As you know I'm a small grower for farmers markets. I have as
much concern for the subject as anyone. We know the agencies have failed to prevent food illness and properly regulate food growing and distribution. They have a job to do. How to do it right is the issue. We've seen what they did with organic standards, and it's so full of loopholes there's no way to tell if anything certified is pesticide free or free of chemicals of any kind. Yet in spite of that, small growers like myself have not been put out of business as the fearmongers warned. I believe the real threats come from a very different direction. And one of them is starvation.
That said, this piece has been circulating on the Internet long, long before Sept 27 of this year. Alarmist and exaggrated writing from Prison Planet does not help us to analyze and counter unwise or counterproductive legislation.
This is untrue on its face: "Well, big food corporations and big agriculture are actually very much in favor of this
bill." Actually they've killed every effort to crack down on unsafe food handling. It's deceptive because the big boys use this fearmongering to kill any attempt to regulate THEM. Whatever passes eventually will be toothless and ineffective.
Just as misleading: "demand for organic food has skyrocketed". In fact the organic market has taken decades to reach six percent of the total and climbing very slowly, and the big producers and chains are carrying and coopting "organic" brands. Instead of being threatened they're taking over "organic".
It's called Yellow Journalism. That piece is full of "what ifs" instead of actual wording from the bill:
"how dangerous this bill potentially could be"
"could potentially"
"could be greatly curtailed"
"unprecedented discretion to regulate U.S. food"
"potentially a very, very
dangerous law"
"will have their very existence threatened by this bill"
"how dangerous this bill potentially could be"
"It is feared that"
"Opponents of S. 510 believe that"
None of which tells us what the bill actually says.
paul
tradingpost@lobo.net*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 9/28/2010 at 8:55 PM John D'hondt wrote:
>> S. 510: 12 Reasons Why The Food Safety Bill From Hell Could Be Very
>> Dangerous For The U.S. Economy
>> The Economic Collapse
>> Sept 27, 2010
>>
>_
http://www.prisonplanet.com/s-510-12-reasons-why-the-food-safety-bill-from->> hell-\
>> could-be-very-dangerous-for-the-u-s-economy.html_
>>
>(
http://www.prisonplanet.com/s-510-12-reasons-why-the-food-safety-bill-from-hell-could-be-very-dangero>> us-for-the-u-s-economy.html)
>>
>> As you read this, there is a bill before the U.S. Senate that has the
>> potential to change the U.S. food industry more than any other law ever
>> passed
>> by the U.S. Congress. In the name of "food safety", the U.S. government
>> would be given an iron grip over the production, transportation and
>sale
>> of all
>> food in the United States.
>> Hordes of small food producers and
organic farmers could potentially be
>> put out of business.
>> If this bill becomes law, the freedom to grow what you want, eat what
>you
>> want and to share food from your gardens with your neighbours could be
>> greatly curtailed.
>> It would give the FDA unprecedented discretion to regulate U.S. food
>> production. A version of this bill was already passed by the U.S. House
>> of
>> Representatives last summer, and now S. 510, also know as the FDA Food
>> Safety Modernization Act, is in front of the U.S. Senate and it is
>> expected to
>> pass easily.
>>
>> Because of how vaguely it is written and because of how much discretion
>> it
>> gives to the FDA, it is potentially a very, very dangerous law.
>>
>>
>> So who is actually in
favor of it?
>>
>> Well, big food corporations and big agriculture are actually very much
>in
>> favor of this bill.
>>
>>
>> Why?
>>
>> Is it because they are so concerned about food safety?
>>
>> No.
>>
>> In fact, virtually every major case of food contamination in recent U.S.
>> history has come from large-scale industrial agriculture or large-scale
>> industrial food production.
>>
>> The real reason why they are backing S. 510 is because it will devastate
>> their primary competition - small food producers and organic farmers.
>>
>> In recent years, the demand for organic food has skyrocketed as the
>> American people have learned the truth about how our food is actually
>> made. Big
>>
agriculture and the giant food producers are losing profits as Americans
>> increasingly vote with their wallets.
>>
>> So now the food giants are using **food safety** as a way to get market
>> share back. It is an open secret that many of those involved in drafting
>> this
>> bill and in pushing it through Congress have ties to food industry
>> giants.
>>
>> Thousands of small food producers and organic farmers will have their
>> very
>> existence threatened by this bill. It imposes a bureaucratic nightmare
>on
>> all food producers that the big corporations will be able to handle
>> easily
>> but that will cripple much smaller operations.
>>
>> Already, many farmers can see the writing on the wall. One small farmer
>> recently described the mood
among her fellow small farmers to the Wall
>> Street
>> Journal..
>>
>> **I know people who have been small farmers for 25 to 30 years who are
>> looking to get out of the business because food safety is becoming so
>> alarmist.**
>>
>> But the bureaucratic nightmare is just the tip of the iceberg. To get an
>> idea of just how dangerous S. 510 could potentially be to the already
>> staggering U.S. economy, just check out the following quote from one
>> opponent of
>> this bill..
>>
>> **If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public's right to grow, own,
>> trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature
>> makes. It
>> will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade
>> and consumption of food and
agricultural products of one's choice. It
>will
>> be
>> unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will
>of
>> God.**
>>
>> -Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistle blower
>>
>>
>> It would be hard to understate how dangerous this bill potentially could
>> be.
>> This bill gives the FDA the ability to exercise a ton of discretion. The
>> FDA could end up exercising that discretion in a very reasonable way, or
>> they could use it to shut down small food producers left and right.
>>
>>
>> When it comes to S. 510, the question that you need to ask yourself is
>> this..
>>
>> Do you trust the FDA?
>>
>> If not, then there are some very real reasons for you to be concerned.
>>
>>
>> The
following are 12 reasons why S. 510 could be absolutely disastrous
>> for
>> small food producers and for the U.S. economy............
>>
>> #1 All food production facilities in the United States will be required
>> to
>> register with the U.S. government. No food will be allowed to be grown,
>> distributed or sold outside this bureaucratic framework unless the FDA
>> allows
>> it.
>>
>>
>> #2 Any food that is distributed or sold outside of U.S. government
>> control
>> will be considered illegal smuggling.
>>
>>
>> #3 The FDA will hire an army of new inspectors to enforce all of the new
>> provisions in the bill.
>>
>>
>> #4 The FDA will be mandated to conduct much more frequent inspections of
>> food processing
facilities.
>>
>>
>> #5 The fees and paperwork requirements will be ruinously expensive for
>> small food producers and organic farms.
>>
>>
>> #6 S. 510 would place all U.S. food and all U.S. farms under the
>> Department of Homeland Security in the event of a major *contamination*
>> or an
>> *emergency*.
>> What exactly would constitute a *contamination* or an *emergency* is
>> anyone's guess.
>>
>>
>> #7 S. 510 mandates that the FDA facilitate harmonization of American
>food
>> laws with Codex Alimentarius.
>>
>>
>> #8 S. 510 imposes an annual registration fee on any facility that holds,
>> processes, or manufactures food. It also includes draconian fines for
>> paperwo
>> rk infractions of up to
$500,000 for a single offense. Just one penalty
>> like that would drive a small food producer out of business.
>>
>>
>> #9 S. 510 would give the FDA tremendous discretion to regulate how crops
>> are grown and how food is produced in the United States. Basically,
>small
>> farmers and organic farmers will now be forced to farm exactly how the
>> federal government tells them to. It is feared that the U.S. government
>> would
>> soon declare that many organic farming methods are "unsafe" and would
>> outlaw
>> them. In addition, there is the very real possibility that at some point
>> the
>> U.S. government could decide that the only *safe* seed for a particular
>> crop is genetically modified seed and would require all farmers to use
>>
it.
>>
>>
>> #10 S. 510 will give the FDA the power to impose a quarantine on a
>> specific geographic area. Basically the FDA would have the power to
>stop
>> the
>> movement of all food in an area where a *contamination* has been
>> identified.
>> This would be very close to being able to declare martial law.
>>
>>
>> #11 S. 510 will give the FDA the power to conduct warrantless searches
>of
>> the business records of small food producers and organic farmers, even
>if
>> there has been no evidence at all that a law has been broken.
>>
>>
>> #12 Opponents of S. 510 believe that it would eliminate the right to
>> clean
>> and store seed. Therefore, control of the U.S. seed supply would be
>> further centralized in
the hands of Monsanto and other multinational
>> corporations.
>>
>>
>> As mentioned above, this bill gives the FDA a ton of discretion. It is
>> written very broadly and very vaguely. It opens the door for all kinds
>of
>> abuses, but that doesn't mean that the FDA will behave unreasonably.
>>
>>
>> So should we trust the FDA?
>>
>> Is there a viable future for small food producers and organic farmers
>in
>> America?
>>
>> Or is the handwriting already on the wall?
>>
>>
>> **If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what
>> medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as
>are
>> the
>> souls of those who live under tyranny.**
>>
>> -Thomas
Jefferson
>>
>>
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