada and Australia.

Key groups such as the NAIS Cattle Working Group, IDairy, NCBA and USAIO
advocate ISO RFID tags as the technology of choice for the U.S. national ID
system.

Allflex has experience meeting the needs of some 40 official ID programs around
the world, as well as the exclusive use of Allflex ISO RFID tags in official
programs such as the National FAIR program and the Michigan Bovine
Tuberculosis (TB) Eradication program (which will move to mandatory statewide
ID in March 2007 using only ISO RFID tags).

Both the Allflex Ultra High Performance Half Duplex and the Allflex Ultra Full
Duplex tags have been validated for use in the NAIS, making Allflex the only
company to offer livestock producers two RFID technologies that conform to the
NAIS supplementary identifier standards.

Allflex will work with its commercial distribution partners to make the
tags available as part of the USDA animal identification number (AIN)
management system.

About NAIS
The NAIS is a cooperative State-Federal-industry program administered by
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The main objective
is to develop and implement a comprehensive information system, which will
support ongoing animal disease programs and enable State and Federal animal
health officials to respond rapidly and effectively to animal health emergencies
such as foreign animal disease outbreaks as well as the control and eradication
of existing diseases. The ultimate long-tern goal of the NAIS is to provide State
and Federal officials with the capability to identify all animals and premises that
have had direct contact with a disease of concern within 48 hours after
discovery.