Senate Bill S510 Makes it illegal to Grow, Share, Trade or Sell Homegrown Food

Me: they are all GONE TOTALLY CRAZY, they need to flush themselves straight down their own toilets,,, IMMEDIATELY.. THE GREEDY DUMB ASS OVERPAID ROBBIN THE PEOPLE TAKING CARE OF THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF DOING THEIR JOBS which is TAKING CARE OF THE PEPOLE perpetrating a fraud ass criminals They Have Become... PILLAGERS.. 9:21 PM
indeed...

It is about time for people re-read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Anyone who would like to purchase unregulated food, would probably like to dine in Castro's prisons. Remember the burning Cuyahoga River? For those that do not like government regulations, maybe you should have tried swimming across it that day just to prove regulations don't work. Or LA Smog? Get rid of workforce regulations, school regulations, and don't teach any rules to your kids, and please, no traffic lights and drive in any lane you care to. Do away with military regulations, we all should carry our own weapon and blast away those that do not follow our own believe in what is right and wrong! Please move to Afghanistan and join your fellow nut cases.

After having researched the issue myself, I find the statements made in the Firetown story to me mostly false. Spreading false rumors is not news and does not help anyone.
From the Center for Disease Control: "We estimate that foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year."
I'm all for the passage of S510: the more that can be done to make our food supply safe, the better. It doesn't affect my ability to grow my own food in the least.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/organic.asp

Quaid, i saw the article and wasn't shocked at all by their responses. I think Pollan has been great at getting Americans to "think", but fall short when it comes to actually being an activist or provider of solutions. Beside, what he speaks about is assessable to him and is literary pals up in Pal Alto (Northern CA). The average person can't afford "good food" and most certainly can't afford to buy a whole goat and roast it for 36 hours and invite everyone they know on earth to a slow cooked meal that lasts an entire weekend full of a bevy of libations and local artisan foods... No sir, I think not.

The truth is everyone wants better standards when it comes to food safety. However, the bill does not expressly exclude small farms and local food operations; it is simply a consideration at this point. If read carefully this bill would appear to be in favor of larger industrial farm operations and food processors who A) can afford government fines. B) have huge departments dedicated to processing paperwork and dealing with bureaucracy. C) can easily persuade officials to further amend laws and policies if they don't like what is "a blatant capitalization of squeezing out traditional farms."

Farmers represent less than 2% of the total job market in the use-- an endangered species for sure!

Here comes the fuel for another revolution

There is an interesting article from Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser in today's New York times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/opinion/29schlosser.html?_r=2

It references at least one important point, that the bill was recently amended to exempt small, direct-to-market producers.

Pollan/Schlesser argue that the bill is far from perfect but needed and worth passing. They also raise concerns about large good producer groups being involved in the opposition lobbying.

It has not passed yet (and it hopefully will not). It is set to more debate and decision making Dec 3rd.

You've got MY attention!!! What do I need to do??

Didn't this just pass?

Maybe when Americans get hungry enough they'll quit voting for traitors who would enact such tyranny.

I think the point here is not about enforcement (as it may never reach that point. However, the Feds did just raid an raw food operations for serving raw milk with guns ready to fire) or special interest (on either side, and in the middle), but why is this bill even on the table? We should be concern about the possibility of this bill becoming law because its very existence is utter nonsense.

This bill would give the FDA sweeping power over our food system. Not that we have had a national food crisis, but in the last decades the U.S. has seen new threats, challenges and have had to come to terms with "growing up" and changing it's identity, and its association with the rest of the world.

This shouldn't even be a debate. No man or woman should have to obtain consent to grow and consume their own food nor should government tell he / she what they can eat or consume. When we visit different cities do we need government to help us regulate the air we breathe? Is their national legislation on the water we drink? .... oh wait, there is and it hasn't done a darn thing to improve the quality of the air, water and now food we consume.

Who wants our food system to become the next poster child like the Clean Air and Water Act? Lots of government and special interest involvement, tax dollars spent doing nothing!!!

Lets stop this bill because it waste tax dollars; because it's senseless; because it opens a Pandora's box to more than what is being discussed and revealed. It also will allow "special interest" to further creep their way in and controlling our food system.

How did that loaf of bread sneak into the picture?

So my neighbor Joe cant give me a box of apples from his tree??

more fruit and less government is what we need

The devil in the vatican/cia who runs this world at the moment time will be up real soon and they know it thats why the economy is falling fast along with life cause they dont wont to give up the power so they want to keep you from recieving light signals from the gods who is coming and who is already here. So they will try to posion the world or keep you in this dimension of hell and slavery. And yes you a slave you all are slaves in this corporate plantation, so eat what master said eat drink pray work or die. This is suppose to be a world where you live off the land and enjoy this human experince but the beast enslave you to being a consumer with greed & glamour. Thats why you get Dis-ease. wake up

NJ Senator Lautenberg emailed me this back after i contacted him about it "Although the United States food supply is credited as one of the safest in the world, it is estimated that millions of people get sick and thousands die from foodborne illnesses each year. In 2007, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) added food safety to its list of high risk areas that needed attention from Congress and the Administration. Accordingly, nearly a dozen food safety bills have been introduced this Congress.
The “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act” would require food processing, manufacturing, shipping and other regulated facilities to conduct an analysis of the most likely food safety hazards and to design and implement risk-based controls to prevent them. It would increase the frequency of inspections at these facilities, taking into account risk factors to prevent outbreaks from happening. It would require facilities to give more access to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if the agency reasonably believes a food or product can cause harm to people and animals. It would also expand the Department of Health and Human Services’ ability to order a mandatory food recall of dangerous products.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions amended and approved the “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act” on November 18, 2009 and reported it on December 18th; however, the full Senate has yet to take up the legislation. Negotiations between both parties on possible amendments to the bill are still ongoing. Please be assured I will keep your concerns in mind should this legislation come before the full Senate."

Quick grandma, hide your garden :)

Ive got a huge garden full of goodies. I give it to all my friends , family , and neighbors. WTF EVER. Give me a break. Oh yeah and Ive got rain barrels. Let them try and enforce that BS on my land. I also grow fire arms.

This is complete nonsense. For one, blogs are editorials and there are countless websites spreading hysteria on behalf of special interests. How is this news? These are completely biased sources.

Second, the campaigns of spreading misinformation about food industry regulation began last year when a scare tactic email circulated: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/03/illegal-backyard-garden/

Funny to imagine that our federal government, who doesn't have the funds to support the country's broken infrastructure, would have the means to drop SWAT teams down from helicopters to trample vegetable gardens in our backyards. Sounds more like a 50's B-movie, right?

Third, regarding bill S510, I can't speak of specific detail regarding this year's version of HR875. But here is a link to opencongress.org with the complete bill text and other details, including discussion of targeted issues: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s510/show

It annoys me how lazy we have become in taking news and information at face value. Whichever side you take for an issue, research and cite your sources, even if it means (heaven forbid) going offline!

"The web is infinitely wide but only an inch deep."

For those (like myself) who want to see the full bill text, from government web domain and not any non-profit or special interest: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s510:

All i have to say is stay away from my garden, i have had a garden since i was old enough to know the difference between edible plants and weeds that should be pulled. I will grow a garden, I will can my own vetggies and I will consider any intruders into my garden a direct assault and an act of war. And big brother if you think I lie here or tell a hyperbole, then I say to you TOUCH THAT SQUASH AND FIND OUT.

So as long as it's rat shit in peanut butter, and who knows what in Chinese produced Baby formula, everything's groovy!! Only in America.

What? So government officials are going to be walking around everyone's garden then burning it like fahrenheit 451? I doubt the government would truly have the efficiency of enforcing such regulatory actions when they can barely regulate anything at all on the books currently.

I don't believe being watchful constitutes brainwashing.

Do you think it is reasonable to enact a bill to do what is already done? When you find a finger in your Wendy's chili, you have recourse. When there is a wife that has had enough of her husband so she poisons some Tylenol we have recourse. Perhaps the bill means to modify who is responsible for doing what is already done. Why?
Why is the bill necessary.

Yes, I get the target market for Headlines, but like I said (I think a couple of times), i doubt this would be about home gardening.

Critical thinking is the opposite of brainwashed.

Don't be afraid, be aware.

The headline is false. The bill will not make it illegal to Grow, Share, or Trade Homegrown Food. It pains me to see some intelligent people being brainwashed by this silly conspiracy theory exaggeration.

It is reasonable to worry about multi-nationals like Monsanto, factory farming, and agri-business.

It is not reasonable to believe the gov is going to prevent you from growing a garden.

Headlines and stories like this that are patently false serve to discredit the green movement, and take attention away from legitimate concerns.

Well, they are just going to have to catch me.

its funny that the so-called "most powerful nation" has listed growing fruits and veggies as a threat to national security. ive gotta say this bill seems like a bunch of bolgna

this is making me want to start a garden

Someday, Monsanto will have a patent on the human race. You won't be able to screw unless you're shootin' Round-Up blanks.

I don't know if this is true but, if true, the implications are horrendous. Frankly, given the efforts of this current administration to control more and more of the peoples lives I am not so optimistic that this won't fly. Looks like there will be a whole new breed of felons in this country if this is correct.

This seems like BS.

Them Yankees trying to take our food

everyone plant some seeds and start a garden FU big agro my family has always had all organic farms and provided good nutrient rich wholesome homegrown foods . But everyone should grow some foods just to prevent these stupid laws for corporations to profit from . Mostly sounds like B.S. but good to know if not! Johhny Fuckin Appleseed

Tell that to any American who wishes to grow Marijuana in their back yard.

But I digress because I doubt small home gardens are the issue. IF such a bill were to be considered by our Senate, it would probably target Markets, where MONEY is transacted. No products from other countries, no co-ops, no fruit stands or farmers markets (that would be so sad), Grocers only allowed to purchase from such and such growers, etc.

After we see what is happening in Arizona, how can we be surprised at some of the ideas some folks come up with in the interest of . It may be complete BS, but I am glad we all had this discussion.

its not logistically possible to arrest and prosecute everyone who grows some tomatoes and peppers in their back yard, or has an apple tree or goes out and picks some blackberries...this is just silly

I don't like to cook. God will feed us.

So what's the difference between your average crazy libertarian blogger and your common or garden militia member?

...The bloggers are more annoying. Apart from that they're pretty much the same. :)

alright... so i call for civil disobedience, if this is even real. everyone grow food in your yard or on your windowsill. they cant stop us all. still, this sounds like pure unadulterated bullshit.

The government wants to get rich off us, as they kill us. Now who's gonna fight...?

what a huge crock of shit.

sounds like paranoia to me.

it makes no sense...there is more crap in pre packaged foods that the government allow.. than anything else. Anybody who has ever read an ingredient list on a can of soup etc.. knows you don't know what 90 percent of that stuff actually is. Government should have No control over farmers markets and co ops, they should be encouraging organic food.

so what the fuck is gonna happen to whole foods an the community co-op?

Claim 3

Apparently someone in congress has identified “smuggled food,” as an epidemic in America and only draconian regulation and a thinly veiled power grab can stop it

Sec. 310 Smuggled food (pgs 250-251 of the PDF file of the bill) provides that smuggled food is any food entered into the stream of commerce through fraudulent means or with intent to defraud.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&doc...:s510rs.txt.pdf

Section 350(d) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act provides that:
“any facility, engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding food, for consumption in the United States be registered with the Secretary.”

http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t21t25+160+0++%28%...

The “Secretary” being the director of Health and Human services.

So it’s not hard to imagine that unregistered food (made by unregistered producers HOMEGROWN!) has essentially entered the stream of commerce through fraudulent means and is deemed “smuggled”.

Soilent Green. :-)

Not surprised that this is going to the Senate. American business is proving that money is as predicted, the root of all "evil"

It is true that american farmers are being sued because their fields are being poisoned by the pollen from genetically altered "farms." And face it, these are corporations, NOT American farmers. They are chemists. What are the real farmers supposed to do? Enact laws against the bees? It is just insanity.

But, I bet if enough money gets behind this and into the Lobbyists and Political pockets, you will start hearing campaigns about how the farmers market and co-ops are putting the American Heartland Farmers at risk and millions of people will line up to buy a ticket. How many times have we seen it. Eminent domain? The patriot act?

And, what is the attraction to berating those who might be concerned about a thing like this. If it is BS and never happens, no foul. But to be informed and aware *should* the weakness for the holy dollar ... Let's say Alter a few folks ability to act rationally, maybe it can be avoided.

Sorry, been very ill, so this may be a bit garbled, but it’s my two cents.

Dear Americans, look in the mirror if you want someone to blame for Corporate greed!!!
Monsanto and Big Agriculture are by AMERICAN law required to maximize profits. Consequently they must look down the road toward potential markets. As America sinks deeper into poverty, local economics like local agriculture may easily grow exponentially as people find themselves bartering for their food, and seeking cheaper and healthier alternatives to large grocery chains and processed nutrient lacking foods. Monsanto and Big Agriculture know this, and are required by AMERICAN law to exploit those future and current markets for their investors. Therefore Monsanto and big Agriculture back Bills like S510 in order to comply with civil and criminal law and maximize their profits.
If you want to stop the Corporate greed of Monsanto and Big Agriculture, BP, Exxon Mobil, and the Wal-Mart’s of the world, the United States must first pass laws protecting these companies from legal malfeasants moves by their stock holders, limit investor profit margins, protect corporations from foreign take over, protect corporations from being subject to monopolization, protect the American markets from foreign competitors, severally limit outsourcing of goods and services, and stop individual capital from fleeing the US. Essentially you pass laws ending the Corporate legal obligation to behave pathologically.
WE created Corporate Monsters, now we must pass laws to protect, nurture and control them, our markets and our jobs.
It is all our fault, and now our responsibility to clean up the mess we made.
YES, I am talking about socialism. Socialism and Capitalism have always been friends in the US. Just look at the socialist bail out of the banks to save us from a deep Depression. But socialism needs to be used for all the people not just the wealthy. Socialism must be People Friendly and Corporate Friendly. For example, in Germany socialism and capitalism are friends of the people. Consequently:
BBC: August 13, 2010.
“The German economy has grown by 2.2% in the last quarter - its fastest quarterly growth since reunification more than twenty years ago.”
We always seem to think that the best solution to everything in the US is an American solution. Bull crap! We should be more like Germany with their people and corporate friendly socialism. The question is, will we keep being foolish?

This sounds horrid, but I need to red it myself before I say anything dumb.

I take all that this article says...and throw it in the garbage.

1st. the bill that gave control of the meat market to the government didnt give full control, thats why in the supermarket and local markets there are FREE RANGE meats, no preservatives, 0 hormone treatments, all natural. 2nd. The above bill is an invasion and subjugation of so many constitutional rights, if congressional,presidential, and judicial review dont stop this bill from being passed, then the checks and balances system is F***ed up. 3rd. This could be overinflated opinions that come from bias sites who read "government" and "me" out of the article and they hop on the "Red Scare" bandwagon. The government shouldn't be able to reach into ur backyard and take away ur organic garden, but for the farmers using "natural" methods of fertilizing ( using their cows feces to fertilize the thing going in your mouth), their should be some sort of regulation.4th. If this bill were to pass then it is true, the long shipping distances and the breakdown of crop diversity would eventually cripple the economy and create a lot of drama and destruction in the process. 5th. plz ppl speak up and find out the real document (ie ask your government officials to look at this bill closely) the people have the power. 6th. support local farmers more, the food may be expensiver, but your health will improve exponentially and you will save money on medical expenses.

We will be POW'S in the Food Wars!?! Anything developed by the creators of Marlboro cigs is bad. They are the fathers of horror food. Vote with your $$ at the table.... they can only buy our gov if we give them the money!!!

we cant have nothin

NO!!! you will not take our homegrown non chemical poison food that the fucken stores have.. i will not eat food thats been filled with so much poison it has no taste.. hell no i wont do it!!

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s510/show
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/08/senate-comes-to-bipartisan-agreement-on-s-...
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/08/publishers-platform-10/
http://www.ombwatch.org/node/11212

If anyone wants to follow this bill, here is a good place to start.

Psh, good luck enforcing that one.

oh no.
My Italian neighbors are involved in organized crime.
Just when i thought i was out, they drag me back in with Tomatoes.

Taliban can grow, share, trade and swap food. why can't we? LOL

Freedom?

http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/senate-food-safety-bill-includes-improvem... There are other opinions on this issue. Not every one that disagrees with this article is a tool of evil Monsanto.

Free Trade?

America is fucked up

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21293.cfm

More on S510 from Organic Consumers Association, which is not a "wing nut" organization.
_______________

Info on S510 - The Food Safety Modernization Act
Food Safety Bills in Congress
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Posted July 23, 2010
Straight to the Source

Editor's Note: OCA does not support S510 as it is currently written. Please read the following article from the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance for a good overview of the issues.

Tell Congress: One size does not fit all when considering food safety bills! Small local farms and food processors are fundamentally different from huge, industrial food suppliers that ship food all over the country. Congress can and should address the problems with the industrial food supply without harming the local food systems that provide an alternative for concerned consumers!

The U.S. Senate is considering a bill, S. 510, to reform the food safety system. Although reform of the industrial food supply is clearly needed, this bill threatens to create more problems than it will solve. S. 510 would undermine the rapidly growing local foods movement by imposing unnecessary, burdensome regulations on small farms and food processors - everyone from your local CSA to the small bakers, jam makers, and people making fermented vegetables to sell at the local farmers market.

JULY 2010 Update: The bill has been delayed, but it is still a real threat, so keep up the calls! You can read our earlier action alert, which includes contact information and talking points for talking with your Senators, here. The list of organizations urging Senators to support the Tester-Hagan amendment to exempt small-scale and direct-marketing producers from the most burdensome portions of the bill is now 157 strong! Read our letter here

NEW - Several members have received responses from their Senators extolling provisions in the bill that allegedly help or exempt local food producers. It's very important that we continue to educate these Senators about the real impacts of the bill. Check out our FAQ for more information.

Q&A Get the facts about the Tester-Hagan amendment to protect local foods. And then call your Senators to urge them to co-sponsor the amendments!

Briefing on the requirement for "facilities" under S. 510

Briefing on the "produce standards" under S. 510