“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.”
~Thomas Jefferson
KeyWiki Blog
12/2/2010
This Founding Father would be rolling in his grave if he knew of the draconian measures to restrict food production the Senate is seeking to bring in. Under the deceptive title of the “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act“, the bill if passed into law will crack down not only on large corporations, but also on “small businesses and entities that sell directly to consumers”, and will give authorities power tofurther regulate “growing, harvesting, sorting, packing, and storage operations, minimum standards related to soil amendments, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water”.
The Food Safety Bill (S. 510) is being heralded as more dangerous than even the Health Care Reform which passed earlier this year. Section 404 makes it clear that the bill seeks to conform to the requirements of the World Trade Organization and grants new authority to the Department of Homeland Security to oversee food production. Here’s the key catchphrase from the proponents of this bill, responding to criticisms that the bill will cripple small-time farmers. This comment from Sandra Eskin of the Pew Charitable Trusts:
“Rather than telling peo ple they don’t have to meet these basic safe ty re quire ment that will be scale and size appropriate, rather than exempting them we think you should be giving assistance in helping them meet the requirements of the law.”
Because that’s what we want, isn’t it. We want the Government to protect us with the likes of this highly regulative “food safety” bill, and then to very kindly help us to meet the requirements of the law. Eskin also applies the tired “progressive” argument that the law is too old,
“The last time that the FDA’s law related to food was changed in any material way was 1938… Over the course of the fol low ing decades, we’ve seen our food supply expand and change markedly but the law has not kept up.”…
…Harsh regulation of seed handling will of course, result in larger corporations such as Monsanto consolidating the production of seeds. Interesting to note that George Soros‘ hedge fund has just bought 897,813 shares (valued at $312.6 million) in Monsanto. It is Soros’ second biggest investment. More on conflicts of interest within the FDA here…
Read the whole thing at Keywiki.org
Update: At HotAir.com, Food safety bill passes Senate, but dead in the water because…
