I mentioned in a prior post last year about the dangers of the Food Safety Bill that was pushed through the House. Well, the bill is still in circulation (under a different name now) and is scheduled to be voted on this year in the Senate. The bill is S510 and everyone should get familiar with it. The initial premise behind the bill was to protect Americans from food borne illnesses and contamination of our food supply. This seems rational to me since we have been dealing with A LOT of salmonella, E.coli and listeria outbreaks lately. However, all these outbreaks have taken place on large scale industrial farms or food processing plants. The problem with the bill is that the regulations to enforce food safety protocols are not directed specifically at the culprits (Big Agra). The bill will allow the FDA to enforce it's rules and regulations to all farms even small, diversified, organic ones that have stellar food safety practices and records. This can cause major changes in the way we obtain fresh food because adherence to these rules can and WILL put the smaller farms out of business.
Right now we have the liberty as Americans to go to our local farmers market and pick up fresh produce grown locally, free range eggs and raw dairy if we so please. We can even purchase livestock and grass fed meat from trusted farms that feed and treat their animals humanely and the way nature intended. The new bill plans to make it very difficult for these farms to obtain licenses to sell any of their food commercially and will also require them to put into place the same exact safety provisions that will be required on the big industrial monoculture farms. The difference is that the big monoculture farms can afford to do it, the small farmer can't.
Overtime, demand for organic and sustainable food will grow while supply will diminish, thus pushing the price of organic food sky high. It will be cheaper to buy imported organic food than domestic. Does this even make sense? Well the bill does not require international farms to adhere to the same regulations and therefore, the imported food will be cheaper. Big major changes in the way we get our organic food are coming if this bill is passed the way it is.
Its not to say that the small farmer should have no safety protocols, but the issue isn't with the small farmer. I could understand if we were seeing outbreaks of disease on the local organic farms but we AREN'T. Then why are we punishing people who are not at fault? It will only be a huge disservice to Americans who care about their diets and look to healthy sustainable sources to get their food.
The bill is 250 pages with many many provisions. One of them gives complete control over seeds to companies like Monsanto. As you all should know, Monsanto creates GMO's. These are genetically modified seeds that produce larger yields and bigger crops. the effects on human health have not been determined yet but we do know that GMO's are not a part of nature and therefore should probably not be consumed. What would our country be like if all our crops were planted with GMO seeds? We would have no choice. We would have to succumb to this outlandish and unconstitutional law that prohibits us from obtaining food that is locally and sustainably grown with natural seeds borne from the earth.
Do I believe that Big Agra is behind this bill? Well, maybe partially. I think (as I mentioned before) that the initial intention of the bill was for food safety. But it has changed so much since then and has gotten more complex and more prohibitive and less flexible thus becoming very dangerous to Americans. Its bad enough that the Food Industry lobby has so much power in Washington. This bill would be the last nail in the coffin for the small farmer.
There is an amendment out there called the Tester-Hagan amendment (named for 2 senators in MT and NC). This amendment serves to protect the small farmer and preclude him from having to comply with these stringent federal regulations that will ultimately destroy him. Currently the amendment is not a part of the bill, but it still has a chance to get included.
Please read more about S510 and contact your local senator to find out if they are for or against the bill. Then tell them that they need to vote AGAINST it or support the Tester-Hagan Amendment at the very least. Its amazing the legislation that can get passed without us even being aware of it. If you just read this post, then consider yourself aware and now responsible for your future. Get the word out about this dangerous bill.
Read more here:
farmandranchfreedom.org
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