HR 875: Come Out of Your Garden with Your Hands UP!!
2 Comments Published by Seamus Ford May 4th, 2009 in Commentary, Passion, Politics/Voting.
Just at a time when local agriculture is becoming ever more important to our future, we have proposed legislation introduced by big agri-business under the guise of food safety. The recent outbreaks of salmonella and other food-borne illnesses from spinach, tomatoes and peanuts have created a fear for the safety of the food supply. Just like the months following the attacks of 9/11 we are ready to fall into a reactionary tailspin. This hysteria has created a window of opportunity for Monsanto and other agri-business giants to create HR 875. This legislation if passed in its present form would make it incredibly difficult for small organic farms (one of the few growth areas of the economy presently) to thrive or even exist. Additionally it would severely restrict who can possess heirloom seeds, including the backyard gardener.
See the bill for your self: HR 875: The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.
To put this bill in perspective be reminded of two pieces of Cousin legislation and some of their long term impacts:
1) The Patiot Act (Unwarrented wiretapping of US citizens)
2) The Securities Modernization Act (Credit Default Swaps and the roots of our current economic crisis)
The Patriot Act
The great irony of this is that the recent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses are more likely the result of the massive industrial scale of modern agriculture. We are rushing to protect food safety and creating a risk to our food security.
There is a real lack of logic in the regulation proposed in this bill. This bill seeks to highly regulate the way that food is grown, in some cases mandating the use of chemicals and unsustainable industrial techniques. It paves the way for even bigger mono-cultures that are even more vulnerable to crop failure and disease that will result from climate change. The most logical way to ensure food safety AND security is to get as many people farming as possible growing as diverse a range of crops as possible. This is vital as the price of energy continues to climb putting more and more pressure of food production to localize.
Don’t let this be the Patriot Act on our food supply .
For all of you readers In Jan Schakowsky’s congressional district in Chicago, please contact her right away as she is currently a cosponsor of HR 875 and sees it as a beneficial bill. If you’re not in her district, please contact your own Congressperson to see what their position is – you might be surprised.
For a fascinating article on what Monsanto’s been up to, check out last year’s Earth Day issue of Vanity Fair (April 2008).
What is truth? Check out “Crooks and Liars” http://crooksandliars.com/nonny-mouse/monsanto-and-hr-875-take-two
There you will find the following and more:
There is no language in HR 875 that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens or ‘criminalize’ gardeners; the bill focuses on ensuring the safety of food in interstate commerce.
Farmer’s markets would not be regulated, fined, or shut down, and would, in fact, benefit from strict safety standards applied to imported food to ensure that unsafe imported food doesn’t compete with locally grown produce.