All of us- on the edge of the cliff... Meet the New Boss..... Same as the Old Boss...............
IAHF List:
Buried in the bills are fine print that will force farmers to buy and use pesticides and to comply with severely onerous red tape (ostensibly to "protect consumers") or be driven out of business by gigantic fines.
It is "claimed" and being presented to establish a
"Food Safety Administration" with in the Department
of Health and Human Services to "protect" the public
from food born illnesses.... but as usual, nothing that happens in DC is actually the way it seems on the surface- its all smoke and mirrors- all LIES!!!
Congresswoman Rosa De Lauro (D-CT) deserves burial by phone call, fax, email and irate personal visits for sponsoring the slimiest piece of legislation I've seen in a very long time: HR 875 The (So Called) Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-875
This bill aleady has 31 cosponsors who most likely never read anything more than the PREAMBLE to the bill which seems reasonable enough, but as usual, the DEVIL is in the DETAILS. Peter Defazio (D-OR) is even cosponsoring this. He needs to REMOVE HIS NAME, and I think he will once he realizes whats actually in this bill. He is normally on our side against huge corporate powers like Monsanto, but in this case he's clearly making a mistake.
As usual, Monsanto's lobbyists are up to no good, however, and they've stuck language into this puppy that needs to be yanked outa there PRONTO- and we're all going to have to do some work to make that happen!
If we don't, you can say goodbye to all that nice organic produce that you buy at your health food store, in the organics section of your supermarket, from farmers markets, and you can even expect to have the Fedstapo show up on your DOORSTEP to FINE you for growing a garden in your own YARD- THAT is how overly broad the bill language in this thing is!
HERE IS WHATS SPECIFICALLY WRONG AND WHAT YOU CAN DO:
This bill is sitting in committee and I am not sure when it is going to hit the floor. One thing I do know is that very few of the Representatives have read it. As usual they will vote on this based on what someone else is saying. Urge your members to read the legislation and ask for opposition to this devastating legislation. Devastating for everyday folks but great for factory farming ops like Monsanto, ADM, Sodexo and Tyson to name a few.
I have no doubt that this legislation was heavily influenced by lobbyists from huge food producers. This legislation is so broad based that technically someone with a little backyard garden could get fined and have their property siezed. It will effect anyone who produces food even if they do not sell but only consume it. It will literally put all independent farmers and food producers out of business due to the huge amounts of money it will take to conform to factory farming methods.
If people choose to farm without industry standards such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers they will be subject to a vareity of harassment from this completely new agency that has never before existed. That's right, a whole new government agency is being created just to police food, for our own protection of course.
DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, READ THIS LEGISLATION FOR YOURSELF.
The more people who read this legislation the more insight we are going to get and be able to share.
Post your observations and insights below.
Urge your members to read this legislation and to oppose the passage of this legislation.
Pay special attention to
- Section 3 which is the definitions portion of the bill-read in it's entirety.
- Section 103, 206 and 207- read in its entirety.
Red flags I found and I am sure that there are more...........
- Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the States’ power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.
- Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn't actually use the word organic.
- Affects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
- Affects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
- Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.
- Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?
- Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more
- Section 207 requires that the State's agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the State’s power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.
- There are many more but by the time I got this far in the legislation I was so alarmed that I wanted to bring someone's attention to it
During times of Stalin’s regime, the nationalization of farming methods took place. This enabled his administration to gain control over the food supply. He used food rations to control the population.
Last word...... Legislate religion and enforce gag orders on ministers on what can and can't be said in the pulpit, instituting regulations forcing people to rely fully on the government, control the format of money (cash, plastic or digital), seeds and food.
I haven't read any of the Senate's version of the bill as I have been pouring through the House's version. Here is the link and I hope some of you can take a look and post your observations and insights below.
S 425 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s425:
Theres also a chance that as this bill moves through Congressman Waxman's Energy and Commerce Committee, he could use it as a vehicle for attacking the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 which defends our access to dietary supplements. Waxman is DSHEA's biggest opponent in Congress and he's never had more power than he has now. IAHF is especially monitoring this aspect of the bill, but the rest is very bad as it is!
- Contact your members at 202-224-3121 (Capital Switchboard) and ask them to oppose HR 875 and S 425. While you are at it ask them if they personally have read the legislation and what their position is? If they have not read the legislation ask them to read it and politely let them know that just because other representitives are not reading the legislation and voting on it does not mean they can do the same
- Get in touch with local farmers and food producers by attending a local farmers market and asking them how you can understand further the implications that this will have on them
- Attend a local WAPF meeting, as a good start to learning about what is going on in farming and local & state initiatives . The website is http://www.westonaprice.org/localchapters/index.html
- Check out the Farmers Legal Defense Fund at http://www.ftcldf.org/index.html
- Find out who sits on your State’s agriculture and farming committee and contact them with your concerns
- Continue to contact your elected officials and let them know your position on legislation and why
- Get active at the local and State levels as this is the quickest way to initiate change.
I will be out of my office for a week, leaving Wednesday to work with a client in California, but I sure would appreciate if you forwarded this widely! Anyone can be on the IAHF list by signing up at www.iahf.com
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http://www.iahf.com/index1.html or by sending a check or money order to IAHF 556 Boundary Bay Rd., Point Roberts WA 98281 USA
