From: "rafter t. sass" <rafter@liberationecology.org>
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Subject: [permaculture] HR 875 Food Safety Bill: Bad But Not the Apocalypse
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:50:55 -0400
Source
Internet Myth of the Week:
Congress To Pass Bill That Will Outlaw Organic Farming?
This week, we received numerous calls and emails from OCA supporters
who came across alarming YouTube videos and emails circulating on the
internet that claimed a new food safety bill (HR 875) introduced in
Congress would make "organic farming illegal." Although the Bill
certainly has its shortcomings, it is an exaggeration to say that is a
secret plot by Monsanto and the USDA to destroy the nation's
alternative food and farming system. In actuality, HR 875, the Food
Safety Modernization Act of 2009, is a limited-vision attempt by
moderate Democrats and Republicans to craft food safety legislation to
address the out-of-control filth and contamination that are inherent
in our industrialized, now globalized, "profit-at-any-cost" food system.
This being said, OCA does not support HR 875 in its present form,
given the fact that, if the Bill's regulations were applied in a one-
size-fits-all manner to certified organic and farm-to-consumer
operations, it could have a devastating impact on small farmers,
especially raw milk producers who are already unfairly targeted by
state food-safety regulators. Although the OCA deems this Bill as
somewhat well-intentioned, we are calling on Congress to focus its
attentions on the real threats to food safety: globalized food
sourcing from nations such as China where food safety is a joke,
domestic industrial-scale and factory farms whose collateral damage
includes pesticide and antibiotic-tainted food, mad cow disease,
E.coli contamination and salmonella poisoning--and to support a
massive transition to organic farming practices.