Two articles underscore need to understand the diabolicalness of S510

Feel free to agree or disagree, but please DO NOT dispute this by linking to a fifteen month old paste up of what the law was in Spring Two thousand and NINE. It is now 2010...

There is an adage that the devil is in the details -
And if you examine the shenanighans of the current "Food Safety" law that is being put together in the Senate, a person has to wonder.

From the URL:
WRITTEN BY JAMES GORMLEY
http://thegormleyfiles.blogspot.com/


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.”

<snip>S.B. 510 (which would cost Americans $825 million in 2010 alone) and the House of Representatives version of this bill, H.R. 2749, which did pass, both do not address the root causes of the U.S.’s food safety problems, which were highlighted in both a recent campaign by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) and by a letter to 99 U.S. senators by the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF USA): 1. Current food policies promote and facilitate the consolidation and elimination of independent farmers, artisianal food producers and ranchers and this is inherently dangerous to both food safety and food security.

2. Sound U.S. food safety standards were weakened when Congress bowed to international standards that prohibit it from targeting food safety problems originating in foreign countries with stricter standards — unless Congress first applies the stricter standard to the U.S., regardless of whether the stricter standards are applicable to, or already addressed elsewhere in, the U.S. food production system.

3. Congress’ adoption of the internationally touted HACCP (hazards and risk-assessment-based) food safety system hampers Congress’ ability to ensure that even existing food safety requirements are properly followed.

####End of sourced material from Gormley

Last summer, I talked to A SF Chronicle reporter whose article appeared on the first page of the Chronicle during early June '09. His article and his comments to me detailed how farmers ALREADY are forced by the pressures of the food distributors into plowing up their fields of organic crops simply because some birds landed near the crop. Note: this is not actually MANDATED by law, but merely the pressures of the distributors and purchasers, who are now applying these impossible-to-meet standards to the farmers. And S510 makes that pressure continuous, and government supported. Guidelines may not be law, but that does not mean that we the consumers cannot react to those guidelines., if they seek to destroy a way of life.

The FDA has been hiding behind a smoke screen, responding to any complaints by saying that this is "all about food safety" and "We are working to prevent ANY cases of food poisoning."

But food poisoning most often occurs when food is not stored properly, by the distributors, or the grocery chain, or the person obtaining the food. Putting the small farmer out of business can serve one and only one Master, the large Corporatized, Agri-Farms.

Food Growers to undermine and/or destroy any and all competition on the part of smaller entities.

I have been accused of being a tinfoil hat wearer...but I do so proudly.:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

When I drive through the "farming" regions outside of Sacramento, I am amazed by the stench in the air.

If I did not know better, I would think the area was controlled by paper mills, or auto body shops.

The air smells like a unique and nasty version of turpentine, paint thinner, and other chemicals.

The sky is often yellow with whatever is in those pesticides and herbicides.

And despite the miles and miles of nothing but green things growing, you don't see many birds.

http://www.wsn.org/factoryfarm/hogart.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30461857/
But residents say they have been bothered for years by the fetid smell of the farms. Local health workers intervened in early April, sealing off the town of La Gloria and spraying to kill flies people said were swarming around their homes.

When Associated Press journalists on Monday entered a Granjas Carroll farm that has been the focus of community complaints, the cars were sprayed with water. Victor Ochoa, the general director, required the visitors to shower and don white overalls, rubber boots, goggles and masks and step through disinfectant before entering any of the 18 warehouses where 15,000 pigs are kept.

Ochoa showed the journalists a black plastic lid that covered a swimming pool-size cement container of pig feces to prevent exposure to the outside air.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704266504575142224096848264.html
The plastic liner has since detached from the floor of the stinky, open-air pool, and Mr. Goltstein says he can't afford to repair the liner properly. But he says he's game to pop the bubbles before the manure pool overflows and causes an even bigger stink.

His neighbors aren't happy with the plan.

"If that thing back there blows, God help us all for miles," said Allen Hutchison, whose corn and soybean farm is next door. He and other neighbors worry that puncturing the bubbles could cause an explosion of manure and toxic gases.

Not to worry, said Mr. Goltstein as he stood at the edge of the manure pit, puffing on a cigarette and gazing at the bubbles glistening in the sun. "I have no fear popping them."

When the neighboring Hutchison family first learned the Goltsteins were planning a dairy farm right next door, they worried the operation's manure pool would foul the air or groundwater. Mr. Hutchison petitioned state environmental officials to deny the Goltsteins an operating permit.

It's normal in farm country to see vast brown pools filled with manure slurry from dairy cows or hogs. These lagoons, as they're commonly called, are supposed to safely store animal waste until the manure is sprayed on fields as fertilizer. Federal and state laws govern how the pools are maintained.

I don't want to be hassled about my composting or other gardening techniques. I don't sell any of the food I produce. Small farmers should be left alone.

I am opposed in general to the extreme movement toward abolishing trade barriers. It's just wrong. Countries with few resources will simply end up without even their local food supply to keep their populations alive. Does the word "nation" mean anything any more? I am proud of my country, of my nation. I don't want to live in a world in which the United States is just like very other country, in which our laws are decided beyond our borders. No. No. No. No. No. No to "free" trade. There is nothing free about it.

And may the goddess of organic strawberries and (pears, peaches, grapes) smile on you.

As stupid as that may seem, it's true, and it's dire, in my opinion.

Thanks for posting truedelphi! :toast:

Thanks, I'll join you in the :toast:.

Organic mugwort beer on my end. (Something that disappeared in Europe back in the late Middle Ages. Hops took over, and yes, there was even a physical battle or two fought over it.)

:patriot:

Yeah! :bounce: :applause: :woohoo:

from the OP:


The Corporate Food Production and Delivery System in the US is frighteningly corrupt and contaminated.
Profit DOMINATES, safety is only a secondary concern.

My wife and I felt so strongly about this that we moved to The Woods and started growing our own food.

and giving away surplus to a neighbor?
.
What about giving it away to a food bank?
.
What about "selling" eggs to a neighbor for chicken feed (literally)?