Posted by Andrew Ward on 03/11/10 Last updated 03/11/10
Yesterday, I joined Deborah Stockton, President of the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (NICFA), and Joel Salatin, author of the wildly popular "Everything I Want to Do is Illegal," in lobbying our senators to vote against S.510, the so-called "Food Safety Modernization Act."
We were not alone. Many other consumers and producers of local foods spoke with their representatives about the dangers and consequences of granting the FDA even more power over the food "industry," which would undoubtedly put an unfair burden on the suppliers of arguably the most healthy food in America.
S.510 gives sweeping new powers to the inefficient FDA to invade local farms if they have "reason to believe" a food-borne illness exists, and quarantine or shut the farm down. An FDA agent could decide that raw milk, for instance, was "adulterated" or "misbranded," and that therefore the farm should be shut down. On top of that, the bill would also apply strict internationalist standards, which include the slaughterhouse-destroying HAACP and International Plant Protection Convention's burdensome "Pest Free" standard, to small farms. In short, it's the Patriot Act of Foods, and will bring unabsorbable regulations to small restaurants, farmers, and individual producers of food.
The belief from Congress seems to be that everyone involved with food needs to be regulated by the government in order to reduce the risk of mass amounts of people getting sick. What they don't seem to understand is that the farmer to consumer system is already regulated by a market that thrives on reputation instead of a rubber stamp by government bureaucrats. If there is ever an issue with the food, the consumer goes directly to the intermediary or farmer, and the problem is resolved. The suppliers are held accountable by their clientele who are naturally in a position of power.
Contrast this kind of decentralized, consumer-driven regulation with the political FDA monopoly, which tends to let barely-tested drugs and foods through, while barring potential life-saving products from entry into the larger market. In the government's monopolized system of regulation there isn't substantial accountability, and producers of harmful products and foods have less incentive to ensure that what they are supplying to the public is safe.
Well, the Utopian mindset of Congress-persons was certainly on display yesterday, but progress was made to convince many well-meaning statists that their laws were at best ineffective, and at worst destructive to localities. A reception full of delicious restaurant-prepared local and farmer food was held after the hours of lobbying, and Congressman Ron Paul was kind enough to speak to the large crowd of activists and congressional staffers about liberty and health freedom. It was overall a very productive lobbying day, and many minds were open to alternatives to government regulation as the answer to our health and safety woes.
Despite existing corporatist laws on the books that make it difficult for small time growers and suppliers of food to survive, the market for unsterilized, unpasteurized, organic farmer food is skyrocketing. From the looks of it, this "well-intended" piece of legislation is aimed at crippling these grassroots markets to the delight of giant international food conglomerates. So even if you are not (yet) a producer or consumer of these foods, please take the time to contact your senatorsand tell them to oppose S.510, the anti-farmer, anti-locality Food Sterlization Act.
There is also The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, HR 2749. It will allow the FDA to go to people's homes and tell them what they can and can not grow according to where they live and what time of the year it is.
The FDA should leave the small local farmers alone and go after the corporations who put their bottom line ahead of safety and import food that can and should be grown here in the U.S. as it used to be.
I can no longer find apple juice in my local supermarket that does not contain concentrate from China, most of the seafood is farm-raised in China, most of the garlic is now coming from China, etc., etc. - and China is one of the most polluted countries in world because the U.S. has outsourced most of the manufacturing sector to China. Is there no longer any common sense in our trade laws,our government regulatory agencies, and in our government in general?
Great post! One of my big issues is government regulation of small farms, especially in Florida, resulting in these great farms closing shop and more and more food being imported, especially great tropical fruits, and even ridiculously tomatoes, which are grown in Florida all winter, coming from South America and Central America, just because that's where the big companies like Dole can establish themselves at lowest cost, and as a result our pocket books and quality of food take a beating. I hope that we can deregulate this market to save the wonderful farms in South Florida that grow fruits that nowhere else in the lower 48 states can, thus improving our nutrition, the livelihood of the farmers, and our economy.
Posted by Andrew Ward on 03/09/10 Last updated 03/09/10
For a window into the possible future of U.S. domestic policy, I make sure to "monitor" the flamboyantly Orwellian policies of the United Kingdom. Here's the latest from British Brother:
All dogs are to be compulsorily microchipped so that their owners can be more easily traced under a crackdown on dangerous dogs to be unveiled today.
The idea, as home secretary Alan Johnson put it, is to ensure the public's right to feel safe in their homes and on the street. Here is the proposal that will allegedly make Britains feel safer:
Under the scheme a microchip the size of a grain of rice is injected under the skin of the dog between its shoulder blades. The chip contains a unique code number, the dog's name, age, breed and health as well as the owner's name, address and phone number. When the chip is "read" by a handheld scanner the code number is revealed and the details can be checked on a national database.
Why don't they just cut to the chase and try chipping the owners? Or better yet, chip everyone just in case they might have thoughts about owning a poodle.
I am against anything compulsory, but this isn't horribly bad. The chips cannot be scanned remotely or discretely, and your dog is likely to be found at your house, so it's not like they're gaining too much personal info on you. If it had like your SSN, etc. then it'd be a little ridiculous.
It is, of course, a slippery slope.
I voluntarily put one of these chips in my dog. It helps find thousands of owners every year.
No it's not horribly bad meambobbo, but the point is that the government is compiling huge data bases on every citizen even if you have done nothing wrong, so much so that privacy no longer exists. Information collected from traffic cameras, security CCTV, garbage can microchips, and even dog chips does not just disappear, it winds up in a data base. If you want the government to know everything about you fine, but I think the trend in that direction should be strongly resisted by every citizen.
What a delight to see this in my paper this morning. Thank you, Des Moines Register!
This "Register Exclusive" is featured prominently in the Opinion section and includes a color photo of Congressman Paul and is underscored by a big photo from 1995 showing circus elephants walking in front of the U.S. Capitol marking the final week of House votes on the "Contract with America".
I'm thrilled that Iowans have another opportunity to hear Dr. Paul's important message.
Go you Hawkeye C4L'ers!!! Any word on when you are hosting a Regional Conference?
Will have to have my Mom keep copies of the DSMReg for the next few days to see the rebuttals.
As a college student, I must say that this panel of students prior to Dr Paul was full of neoconservatives that do not represent the young people. Why wasn't Jeff Frazee on the panel to truly represent liberty? Many of these kids bat around the word freedom like a baseball, with apparently no basis in facts. They are saying freedom and liberty like they used to say 9/11...
That comment from that lady who seemed drunk along the lines of 'don't you wish these people could be our czars' just reminded me how much I hate the mainstream conservative movement.
@Heffy - Also the lady introducing the student speakers said that we should give these people a hand because in the future will 'run the world'. Really? Is that something you say at a conservative/liberty forum.
Anyway Dr. Paul's speech was GREAT. He really had passion behind what he was saying. The crowd did a fantastic job cheering for for Dr. Paul and for LIBERTY!
This was the best I've seen Ron. He was fired up yet still seemingly a little restrained... Or at least a bit more restrained than me since the jeff corba guy pissed me off.
Ron Paul telling the truth once more. It got a bit in depth with his views which my family sees rarely. I loved that there were so many Ron Paul supporters and I bet it's because of him that 10,000 people where there.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson
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