DEM bill S.B. 510: Bye Bye ORGANIC FOOD!

[EarthFirster]

Has this been posted yet? I have not seen anything on SB 510 recently.
I think this really needs an ACTION ALERT!!


http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/4548062-sb-510-a-food-safety-bill-or-something-else-entirely

Do you grow heirloom tomatoes you sell on your own property or at a local farmer’s market? If so, you will be in for a whopper of a surprise if Senator Durbin’s Senate Bill 510 (S.B. 510) passes: you may be receiving a visit from inspectors.

Products not grown according to designated standards will be considered adulterated and your business records will be subject to warrantless searches by inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), all this without any evidence that you have violated any law.

Wonder why the National Guard or Federal agents have effectively imposed martial law by quarantining your town? Under S.B. 510’s House counterpart bill, H.R. 2749 (Section 133b, “Authority to Prohibit or Restrict the Movement of Food”), sponsored by Congressman Dingell, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will have the power to prohibit all movement of all food within a geographic area, whether the food is in your grandmother’s grocery bag in her Toyota Hybrid or on a flatbed. No court order will be needed, just a phone call to the appropriate state official and a public announcement will be sufficient.

Upset that raw milk or raw milk cheeses (like feta) are no longer available in the U.S.? This could well happen thanks to the “performance standards” powers that would be granted to the FDA by S.B. 510, especially since the agency has made it clear that it is vehemently opposed to the consumption of raw milk products.

Amazed that U.S. food safety regulations strangely match those of other countries? Well, Section 306 of S.B. 510 would require “Recommendations to harmonize requirements under the Codex Alimentarius.”

And what about food supplement manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and health food stores? Will they be ensnared in this bill’s draconian, 1984-esque net? Very possibly so.

This all may seem far-fetched, but theoretically, this new law would give the government all this authority.

[Poll_Blind]

1. The outrage over this has always struck me as astro turfing. Pasteur, anyone?

If people are going to sell food, they need to be regulated.

Am I upset about the fact I can't get raw milk or raw milk cheeses?

No. Cow milk comes out of cow teats to feed baby cows. Not humans, most of which are unable to process the lactose.

I read over the op again. Maybe it's because I've got a cold. Maybe it's because I'd be surprised if anyone would fall for this if they spent a few minutes thinking about the implications. I dunno. Seems pretty obvious.

PB

[no_hypocrisy]

2. The Anti-Victory Garden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden#Background

[The Doctor.]

3. Couldn't have put it better.

Couldn't find my 'nail on head' graphic though.

[fasttense]

4. Well they really didn't need those laws to prevent competition

with ConAgra, Monsanto or even the tainted egg guys.

Right now, you can't wash and sell eggs in TN in a house that has a gold fish in it.

So, absurd laws to prevent competition with tainted and spoiled foods from mass producers are already on the books. It's just gone federal now.

Here's a little something to show you how crazy the "prevent competition laws" are. Here in TN we sell a few dozen eggs a year and we are required to be inspected every year for $50 (soon to go up). Yet, those eggs they sell out of the grocery stores from mass producers like DeCoster farms in Iowa, aside from being months old, weren't required to be inspected.

"Federal and state officials say they do not routinely inspect egg farms."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100824/BUSINESS01/8240361/Congress-probes-lack-of-egg-producer-regulation

Yes, more laws are needed but not on small producers. Small producers are easy targets and targeting them keeps down competition.