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Re: [permaculture] Tell the Senate HELP Committee to Protect Sustainable and Organic Family Farms in the Senate Food Safety Bill
- From: <fdnokes@hotmail.com>
- To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [permaculture] Tell the Senate HELP Committee to Protect Sustainable and Organic Family Farms in the Senate Food Safety Bill
- Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:48:43 -0800
Thanks for forwarding this information to the list!
In Canada, we are facing similar difficulties.
For instance, right now, before our senate, there is a bill which would give the state draconian powers, all in the name of protecting our safety.
The result: we lose our health freedom.
Big pharma is on the move. We have also seen the co-option which has transpired, including supposedly green publications endorsing these totally unnecessary laws.
The shenanigans are never ending. (I could forward along someone else's much stronger words for what has been going on -- think: Russian police, Nazi Germany)
There are many opportunities for us now to stand up for our freedom.
Efforts such as this one affect more than just Americans, but are best responded to by Americans.
I hope that there is much support for the good practices that big business might not wish to have as competition.
Frances
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:37 PM
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [permaculture] Tell the Senate HELP Committee to Protect Sustainable and Organic Family Farms in the Senate Food Safety Bill
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] Tell the Senate HELP Committee to Protect
Sustainable and Organic Family Farms in the Senate Food Safety Bill
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:26:32 -0800
From: Tracy Lerman <tracy@OFRF.ORG>
Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group
Friends,
Please find OFRF's most recent OFAN alert below and at this link:
http://ofrf.org/action/ofan/091112_alert.html
If you would like to join the Organic Farmers Action Network,
you can do so here: https://ofrf.org/subscribe/ofan.html.
Organically yours,
Tracy Lerman
OFRF Policy Organizer
November 12, 2009
Tell the Senator HELP Committee:
Food Safety Bill Must Protect Sustainable and Organic Family Farms
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee will take
up the Senate's version of major food safety legislation (S. 510) on
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009. While this bill would strengthen the safety
of the food supply, it also contains several provisions that could seriously
harm small scale and organic farmers, local and regional food systems, and
conservation and wildlife habitat. The National Sustainable Agriculture
Coalition (NSAC) and the National Organic Coalition (NOC) have put forth a
set of proposed amendments to address some of these concerns.
Your Senators, Kay Hagan and Richard Burr, sit on the Senate HELP Committee.
Please contact them TODAY and ask them to support the amendments to S. 510
proposed by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the National
Organic Coalition. Specific talking points and Senate HELP Committee members
and their contact info are below.
Specific Talking Points
The bill should provide small and mid-sized family farms that market
value-added farm products
with training and technical assistance in developing food safety plans
for their farms.
The bill should narrow the kinds of farm activities subject to FDA
control and to base any regulation
of farms on sound risk analysis. (Current FDA rules assume, without
specific scientific evidence or
risk analysis, that all farms which undertake any one of a long list of
processing, labeling or packaging
activities should be regulated.)
The bill should integrate the FDA standards with the organic
certification rules. FDA compliance should
not jeopardize a farmer's ability to be organically certified under
USDA's National Organic Program.
The bill should require that FDA food safety standards and guidance will
not contradict federal
conservation, environmental, and wildlife standards and practices.
Farmer should not have to choose
which federal agency to obey and which to reject.
Farmers who sell directly to consumers should not be required to keep
extra records and be part of a
federal "traceback" system. All other farms should not be required to
maintain records electronically
or records beyond the first point of sale.
Senate HELP Committee Contact Info
Senator Phone Fax
Democrats
Tom Harkin (IA) 202-224-3254 No fax
Chris Dodd (CT) 202-224-2823 202-224-1083
Barbara Mikulski (MD) 202-224-4654 202-224-8858
Jeff Bingaman (NM) 202-224-5521 No fax
Patty Murray (WA) 202-224-2621 202-224-0238
Jack Reed (RI) 202-224-4642 202-224-4680
Bernie Sanders (VT) 202-224-5141 202-228-0776
Sherrod Brown (OH) 202-224-2315 202-228-6321
Bob Casey (PA) 202-224-6324 202-228-0604
Kay Hagan (NC) 202-224-6342 202-228-2563
Jeff Merkley (OR) 202-224-3753 202-228-3997
Al Franken (MN) 202-224-5641 No fax
Michael Bennet (CO) 202-224-5852 202-228-5036
Senator Phone Fax
Republicans
Mike Enzi (WY) 202-224-3424 202-228-0359
Judd Gregg (NH) 202-224-3324 No fax
Lamar Alexander (TN) 202-224-4944 202-228-3398
Richard Burr (NC) 202-224-3154 202-228-2981
Johnny Isakson (GA) 202-224-3643 202-228-0724
Orrin Hatch (UT) 202-224-5251 202-224-6331
Pat Roberts (KS) 202-224-4774 202-224-3514
Tom Coburn (OK) 202-224-5754 202-224-6008
Lisa Murkowski (AK) 202-224-6665 202-224-5301
Let us know if you contact Senators Hagan and Burr.
Email Tracy Lerman, OFRF Policy Organizer at tracy@ofrf.org.
Background
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will mark
up S. 510, the Senate version of major food safety legislation next
Wednesday, November 18. The House of Representatives passed similar
legislation, HR 2749, last July. Both bills focus on foods regulated by the
Food and Drug Administration, not meat and poultry which is regulated by
USDA.
S. 510 includes several key reforms that would put real teeth into federal
regulation of large-scale food processing corporations to better protect
consumers. However, the bill as written could also do serious harm to
organic and family farming, local and regional food systems, and
conservation and wildlife protection. The good news is the HELP committee
can fix those problems with the adoption of some common sense provisions.
The proposed amendments from NSAC and NOC would retain the crack-down on
corporate bad actors without erecting dangerous new barriers to the growing
healthy food movement. Safer food systems have small and mid-sized family
farms, sustainable and organic production methods, and more local and
regional food sourcing.
More Information
NSAC's talking points on S. 510
NSAC's Policy Brief Food Safety on the Farm
OFAN Policy Alert for the House of Representatives' Food Safety Bill, HR
2749, which passed the House last July
Join the Organic Farmers Action Network today:
https://ofrf.org/subscribe/ofan.html
[ Privacy Policy] | [ unsubscribe here]
Organic Farming Research Foundation, 303 Potrero St. #29-203, Santa
Cruz, CA 95060
tel. 831-426-6606, action@ofrf.org, www.ofrf.org.
Tracy Lerman
Policy Organizer
Organic Farming Research Foundation
PO Box 440 * Santa Cruz, CA 95061
p: (831) 426-6606 x 108 * f: (831) 426-6670
www.ofrf.org <http://www.ofrf.org/> * tracy@ofrf.org
"Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our
deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner
sense of justice than we do." - Wendell Berry
Join the Organic Farmers Action Network today! For more info, visit http://
<http://ofrf.org/subscribe/ofan.html> ofrf.org/subscribe/ofan.html.
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- Re: [permaculture] Tell the Senate HELP Committee to Protect Sustainable and Organic Family Farms in the Senate Food Safety Bill, fdnokes, 11/12/2009
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