permaculture

[Brent McMillan <brent@gp.org>]

http://hartkeisonline.com/2009/05/27/a-consumer-speaks-at-nais-listening-session/

A Consumer Speaks at NAIS Listening Session

By Kimberly Hartke | Published: May 27, 2009

Susan Blasko is a cancer survivor twice over. She now incorporates local 
farm fresh foods into her diet in her on-going quest for health. Susan 
is a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Northern Virginia 
Whole Foods Nutrition meetup group. She was selected at random to speak 
at the USDA Listening Session on NAIS (National Animal Idenification 
System) that took place in Harrisburg, PA this month. Here is the 
complete text of her remarks.

Good Morning, Secretary Vilsack and USDA/APHIS Hosts:

I’m Susan Blasko. I live and work in Falls Church, Virginia. I took a 
day off to come to Pennsylvania today to attend one of your listening 
sessions. I consider it a rare opportunity since there are so few of them.

I am a consumer, and I speak for myself. The fact that I am here at all 
should be an indication to you that the truth is dawning at last on the 
general population. It has been a gradual awakening, to be sure. For 
many years your department has been trying to force NAIS on us. What 
part of “NO” don’t you understand? Yes, the eyes of the public are being 
pried open by the undeniable, inescapable truth:

* that the aim of the National Animal Identification Scam is to put 
small farmers out of business so that big-ag can be the sole provider of 
the world’s food;
* that the food your department approves is making us sick and sterile 
(For the first time in our history, children are being born with cancer 
and diabetes. They probably won’t outlive their parents. It is within 
your power to facilitate the reversal of this trend through regulations 
that sincerely address the problem. By pushing for NAIS, you contribute 
further to this condition. I find this unconscionable.);
* that concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), food processing 
plants, and milk pasteurization facilities are the origins of foodborne 
illness, not the crops of small farmers, grass-fed meats, and raw dairy;
* that the USDA has no legal authority to implement NAIS, and doing so 
violates the Constitution;
* that several “food safety” bills have NAIS written into them, often 
without the knowledge of even the legislators (very sneaky!);
* that the USDA is fully prepared to use force to implement NAIS, 
despite your claim that the program is voluntary (flap jackets have been 
issued);
* that genetically modified (GMO) foods are ubiquitous, in fully 80% of 
the foods in the grocery store that carry your stamp of approval, even 
though they facilitate the formation of tumors, heightened immune 
responses, and aggressive behavior in laboratory animals. Feed lot 
animals are fed GMO grains, candy, byproducts of citrus food processing 
with all the chemicals on the peel of the fruit, and who knows what 
else, which makes the animals – and us – sick.

I know these truths, and so do my friends, my co-workers, my cancer 
support group, my church, my family, and every stranger I get a chance 
to tell in the theatre restroom waiting line. I am the tip of an 
enormous iceberg that you are beginning to discover as more and more of 
us turn to locally produced foods, raw milk, and grass-fed meats, 
because they are safer than the food your department approves. We don’t 
need a trace-back mechanism. We know where our food comes from.

You should be helping us to access this safe food supply instead of 
trying to eliminate it. Why won’t you help us by outlawing CAFOs instead 
of protecting them? You’re supposed to protect us. Implement regulations 
that will put big-ag out of business if their practices are making us 
sick. Don’t target small farmers whose food is healing us. You asked for 
my suggestions for a solution to the growing food safety problem. I hope 
that you are honestly open to them. Here they are:

* Provide capital incentives to farmers to use the land – which is 
theirs, by the way! – to grow real crops without pesticides and chemical 
fertilizers instead of GMO’s, raise animals on pasture instead of in 
crowded buildings, and produce clean, real milk that doesn’t require the 
assault of pasteurization. Meat, milk and produce that result from such 
practices contain essential nutrients that we have a basic right to 
expect are present in our food.
* Test our foods for nutrient content before allowing them on the 
market, the same way the European Union does, and ban any foods from the 
grocery shelves that don’t measure up.
* Require school cafeterias, hospitals, hotels, and every other 
institution or business that cooks for us to serve nutrient-dense foods.
* Stop rewarding big food companies that over-feed and under-nourish us 
with their GMOs, artificial flavors and colors, chemical preservatives, 
over-processing, and pasteurization of everything (I recently learned 
that almonds are now being pasteurized. What next? This is ludicrous!)

I am deeply troubled by what I’ve learned about NAIS. Not only is it 
expensive, intrusive, discriminatory, and deliberately hostile to small 
farmers; it is downright unconstitutional. Go back to the drawing board. 
Stand up to big-ag and industrial food processors. Just imagine what 
would happen if you do. You could solve the health care crisis, the 
environmental crisis, and the economic crisis in one fell swoop. For 
example:

* Heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, autism, 
allergies, behavioral and neurological disorders, cancer, and a host of 
other health problems would again become rare occurrences as we reclaim 
the health our society enjoyed before the birth of food processing, feed 
lots and GMOs.
* Ruminants of all sorts would graze on acres – no, miles – of pasture 
while they renew our soil so that it once again sequesters carbon as it 
did in our country’s infancy. This is already happening at Polyface 
Farm, and Joel Salatin is teaching other farmers how to do it. I imagine 
you’ve heard about it. Why not focus more efforts on his proven methods? 
And what about the marvelous results that many of our Amish brothers and 
sisters have achieved without artificial means? Why not explore the 
wisdom of their traditions? CAFOs, GMOs and food processing are 
destroying this planet, and you are helping them. Don’t let them get 
away with it.

Trying to convince the American people that CAFO meats, GMO crops, and 
pasteurized dairy are safe and nutritious when you know the opposite to 
be true is immoral, to say the least, Mr. Secretary. And foisting NAIS 
on us as consumers and on our farmers is corruption at its worst.

I am appalled. And you should be ashamed.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays blog carnival sponsored on 
KellytheKitchenKop.com.

Posted by:

Brent McMillan, Steward of Woodhaven
Avilla, IN, USA