Catastrophic New Bill About To Be Passed In America Options

There is currently a bill pending before the American House of Representatives; HR 875. This bill threatens to make organic agriculture completely illegal, and will also outlaw individual subsistence farming, (the ability to have a vegetable patch in a home garden) as well.

The relevant link is here. Please read the bill and contact/forward this information to whoever you consider appropriate. This bill must be stopped, and not merely for Americans, but for everyone else as well, because of the precedent it sets.

good luck on stopping it - monsanto is behind it, and there is no mention of it on the news whatsoever - if the bill does pass, it will be just another straw in the revolution hat

supposedly, monsanto is secretly trying to stop normal crops from cross-pollination with its genetically-modified monsters so it doesn't create a bigger monster than they wish to make, and also to stop re-use of normal crop seeds

our indoor hydroponic growing method is simple and easy, and safe from prying eyes - think pot farm

this is the 'peanut butter' bill - the huge rukus that was raised when a peanut butter manufacturer simply changed stuff around and said "oh this here peanut butter was from somewhere else" than the contaminated batch - hence the "peanut butter" bill, indeed written by the corporate food producers, that requires a tracking system where all foods will be traceable through the whole production and transport system, from field (or hydroponic vessel in our case) to stores

yep, the individual backyard gardner would have to apply for a unique 'food producer number', comply with federal production standards (not specified as to what they are), and would have to endure inspections to make sure they are up to those standards

both the senate and house versions of the bills will probably pass due to the urgency caused by the peanut butter fiasco, and differences will get ironed out in some committee, then the final bill will go to the president - look for the big fuss to hit then

doesn't the eu already live under the same sort of regulation? - if the origin of the foods are displayed in your local store, then you already have this legislation

This post has been edited by esoterica: Mar 20 2009, 08:22 AM

Um, can someone point out where it says that organic farming will be illegal, or that one cannot grow their own food?

I read it top to bottom, and all it discusses are 'food establishments' categorized to include commercial food centers - factories, resteraunts, etc. It doesn't define a personal non-commercial farm.

Also, nowhere does it say that organic farming will be illegal or even impacted - it talks about testing for contaminates, weekly/monthly/quarterly inspections, and stricter regulations regarding what can be put in our food. They are supposed to be researching the currently used contaminates (pesticides, chemical additives, etc) and compiling a list ranking them according to their possible health risks. Organic food doesn't have any contaminates. Where it mentions protecting food from contamination using available technology, they aren't limiting it to chemicals which would make growing organic food illegal, they are including in 'technology' other non-chemical means to sterilizing food. As long as some measure is taken to limit potential health hazards to within acceptable levels - and organic food is not always healthier depending on the region it comes from, it can still be infected with bacteria/parasites/mites/etc., if no such measures are taken although they usually are - then the food establishment can still continue producing food, or has to suspend operations (not be shut down/seized, etc) until it has updated its technology and standards.

It seems like this bill is intended to control what gets put in our food, not prevent people from producing and selling organic food, food for themselves, or anything like that. The seizure of land is not mentioned as a consequence anywhere either.

Are we 100% certain there isn't a little bit of hysteria around this bill from those who are opposed to it? I've met people in the past who are opposed to virtually every bill that comes before the senate, for no other reason than to oppose 'the establishment'. This bill is simply the establishment of a new food administration that sounds like it is supposed to do a better more focused job than the FDA. I have always wondered why 'food' and 'drug' were in the same administration, personally. Here:

recent ongoing events demonstrate that the food safety program at the Food and Drug Administration is not effective in controlling hazards in food coming from farms and factories in the United States and food and food ingredients coming from foreign countries, and these events have adversely affected consumer confidence;

I would read the entire bill before I jumped to any conlcusions here. You can go to the website he links to on that page and put in 'hr 875' since his search link is outdated. It's the first bill that comes up.

Other relavent tidbits:

(9) in the food safety area, the Food and Drug Administration implements provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that are 70 years old and that antiquated law limits the Food and Drug Administration's role largely to reacting to and correcting food safety problems after they occur, rather than working with the food industry to systematically prevent problems;

This means they want a new system updated to modern standards. Ever wonder how some things which 'may cause cancer' or 'caused cancer in laboratory rats' is still allowed in our food? Ever wonder why the peanut butter thing happened, why no one was there to say, "hey, we did some tests and it looks like there some Salmonella in your peanut butter." Because the FDA is badly designed.

(11) there is no official with the full-time responsibility and budget authority for food safety at the Food and Drug Administration and food safety competes unsuccessfully with the drug and medical device programs for senior agency management attention and resources; and

This means medical industries get more attention from the FDA than food industries. Not surprising to anyone, the medical industry makes more money.

(b) Purposes- The purposes of this Act are--

(1) to establish an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services to be known as the `Food Safety Administration' to--

--(A) regulate food safety and labeling to strengthen the protection of the public health;

--(B) ensure that food establishments fulfill their responsibility to process, store, hold, and transport food in a manner that protects the public health of all people in the United States;

--© lead an integrated, systemwide approach to food safety and to make more effective and efficient use of resources to prevent food-borne illness;

--(D) provide a single focal point within the Department of Health and Human Services for food safety leadership, both nationally and internationally; and

--(E) provide an integrated food safety research capability, including internally generated, scientifically and statistically valid studies, in cooperation with academic institutions and other scientific entities of the Federal and State governments;

(2) to transfer to the Food Safety Administration the food safety, labeling, inspection, and enforcement functions that, as of the day before the date of the enactment of this Act, are performed by various components of the Food and Drug Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;

(3) to modernize and strengthen the Federal food safety law to ensure more effective application and efficient management of the laws for the protection and improvement of public health; and

(4) to establish that food establishments have responsibility to ensure that all stages of production, processing, and distribution of their products or products under their control satisfy the requirements of this law.

This whole section should satisfy anyone who is afraid that this administration will further limit liberties in some way. This does not address farming for personal consumption at all. If that wasn't enough:

(B) EXCLUSIONS- For the purposes of registration, the term `food establishment' does not include a food production facility as defined in paragraph (14), restaurant, other retail food establishment, nonprofit food establishment in which food is prepared for or served directly to the consumer, or fishing vessel (other than a fishing vessel engaged in processing, as that term is defined in section 123.3 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations).

That means that such establishments are specifically protected.

(b) Regulations- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall promulgate regulations that require all food establishments, within time frames determined by the Administrator--

-(1) to adopt preventive process controls that--

--(A) reflect the standards and procedures recognized by relevant authoritative bodies;

--(B) are adequate to protect the public health;

--© meet relevant regulatory and food safety standards;

--(D) limit the presence and growth of contaminants in food prepared in a food establishment using the best reasonably available techniques and technologies; and

--(E) are tailored to the hazards and processes in particular establishments or environments;

-(2) to establish a sanitation plan and program that meets standards set by the Administrator;

-(3) to meet performance standards for hazardous contamination established under section 204;

-(4) to implement recordkeeping to monitor compliance with regulatory requirements;

-(5) to implement recordkeeping and labeling of all food and food ingredients to facilitate their identification and traceability in the event of a recall or market removal;

-(6) to implement product and environmental sampling at a frequency and in a manner sufficient to ensure that process controls are effective on an ongoing basis and that regulatory standards are being met;

-(7) to label food intended for final processing outside commercial food establishments with instructions for handling and preparation for consumption that will destroy microbial contaminants; and

-(8) to provide for agency access to records kept by the food establishments and submission of copies of records to the Administrator, as the Administrator determines appropriate.

© Specific Hazard Controls- The Administrator may require any person with responsibility for or control over food or food ingredients to adopt specific hazard controls, if such controls are needed to ensure the protection of the public health.

Pay specific attention to b.1.A. All that this section states is that the administration will make new regulations (remember, updated regulations) regarding these safety elements. Right now you can use 70-year old technology to make your food safe. Do you know what they had in 1939? Not what we have today.

Don't lose your mind over legislation just because someone assures you its dangerous to your liberty. Look for yourself, all of this is public domain, you never have to take anyone's word about a bill being proposed. As soon as it's available to the senate, it's available to us.

peace

now if only the senators and representatives would take time from their gym, grift, graft, extramarital affairs, and lobbyist frottiere', to read it, and not just send their ade to throw their yes vote on the 'peanut butter' bill

fully doubt it - it will probably pass, and give the f in fda an upgrade

and if you want to affect the outcome of the bill, then draw up a sigil and push

Its true, I doubt many representatives go to all the trouble to really examine a bill. Still, in my own opinion this is a particular area of legislation that actually needs some attention, and while I'm wary of any new administration - more government is not what we need - this specific subject of conjunction known as the FDA has always been under my skin. Why food and drugs should be governed by the same administration has never made sense to me. I like the idea of separating them, as I don't want pharmaceutical companies influencing my food supply at all.

We need to be watchful, but there's a difference between paranoid and vigilant.

peace