tagged w/ organic farmers
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(NaturalNews) The new Food Tyranny Act -- called the "Food Safety Modernization Act" in the U.S. Senate -- has been passed by the senate today. It would give the FDA vast new powers to criminalize and imprison farmers and food producers while doing absolutely nothing to address to real root of the food contamination problem: Factory animal farm operations (which are regulated under the USDA, not the FDA).
The bill passed 73 to 25, with Sen Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) emerging as the greatest "voice of reason" in the debate. His last-ditch amendment to reduce the scale of the bill was defeated this morning.
Here's the official vote record:http://www.senate.gov/legislative/L...
Notably,there wasn't a single Democrat who opposed the bill.
This bill, as originally written, would have outlawed most nutritional supplements through "harmonization" with European laws. It also would have authorized ten-year prison sentences for farmers sellingraw milkto their neighbors. Both of those provisions were eventually stripped out of the bill thanks to some last-minute amendments, but it gives you an idea of the outright police state mentality of the original bill authors who attempted to put in place completegovernmentcontrol over food, gardens, rawmilkand more.
To give you an idea ofhow cluelessU.S. Senators are aboutfood, the New York Times is reporting that whenSenatestaff members met to discuss this bill, they would eat Starburst candies and jellybeans. As the NYT reports, "In the midst of negotiations, the negotiators -- nearly allwomen-- took a field trip to a nearby food market so that a Republican staff member could teach theDemocratshow to buy high-quality steaks."
So what we have here is a new foodtyrannylaw that was essentially negotiated by a group of women who eatdeadfoods, animals products and candy.
No wonder they still don't get it. Thecontaminationof lettuce and other fresh produce is caused byfactory animals farms, not by produce farms. (E.coli can only thrive in the digestive tracts of animals, not plants.)
The "small farms" exclusion will soon be meaningless
The Tester Amendment of the bill did manage to excludesomesmallerfarmersfrom the more tyrannical provisions of the bill. As currently stated, this would exclude small farms that sell less than $500,000 worth of food and which sell most of their food locally.
However, Senators failed to consider what's going to happen when theFederal Reservekeeps printing counterfeitmoney, devaluing the dollar and causing massive food price inflation. A farm that right now produces merely $100,000 worth of food (which could be a small, two-person farm) will soon find itself producing $500,000 worth of food (or more) due to the rapidly falling value of the U.S. dollar.
This is how the Federal Reserve's money counterfeiting actions will further destroyAmericaand place small family farms under the tyranny ofthe FDA.
What's next: Defeat the bill in committee
The Senate version of the bill must now be reconciled with the House version that was passed last year. This reconciliation committee must hammer out the differences between the two bills.
Democrats are urgently rushing to do this during their "lame duck" session in order to avoid moreRepublicansgetting involved who would seek to scale back thepowerand size of the federal government.
Some House Democrats are even suggesting they would support passing the Senate version of the bill as it is written, without requiring any changes whatsoever, just to rush it through before the end of the year.NaturalNewsand other health freedom organizations intend to fight this effort, hoping to stall the bill until the newCongresscan enter the picture and hopefully interject some common sense into the negotiations.
Please don't feed the monster
If signed into law by the President (who is sure to sign it), this Food Safety Bill would provide yet more power and funding to one of the most dangerous monsters our nation has ever known: TheFDA. This is the agency responsible for the death of more Americans than all the wars our nation has ever been involved with -- combined! (http://www.naturalnews.com/030461_S...)
The idea that we're going to save a few lives from food poisoning while subjectingeveryoneto yet another layer ofBig Governmenttyranny is so abhorrent and downright evil that if our country's founding fathers saw all this going on, they would be stunned into silence that it's happening in "the land of the free." Fresh milk being criminalized? You've got to be kidding...
Only they're not kidding. The FDA is the agency that has raided vitamin companies (http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html), arrestednutritional supplementmanufacturers and ordered the destruction of books containing stevia recipes. This is the agency that censors the scientific truth aboutnaturalfoods like cherries and walnuts (http://www.naturalnews.com/029698_c...) while promoting the outright fraud and quackery of the pharmaceutical industry.
And now the FDA is to be rewarded for its malfeasance with yet MORE power andauthority?
This is how Washington works, folks. The government always thinks it's here to save you, and the Democrats want Big Government to be your nanny and "take care of you." (The Republicans, for their part, just want to bail out the wealthy banksters with your money.) And yet, when it all comes down to it, these people are justtyrantswho have forgotten American history and abandoned the Constitution and its founding principles.
Mark my words: Five years down the road, when the FDA's armed "food police" are running rampant across America, arresting farmers and imprisoning lettuce growers, people will be appalled, and they'll wonder, "How could we have let this happen!?" The answer is right here: You let it happen because you allowed Big Government to rule overthe food supply. And if there's one thing we know about Big Government, it's thatit always wants to get bigger.
It always wants more power. More authority. More funding. And more excuses to function as a dictatorship that rules over the American people.
The Food Safety Modernization Act is to thefood supplywhat the Patriot Act is to the Bill of Rights. We must make every effort to prevent this from becoming law, lest we find ourselves living under afood dictatorshipwhere only dead, fumigated or irradiated food will be allowed to be sold to the public. The "food irradiation plot" has been the plan from the very beginning of all this (http://www.naturalnews.com/023015_f...).
Of course, once the real food is all criminalized and outlawed, there's alwayssoylent green. That might not be too far off, come to think of it.
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/030576_Food_Safety_S_510.html#ixzz16nMK85q5
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http://www.naturalnews.com/030576_Food_Safety_S_510.html#ixzz16nNAqgn4(NaturalNews) The new Food Tyranny Act -- called the "Food Safety Modernization... more
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It now appears that the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) will be voted on in the Senate during the “lame-duck” session as early as Wednesday, Nov. 17.
This bill, as we have noted before, would impose extremely burdensome and unnecessary requirements on the thousands of small farmers and food processors who are producing safe, nutrient-dense foods for their local communities — in fact, it may force some of these producers out of business.
A key amendment sponsored by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) would exempt small farmers who direct market more than 50% of their products.
These famers must have gross sales (direct and non-direct combined) of less than $500,000, and sell to consumers, stores, or restaurants that are in-state or within 400 miles. This amendment is especially important for off-farm retail locations such as farmers markets and CSAs.
Please call your Senators today (most offices have voice mail where you can leave a message) and ask them to support the Tester Amendment on the Food Safety bill.
If you are a farmer this is important to protect your livelihood. If you are a consumer, where will you buy your safe and nutritious food if your local farmers are forced out of business?It now appears that the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) will be voted on in the... more
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It is necessary today to evalutate the technological choices resulting from research, based on scientific, ecological, economic, social and ethical criteria. This kind of risk assessment is the only way to legitimise the entry of any scientific application into the social sphere.
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José Bové, Green MEP
JOSE BOVE: "THE LOBBIES ARE TRYING TO FORCE GMOS ON EUROPE"
Le Monde [France],
http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/chat/2010/07/13/ogm-l-europe-va-t-elle-ceder_1387222_3244.html
[Translation courtesy of GM-free Ireland]
In a chat on LeMonde.fr, the Green MEP José Bové says that the proposals of John Dalli, the European Commissioner for health, create a framework to push GMOs inside European borders.
Chat moderated by Hervé Kempf
Toublant : Is Europe strong enough to face the lobbies of the big transnational corporations?
José Bové : The lobbies are all based in Brussels, and they try to impose their aims, including GMOs, on the Commission, and also on the Parliament. That said, one senses more and more resistance within the European Parliament in relation to questions that impinge on food and health. And the last vote of the Parliament to ban cloned meat and nanoparticles is proof of this.
Maxime : I'd like to know if you are not too discouraged by these money-hungry multinationals which will do anything to commercialise their seeds. Do you still have hope?
José Bové : In the twelve years since the start of this stuggle against the GM seed companies, we have won an important result against the odds, which is the affirmation of European public opinion against GMOs in farming and food.
And last week in Strasbourg, a majority of the Parliament said it favoured the labelling of produce from livestock fed on GMOs. Which shows that things are moving ahead toward GM-free farming.
isabelle : What are you concerned about in the Commission's proposal? After all, it looks as if it is returning their free choice in this dossier to the Member States?
José Bové : There are two concerns in the Commission's proposal. They both arise in a context where Commissioner Barroso clearly states that he himself favours the spread of GMOs inside the European frontiers. The proposals made this very day by Commissioner Dalli set the stage for the entry of these GMOs.
There are a number of problems : the first is a weakening of the risk assessment unit of EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority), including notably the promotion of substantial equivalence, which is the Trojan horse that was used when GMOs were launched in the USA
Second, Dalli's proposal is a false correct answer, because the renationalisation of GMOs will create problems for intra-European trade. Since there are no state controls at their borders, GMO products will circulate in all directions and contaminate consumers' food, to the extent that it will be impossible to organise segregated food chains.
In this regard, Commissioner Dalli says that the measures taken by the Member States must conform with the treaty, particularly in relation to the principle of non-discrimination between national and non-national production.
Another problem created by this re-nationalisation: the distortion of competition for organic farmers. Indeed, the selling capacity will be completely different for an organic farmer in a country where GMOs are banned, and an organic farmer where they are allowed.
These two first reasons will clearly create a risk of conflicts between Member States, whose only solution will be to appeal to the European Court of Justice.
Final problem : the WTO headache. Indeed, the 27 Member States are now represented by the European Commission when facing the WTO. And what will be the attitude of companies like Monsanto and others?
Will they, for example the United States or Argentina, turn against the Member States? And how will the Commission react? Will it defend its own proposal to allow things to take their course, or will it support the countries which will decide to ban GMO varieties?
TVR : Will Europe not risk depriving itself of a big part of the innovation and investment for research and development, if it adopts a too strong position on this theme? European groups like Bayer Crop are delocalising their R&D work.
José Bové : I don't think that GMOs are the main innovation in agriculture today.
I think there is truly a need to develop agriculture starting from biodiversity, especially by promoting participatory research between scientists and farmers.
This notably because of climate changes and the need to face new constraints linked either to water shortage or new agronomic conditions.
cont.It is necessary today to evalutate the technological choices resulting from research,... more
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"Monsanto does not have the right to dictate the value of my life" -Joel Greeno
While farmers were the star of the show at last Friday's antitrust hearing in Ankeny, Iowa, the debate over the monopolization of farming is one where all of our interests are squarely at stake.
Anyone who eats and has a brain should be downright terrified that just a few giant businesses control the vast majority of food available to us as consumers. Perhaps that explains why more than 15,000 people submitted comments in anticipation of the hearings - four more of which are scheduled this year as a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
To his credit, Attorney General Eric Holder seemed to be trying not to mince words in Iowa - always tough for an attorney - and particularly so for one under the right's atomic microscope. Noting that farming "has been at the core of the American economy ever since there was an American economy," he went on to say, "[W]e've learned the hard way that . . . long periods of reckless deregulation can foster practices that are anti-competitive and even illegal. . . . We know that a growing number of American farmers find it increasingly difficult to survive by doing what they've done for decades. And we've learned that some of them believe the competitive environment may be, at least in part, to blame."
Farmers who attended a pre-hearing meeting Thursday evening made the case for themselves. Noting that farming goes back "forever in my family," Todd Leake, who grows wheat, soybeans, sunflowers and navy beans in North Dakota, said, "The crops we grow are the basis of civilization. If anything belongs to the public domain, if anything belongs to the people of the world, it's the crops we grow for food."
Iowa hog farmer Larry Ginter, a long-time opponent of factory farms, also made the connection between the plight of American farmers and the struggles of so many people outside our borders, saying," "Labor, family farms, democratic rights are in a pitched battle against the dictatorship of capital. We've got to understand that this is an international struggle. Those Mexican workers coming up here are family farmers. Those Sudanese workers in the packing plants are family farmers and workers being driven off by the big dictatorship of capital. We have to understand that we are not alone in America." Urging his fellow farmers to action, Ginter concluded, "Nothing can happen on the farms unless farmers turn the wheel and plant the seed."
Wisconsin dairy farmer Joel Greeno, said "My parents' 29th wedding anniversary was a farm foreclosure. Their 30th anniversary was a sheriff's auction on the courthouse steps. My neighbor's farm was stolen from him that was owned since 1942 by his family. He came to ask how to get food stamps because he'd always lived off his farm, no longer had that, and said that his social security of $9,000 a year couldn't feed him. This has got to end. Washington has got to step up. DOJ is our only lifeboat. They have to fix this. They have to correct it. Monsanto does not have the right to dictate the value of my life, my work, and the food I produce. Kraft Food does not have the right to set the price of my milk, which they do without question."
Patrick Woodall, a research director for Food and Water Watch, and a panelist at the hearings said, "At the end of the day, farmers and activists could speak truth to power and delivered a tough message to the regulators that action was long overdue, it was time to bust the agribusiness trusts and level the playing field for farmers and consumers. Many audience members, like Marcia Ishii-Eiteman from Pesticide Action Network North America, also challenged the reliance on agrochemical inputs and the false hope of genetically modified crops.""Monsanto does not have the right to dictate the value of my life" -Joel... more
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This is a developing story that not only has environmental implications but economic as well. An all out corporate push to now own the sugar market in the US through genetic modification even though court rulings have called for environmental reports. You can be sure they won't be forthcoming soon.This is a developing story that not only has environmental implications but economic... more
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(Marquette, Michigan) - While Upper Peninsula residents endured an arctic blast, two Northern Michigan University students started the New Year learning about Fair Trade during the peak of the coffee growing season in Nicaragua.
Since their return on January 12, Lisa McCarthy and Sarah Swanson have begun a series of presentations at U.P. churches to encourage Americans to buy Fair Trade coffee that ensures poor Nicaraguan farmers don't lose money in the labor-intensive industry of coffee production.
In part 1 of a three-part video series, the students look at the role of faith communities, Nicaragua coffee farmers, and coffee cooperatives in Fair Trade movement; Northern Michigan University students talk about work that goes into growing coffee including wet mills, dry mills and the process of quality/taste testing called "cupping."
From staring into the mouth of the Masaya Volcano to traveling narrow mountain roads to stay with coffee-farming families to picking beans and participating in all phases of coffee production, the trip was a myth-shattering experience.
The students are the latest of hundreds of faith community representatives traveling to Central American over the last decade with Lutheran World Relief (LWR) to get a quick course on Fair Trade while erasing misconceptions about Nicaragua's hard-working low-income farmers who take pride in their coffee.(Marquette, Michigan) - While Upper Peninsula residents endured an arctic blast, two... more
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About 70% of the food we eat contains genetically modified ingredients and is not labeled. The biotechnology industry is spending $50 million a year to convince us that this technology is our only hope for feeding the world and saving the environment. Family farmers are disappearing at an astonishing rate as people continue to go hungry both here and abroad.
Using hilarious and disturbing archival footage and featuring interviews with farmers, scientists, government officials and activists, FED UP! presents an entertaining, informative and compelling overview of our food production system from the Green Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do about it.
The movie is broken into four parts, averaging 20 minutes each.About 70% of the food we eat contains genetically modified ingredients and is not... more
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