More Big Brother, Now After Your Garden

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http://www.naturalnews.com/030418_Food_Safety_Modernization_Act_seeds.html


URGENT: S 510 Food Safety Modernization Act Vote Wednesday: Will outlaw gardening and saving seeds.

Submitted by legalizeliberty on Tue, 11/16/2010 - 17:51

in Daily Paul Liberty Forum





(NaturalNews) Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called "the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America." It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public's right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer's markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don't comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.



"It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God." - Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower http://shivchopra.com/?page_id=2




This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep -- the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs.



This law would also give the U.S. government the power to arrest any backyard food producer as a felon (a "smuggler") for merely growing lettuce and selling it at a local farmer's market.



Continue:

[url]http://www.naturalnews.com/030418_Food_Safety_Modernization_Act_seeds.html[/url]

[mnealtx 0]

Reading through the bill now (as reported in Senate vs. as introduced), there's a lot struck out and new stuff added.

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This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security.

No, it doesn't.

The 'facilities' being talked about are defined by 21 USC 415 (note bolded portion):
"(b) Facility.—For purposes of this section:

(1) The term `facility' includes any factory, warehouse, or establishment (including a factory, warehouse, or establishment of an importer) that manufactures, processes, packs, or holds food. Such term does not include farms; restaurants; other retail food establishments; nonprofit food establishments in which food is prepared for or served directly to the consumer; or fishing vessels (except such vessels engaged in processing as defined in section 123.3(k) of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations)."

Methinks the website doth protest too much.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Andy9o8 3]

Snopes verdict: "MOSTLY FALSE"

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/organic.asp

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# Requires organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency to 'make sure there is no danger to the public food supply.'

No language in HR 875 mandates that farms (organic or otherwise) use of any particular fertilizer or pesticide, or requires the use of either of those products in general. The bill merely calls upon the FSA to establish regulations regarding "minimum standards related to fertilizer use."

# The power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals

No language in HR 875 addresses seed banking or requires GPS tracking of animals.

Many of these same points are addressed in Rep. DeLauro's Myths and Facts sheet for HR 875:
MYTH: H.R. 875 "makes it illegal to grow your own garden" and would result in the"criminalization of the backyard gardener."

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens. The focus of the bill is to ensure the safety of food in interstate commerce.

MYTH: H.R. 875 would mean a "goodbye to farmers markets" because it would regulateand penalize "each farmer who wishes to sell locally."

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would result in farmers markets beingregulated, penalized by any fines, or shut down. Farmers markets would be able to continue to flourish under the bill. In fact, the bill would insist that imported foods meet strict safety standards to ensure that unsafe imported foods are not competing with locally-grown foods.

MYTH: H.R. 875 would result in the "death of organic farming" or "mandate the use ofchemicals or certain types of seeds on organic farms."

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would stop or interfere with organic farming.The National Organic Program (NOP) is under the jurisdiction of the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture (USDA). The Food Safety Modernization Act only addresses food safety issues under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

MYTH: H.R. 875 would implement a national animal ID system (NAIS).

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would implement NAIS, which is under the jurisdiction of the USDA. H.R. 875 addresses issues under the jurisdiction of the FDA.
Certainly the provisions of HR 875 are subject to legitimate debate over how effective the bill would be at improving and ensuring the safety of America's food supply and whether they would place undue financial and regulatory burdens on smaller farms and businesses that primarily engage in the local production and sale of food items, but those concerns aren't being effectively addressed through the circulation of unwarranted claims similar to those cited above. Sources such as the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund are better starting points for grasping some of the issues regarding how HR 875 might affect small farmers.

[Butters 0]

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