vvicked0471

Well, H.R. 875 the "Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009", could very well put an end to that.

This bill was introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), whose husband (Stanley Greenburg) works for Monsanto, the largest manufacturer of genetically engineered (GE) seeds, as well as herbicides and pesticides. Let's face it, organic farmers have no use for Monsanto products.

You can read the full text of this bill here. It has been currently referred to committee, specifically to the House Energy and Commerce and the House Agriculture committee's.

If this bill were passed it would create an organization called the Food Safety Administration, whose purpose is listed in the full text of the bill.

This bill has the ability to put organic farmers out of business in two ways:

1.) The Food Safety Administration will have the responsibility to ensure that farmers are doing all they can to prevent the spread of food borne illnesses. This means using some pesticides and herbicides, as well as GE seeds that are resistant to disease and pests.

2.) Burying small farms and organic farmers with paperwork that farms owned by large corporations can handle, while their competition cannot.

The text of the bill states that the FSA would be responsible for regulating commerce of these foods, including interstate commerce, meaning that they can place restrictions on even those with small home gardens that sell at flea markets, or even those who sell to their neighbors.

You can dismiss this as mere speculation if you like, however, the glaring conflict of interest with the sponsor of this bill should be enough to cast doubt over it's intentions. Also, do we really need another government entity (the FSA) that will have to much power and funding with precious little oversight?

How much will this cost the taxpayers, and where is the need for it?

How many deaths occur annually due to organic farming?

Again, here is the overview of the bill: Link

The full text: Link

How to contact your Representatives: Link

Below is the letter I wrote to my representative. Use it as a benchmark, make fun of it, do whatever you like with it. Though, if you feel as strongly as I do about this, please take a few minutes to contact your representative...

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If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?

5drive

Monsanto has been responsible for more toxic products than any other company.

I'm sure the FSA will do the same great job of protecting the public that the FDA is doing.

If we want good, safe organic products, we have to be willing to pay more and support the small farmers who will provide a safe product so they can stay in business. The problems will come, IMO, from the corporate farms who aren't interested in safety and quality, just profit.

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KillerWeed420

Monsanto needs to be put out of business. Them and the farmers dumb enough to use there products have been poisoning people for decades. Probably the single most cause of death in America. Cancer causing chemicals in everything you eat now a days.

macphearsome

this makes me sick. I wish I could vote in the US...

I can't think of anything that makes me more angry than how far removed we have become from our food, and how people get away with stupid bullshit like this.

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"What if I want more than the pale facsimile of fulfillment brought by a parade of ever-fancier toys? To spend my life restlessly producing instead of sedately consuming? Is there an app for that?" - xkcd

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marcusJay

Hey peeps, time for a reality check. There is going to be 7 billion hungry people kicking around on this planet real soon and its going to take companies like Monsanto to come up with low cost and effective fertilizers and pesticides and GM plants to help feed all those poor bastards. Organic farming won't cut it. And yes... Soylent Green IS made out of people.

macphearsome

That would be great if I believed for a second that Monsanto had such lofty ambitions as feeding the world.

troublemaker_42

No, organic food won't likely be mass-produced in quantities needed to feed tjhe world's population. That much I agree with. However, the CHOICE of using/gowing organic foods SHOULD NOT be taken away. I don't need govt mandates telling me what they feel I should eat or grow in my garden. I don't want to see and end to buying oh-so-delicious sweetcorn out of the bed of someone's truck for .25 an ear. We don't need yet another choice taken away from me. I'm just waiting for the next piece of legislation that says I can't east wild game because of the potential for lead posioning. With this admininstration, and a regulatory czar who is a raving lunatic of an animal right's activist, I see the potential for such mundane and usless bills being raised for consideration. Cass Sunstein has already made his disdain for sport hunting known, and by eliminating the food aspect of hunting... well,then theres the argument hunting is simply supporitng "bloodlust" and has no other reason for existing..... which is ENTIRELY untrue, as hunting aids the control of wildlife populations, and the money earned from hunting licenses and such contributes far more annually to conservation effots than groups like PETA could ever dream of. Hunting is sporting, it controls populations, prevents starving and disease, and provides lean, low fat proteins. Of course, this is all of little consequence to Cass Sunstein. Don't know his views? Look them up, opr see my post in the politics thread...and be prepared to be flabbergasted as to how somoene like this wound up in a high level federal position....further evidence of the "leftizination" of America

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Ted Nugent: "To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic."


If total government control equals safety, why are prisons so dangerous?

marcusJay

Thats coming down the pipeline any day now. As the Liberals would say..."Its for your own good."

macphearsome

which liberals? isn't the liberal creed that everybody should be free to make their own personal decisions?

Darkflan

The corptocracy strikes again

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[darkflan] Old friend from a printshop I work at, he owns his own business now and was talking about hiring me
[darkflan] then i asked him if he knew where to get some good buds