From the New York Times
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: March 14, 2009
WASHINGTON — Describing the government’s failure to inspect 95 percent of food processing plants as “a hazard to the public health,” President Obama promised Saturday to bolster and reorganize the nation’s fractured food-safety system.
Mr. Obama announced the creation of a Food Safety Working Group, which will include the secretaries of health and agriculture, to advise him on which laws and regulations need to be changed, to foster coordination across federal agencies, and to ensure that laws are enforced.
A bipartisan chorus of powerful lawmakers in Congress has promised to enact fundamental changes in the nation’s food-protection system. On Saturday, Mr. Obama made clear that he not only supported that legislative effort but that he also might push to expand it.
A dozen federal agencies share responsibility for ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply, an oversight system that critics and government investigators have for years said needed major revisions.
A debate has erupted on Capitol Hill in recent months about whether to bolster food oversight at the Food and Drug Administration or assign those responsibilities to a separate agency that would eventually absorb the food-oversight duties of the other 11 agencies, including the Food Safety Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture. Advocates on both sides of the issue have speculated for weeks about which approach the administration would support.
Those calling for a combined food agency were heartened last month when Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that a united agency made sense and that the huge recall of products made with tainted peanuts “is a grand opportunity for us to take a step back and rethink our approach.”
In his address, Mr. Obama announced, as expected, that he would nominate Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, a former New York City health commissioner, to be commissioner of the F.D.A. and would appoint Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the health commissioner in Baltimore, to become the principal deputy commissioner at the F.D.A.
As health commissioner in New York City, “Dr. Hamburg brought new life to a demoralized agency,” Mr. Obama said.
Thirty-five years ago, the F.D.A. did annual inspections of about half of the nation’s food-processing facilities. Last year, the agency inspected just 7,000 of the nearly 150,000 domestic food facilities, and its oversight of foreign plants, which provide a growing share of the nation’s food supply, was even spottier.
Experts have long debated whether the F.D.A. should increase inspections or rely instead on private auditors and more detailed safety rules. By calling the limited number of government inspections an “unacceptable” public health hazard, Mr. Obama came down squarely on the side of increased government inspections.
“Whenever a president uses such strong language, that’s a big, meaningful occurrence,” said William Hubbard, a former F.D.A. associate commissioner who has called for increased food inspections. “I think it’s terrific that attention is being focused on this issue.”
Each year, about 76 million people in the United States are sickened by contaminated food, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and about 5,000 die, public health experts estimate.
The Obama administration’s 2010 budget will propose spending more than $1 billion on food-safety efforts, nearly double the amount spent in 2007. The money will pay for increased inspections, domestic surveillance, laboratory capacity and illness prevention efforts.
The F.D.A. has estimated that inspecting all 150,000 domestic food facilities once every four years would cost $1.9 billion annually. Inspecting the 216,000 foreign food plants registered with the F.D.A. would cost far more.
———————————————————————-
Hhmmmmm..Sounds like the beginnings of this:
HR 875 – CRIMINALIZING ORGANIC AND BACKYARD GARDENING
From The Campaign For Liberty-
HR 875 The food police, criminalizing organic farming and the backyard gardener, and violation of the 10th amendment
HR 875 –
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.875.IH::
This bill is sitting in committee and I am not sure when it is going to hit the floor. One thing I do know is that very few of the Representatives have read it. As usual they will vote on this based on what someone else is saying. Urge your members to read the legislation and ask for opposition to this devastating legislation. Devastating for everyday folks but great for factory farming ops like Monsanto, ADM, Sodexo and Tyson to name a few.
I have no doubt that this legislation was heavily influenced by lobbyists from huge food producers. This legislation is so broad based that technically someone with a little backyard garden could get fined and have their property siezed. It will effect anyone who produces food even if they do not sell but only consume it. It will literally put all independent farmers and food producers out of business due to the huge amounts of money it will take to conform to factory farming methods. If people choose to farm without industry standards such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers they will be subject to a vareity of harassment from this completely new agency that has never before existed. That’s right, a whole new government agency is being created just to police food, for our own protection of course.
DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, READ THIS LEGISLATION FOR YOURSELF. The more people who read this legislation the more insight we are going to get and be able to share. Post your observations and insights below. Urge your members to read this legislation and to oppose the passage of this legislation.
Pay special attention to
Section 3 which is the definitions portion of the bill-read in it’s entirety.
section 103, 206 and 207- read in it’s entirety.
Red flags I found and I am sure there are more………..
Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.
Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word organic.
Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.
Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?
Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
Section 207 requires that the state’s agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.
There are many more but by the time I got this far in the legislation I was so alarmed that I wanted to bring someone’s attention to it. (to the one person who reads my blog)
Didn’t Stalin nationalize farming methods that enabled his administration to gain control over the food supply? Didn’t Stalin use the food to control the people?
Last word…… Legislate religion and enforce gag orders on ministers on what can and can’t be said in the pulpit, instituting regulations forcing people to rely soley on the government, control the money and the food. What is that called? It is on the tip of my tongue……….
I haven’t read any of the Senate’s version of the bill as I have been poring thru the House’s version. Here is the link and I hope some of you can take a look and post your observations and insights below. One thing I am pretty sure of is that very few if any Senator’s have actually read the legislation and when it comes up for a vote they will more than likely take someone else’s word on how they should vote. The other thing I am pretty sure about is that the legislation was probably written by lobbyists and industry experts.
S 425 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s425:
Things you can do
Contact your members at 202-224-3121 and ask them to oppose HR 875 and S 425. While you are at it ask them if they personally have read the legislation and what their position is? If they have not read the legislation ask them to read it and politely let them know that just because other representitives are not reading the legislation and voting on it does not mean they can do the same.
Get in touch with local farmers and food producers by attending a local farmers market and asking them how business is.
Attend a local WAPF meeting, this is a good start to learning about what is going on in farming and local & state initiatives . The website is http://www.westonaprice.org/localchapters/index.html
Check out the Farmers Legal Defense Fund at http://www.ftcldf.org/index.html
Find out who sits on your states agriculture and farming committee and contact them with your concerns.
Continue to contact your elected officials and let them know your position on legislation and why.
Get active at the local and state levels, this is the quickest way to initiate change.
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=12671
Another Link
cosilverado.wordpress.com 