Monsanto's dream bill, HR 875 - This is scary folks

[sunwyn]

Everyone needs to read up on this bill. The more I research, the worse it seems. Here's the link to the oped piece:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-s-dream-bill-HR-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090309-337.html

[Lorien]

1. If everyone needs to read up on it, then why not post it and a synopsis in GD?

I didn't even know that this forum existed!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. All the hip kitties are in the Rural/Farm forum.

[Lorien]

6. Not a great allure for those of us who live in the shadow of skyscrapers. nt

[SpiralHawk]

21. There is a burgeoning Urban Farming movement happening

Here's a starting point - City Farmer News

http://www.cityfarmer.info/

[FLAprogressive]

2. there are some really good congresspeople sponsoring it though...I hope they have not betrayed us

Jim McDermott, Peter DeFazio.....

[billyoc]

3. HR 875, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto.

OK, then. :eyes:

[peacetalksforall]

5. This is despicable. It's been a long time since I wrote that NO ONE is representing

me.

This is a repulsive bill. This is government encroachment into humanity.

I am simply and plainly so disgusted that I'm tearing up.

DemCORPcrats - traitor-betrayors. Crap on them.

Mponsanto of all people. I wish I could move to CT to vote her body out of COngress.

And other DEMS are going to back it?

Absolutely terrible - we are God forsaken laboratory freaks.

[truedelphi]

9. Wish I could hand you a hankie, but I am using mine

We as a nation are so happy that Fascist-Totalitarian nightmare known as Cheney/Bush is gone, that we celebrate Corporatist Obama's election.

Never mind how he is propping up the banks while destroying We the People, and doing it w/ our dime.

His choice of Velsick as man to head Agriculture Department hits hard at the ideals and hopes of those of us who desperately wished for Obama to progressive.

And the continued Bad Dream of Empowering Monsanto by Democrats is disgusting.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Hold on here for a sec.

let's all calmly go to govtrack.us and from there we can track the bill to see if it ever makes it out of committee.
and find out who the committee members are, how to join in on any push back against the bill.

Remember that very few bills get out of committee.

K?

[truedelphi]

10. Given Obama's sorry choice for the Ag Dept

I think we can find ourselves being afraid, being very very afraid.

[Cha]

11. Sorry to burst in with some positive news..

<snip>

"Pres. Obama has tapped Kathleen Merrigan, an academic and former congressional aide who helped write federal organic food-labeling rules, to be deputy agriculture secretary. The White House announced the pick yesterday, drawing cheers from food-safety advocates, who have pushed for more stringent labeling regs.

"Merrigan will bring an excellent perspective to a number of troublesome labeling issues now before the agency," Jean Halloran, Consumers Union's director of food policy initiatives, said in a statement. Among the matters that need to be addressed, she said: loopholes in the current "grass fed" standard, lack of uniformity in meat marketing claims, defining "raised without antibiotics" label claims, and weaknessesantibiotics" label claims, and weaknesses in the current definition of "naturally raised."


<read more>
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=kathleen-merrigan-organic-foods-exp-2009-02-24

[truedelphi]

12. No, I'll take it. I'll take any and all positive news that comes down the pike.

So big thanks to you for that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. She..."helped write federal organic food-labeling rules,"

I had a one woman 15 acre organic farm for 10 years, back in the late 70's and early 80's.
The "organic" and "natural food" movement was doing a renaissance, and one of the problems we ran into was when the Feds. ( Reagan, anyone?) decided to head off people power by co-opting the definition of organic and writing rules that watered down all meaning to the term.
Thus we got "the matters that need to be addressed" as stated above.
So..I will watch and see whose side she is on.

[Cha]

15. Please do, as will all of us

who don't mansanto screwing up our country and our Planet.

I've had good results with Organic Produce labeling in California.

[truedelphi]

26. The thing about the scene in California is that

As a state, we went ahead with this great Proposition, Prop 65. That Proposition means that if there is a chemical that is deemed to be carcinogenic, it gets put on the "Prop 65" list and you are warned that what you are buying has that chemical in it. You also get MSDS sheets if a "Prop 65" chem is being used at your workplace.

Even gasoline stations have little signs posted up letting you know about the gas.

Since we were the first state to go ahead and do that, we succeeded. Industry was blindsided - they never thought that groups of activists could handle having it become law.

So although Industry couldn't undo "Prop 65" they could go around to other states and STOP their activities in trying to replicate our success with Prop 65. As far as I know, industry was successful in stopping all the other states from having such a good law.

This has given a greater deal of ease with much of what goes on politically in this state. We aren't fighting some awful-er problem - that is something that Prop 65 does for us. So we can, as activists, see to it that our organic standards remain very high here. Blessed be to those Goddesses that watched over all of it!

[Cha]

28. That's so much for that

info, truedelphi~

[Grinchie]

30. Thats what I thought at first, but the Bill is actually a good one.

Try reading it.

[Why Syzygy]

22. Here's the tracker page >

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-875

ETA: ORWELLIAN! "Safety" "Modernization" "Protect" !!!

H.R. 875:
111th Congress

Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.

[glinda]

24. Can someone keep us up to date and actions by posting?

[Downtown Hound]

8. K & R!

[soothsayer]

14. death to monsatan!

[barbtries]

16. some paragraphs:

HR 875, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto.

The bill is monstrous on level after level - the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international "industrial" standards to independent farms - the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.

The corporations want the land, they want more intensive industrialization, they want the end of normal animals so they can substitute patented genetically engineered ones they own, they want the end of normal seeds and thus of seed banking by farmers or individuals. They want control over all seeds, animals, water, and land.

[crikkett]

20. there's no criminalization of seed banking in this bill that I see.

But I also don't see any protections for small farms.

[barbtries]

23. i tried to read the bill last night

it is hard, so big, so much legalese. i finally gave up and just looked for the word "farm" in it, and i think the "criminalization" may lie in the bill's defining any farm the same as a corporate farm and the threat of levying penalties and fines etc that would put a small independent farmer out of business. best guess.

[greenbird]

25. I read it too

and I think I need help to see what exactly it is that is scaring people. I wish someone on this board could walk me through what exactly is threatening the small farmer (which I am). I am reading posts that claim that it means the end of farmer's markets and farm stands and CSAs. I'm willing to admit that I might be dense, but I don't find the language that addresses this. I'd appreciate any help anyone wants to give . . .

[Grinchie]

32. This bill scares the hell out of Big Ag. Food Industy can't fight it overtly,

Without looking like complete monsters, because they all see the writing on the wall that People want accountability.

They are trying to create a giant grassroot movement of outrage, from people that don't care to actually read the bill, and prefer that other people actually make their decisions for them.

As an Organic farmer, I see nothing in here that even comes close to the Rage producing rhetoric being flung about the Web in regards to 875.

The only Rage I see is in the Boardrooms of Kraft, Hershey's, Frito-Lay, Colgate-Palmolive, Altria, Happy Fun Foods, Peanut Corporation of America, Cargill, ADM, the pesticide and herbicide manufacturers, Processors that mixed peanut, soy, and grains, etc. Those are what defines Food Establishments. Food Production Facilities are Farms, Orchards, Vineyards, Aquaculture ... They are listed in item 14 under Exclusions.

Don't take my word for it. Go read it.

For those that presumabely search for "Farm" in the bill, what kind of browser you using Lol.

[jmowreader]

37. Section 208 (Imports) is real scary to a big producer

It requires food (in this bill, the ingredients in a prepared food item have the same standing as the item itself does) imported from overseas to meet the same safety standards as American-made foods. Every DUer should be overjoyed that finally China is being held accountable for its shitty products. Instead there is great resistance.

I wouldn't like Section 210 (traceability) much either, especially if I received bulk commodities. They won't be able to just dump the new shipment on top of the old one in the silo anymore.

Now as for the complaints that this will stunt CSA...Section 401 (prohibited acts) reads, at least to me, like it's restricted to interstate commerce. IIRC the whole idea behind CSA was to reduce interstate commerce by growing food locally. Yes, some CSA crosses state lines--there's an EXTREMELY nice farmers market in Lumberton, NC, that's close enough to the NC/SC state line people from both states sell and shop there. OTOH, a farmers market in Raleigh, which is more central, is going to see traffic almost exclusively from North Carolina.

[Grinchie]

31. You're repeating the Hook line. It's a diversion

How about posting the source, because I've seen that same set of paragraphs plastered all over the web.

Notice that their is nothing regarding any language actually found in the bill.

The language used in the quoted text is quite inflammatory, don't you think? Any sheeple reading that would want to stampede along with the pack.

[ProgrezivIndie]

17. k&r n/t

[barbtries]

18. kicking again

because i think it is really important.

[OneBlueSky]

19. some day -- soon, I hope -- someone is going to investigate Monsanto . . .

and uncover all of the illegal things they are doing relative to GM crops and farmers who don't want any part of them . . . I do hope Obama's Departments of Agriculture and Justics will get hopping on this as one of their highest priorities . . .

[truedelphi]

27. Do you know that originally Monsanto had

Formaldehyde in its formula for RoundUp? They lied through their teeth to get
that product's original licensing back in the early 1970's. As flimsy as consumer protections are, if the EPA at that time had known formaldehyde was part of the mix, they would have never allowed for consumers who were NOT certified pesticide applicators to buy the $hit.

RoundUp probably still has some type of aldehyde in its mix. Otherwise, how can the glyphosate be anything other than a solid cake? It takes some type of aldehyde product to liquify the glyphosate.

[jmowreader]

38. It's not formaldehyde anymore...

It's polyoxyethyleneamine, which is a polyethylene glycol.

[Grinchie]

33. They will soon. Monsanto is embedded into the goverment very deeply, but..

Bill H.R. 875 is the first step in accountability to get real scientific data regarding GMO's and other adulterants present in our food supply.

I was shocked to see that this bill would be under Health and Human Services, and take key labs and research entities away from the FDA. Then I came to the conclusion that this is natarul if we really want to track ilness associated with food borne pathogens or chemicals.

FDA is broken, and this looks like it has a chance to break away from the good ole boy structure that has failed so miserably. I think this is why we are seeing such a high profile, very expensive opposition to this bill. The want it to appear like grassroots opposition, but in reality it's the big ag hiring a bunch of slick marketeers to make it look like it will harm the farmer, which it does not.

[Grinchie]

29. Scare mongering from the scared shitless Big Agribusiness

As an organic farmer, I see nothing in here that would affect me. However, I see lots of language that would add accountability to the Big Ag interests that refine out food into inedible, yet tasty nuggets. This bill would put the Corn Refinaers Association on the hook for Mercury found in HFCS. It would put Monsanto on the hook for scientific studies regarding the safety of long term exposure to BT toxin or Roundup ready corn. It would put all of BioTech accountable for Antibiotic resistant traits jumping from GMO food into normally harmless gut bacteria.

One thing stands out, it that their is a concerted effort to gather as many sheep to oppose this bill, utilyzing a massive amount of money whose source has yet to be determined.

I for one think this is a good bill. The regulation is written in easy to understand, clear concise language that anyone can understand, and not written in Post Doctorate college legalese. This is why the opponents in the Big Agribusiness are trying to shape opinion through the Organic farmers and Monsanto enemies.

Don't fall for it. Ask questions on where these reports are coming from. Why do all of these anti-h.r. 875 look like they are cobbled together by amateurs, yet they all basically repeat the same talking points. Why so many in such a short period of time?

Something stinks here, and I urge people to try and find out the source of the money for all this. I have been trying, and they have hidden it in a slick, viral video campaign, a concentrated Blog disgorgement of portions of the Bill taken out to context, designed to enrage anyone.

We need to expose this campaign, because it will do more to destroy the big intersts that manipulate our food supply than it would if they just came out and said "We don't like it because it would cost Big Business Time, resources and money to ensure their product is safe and unadulterated."

Open your eyes and recognise this manipulation, and respond to it appropriately. Don't be led by anonymous posters. Talk to your local farmers, and see what they think.

I for one see nothing other than much needed oversight of the Food Industry. The farmer is basically left alone to do his thing.

[greenbird]

34. Food and Water Watch's Statement on this bill:

Food & Water Watch’ s Statement on H.R. 875 and the Food Safety Bills
The dilemma of how to regulate food safety in a way that prevents problems caused by industrialized agriculture but doesn’t wipe out small diversified farms is not new and is not easily solved. And as almost constant food safety problems reveal the dirty truth about the way much of our food is produced, processed and distributed, it’s a dilemma we need to have serious discussion about.

Most consumers never thought they had to worry about peanut butter and this latest food safety scandal has captured public attention for good reason – a CEO who knowingly shipped contaminated food, a plant with holes in the roof and serious pest problems, and years of state and federal regulators failing to intervene.

It’s no surprise that Congress is under pressure to act and multiple food safety bills have been introduced.

Two of the bills are about traceability for food (S.425 and H.R. 814). These present real issues for small producers who could be forced to bear the cost of expensive tracking technology and recordkeeping.

The other bills address what FDA can do to regulate food.


A lot of attention has been focused on a bill introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (H.R. 875), the Food Safety Modernization Act. And a lot of what is being said about the bill is misleading.

Here are a few things that H.R. 875 DOES do:

-It addresses the most critical flaw in the structure of FDA by splitting it into 2 new agencies –one devoted to food safety and the other devoted to drugs and medical devices.

-It increases inspection of food processing plants, basing the frequency of inspection on the risk of the product being produced – but it does NOT make plants pay any registration fees or user fees.

-It does extend food safety agency authority to food production on farms, requiring farms to write a food safety plan and consider the critical points on that farm where food safety problems are likely to occur.

-It requires imported food to meet the same standards as food produced in the U.S.

And just as importantly, here are a few things that H.R. 875 does NOT do:

-It does not cover foods regulated by the USDA (beef, pork, poultry, lamb, catfish.)

-It does not establish a mandatory animal identification system.

-It does not regulate backyard gardens.

-It does not regulate seed.

-It does not call for new regulations for farmers markets or direct marketing arrangements.

-It does not apply to food that does not enter interstate commerce (food that is sold across state lines).

-It does not mandate any specific type of traceability for FDA-regulated foods (the bill does instruct a new food safety agency to improve traceability of foods, but specifically says that recordkeeping can be done electronically or on paper.)


Several of the things not found in the DeLauro can be found in other bills – like H.R. 814, the Tracing and Recalling Agricultural Contamination Everywhere Act, which calls for a mandatory animal identification system, or H.R. 759, the Food And Drug Administration Globalization Act, which overhauls the entire structure of FDA. H.R. 759 is more likely to move through Congress than H.R. 875. And H.R. 759 contains several provisions that could cause problems for small farms and food processors:

-It extends traceability recordkeeping requirements that currently apply only to food processors to farms and restaurants – and requires that recordkeeping be done electronically.

-It calls for standard lot numbers to be used in food production.

-It requires food processing plants to pay a registration fee to FDA to fund the agency’s inspection efforts.

-It instructs FDA to establish production standards for fruits and vegetables and to establish Good Agricultural Practices for produce.

There is plenty of evidence that one-size-fits-all regulation only tends to work for one size of agriculture – the largest industrialized operations. That’s why it is important to let members of Congress know how food safety proposals will impact the conservation, organic, and sustainable practices that make diversified, organic, and direct market producers different from agribusiness. And the work doesn’t stop there – if Congress passes any of these bills, the FDA will have to develop rules and regulations to implement the law, a process that we can’t afford to ignore.

But simply shooting down any attempt to fix our broken food safety system is not an approach that works for consumers, who are faced with a food supply that is putting them at risk and regulators who lack the authority to do much about it.

You can read the full text of any of these bills at http://thomas.loc.gov

___________________________
Sarah Alexander
Senior Food Organizer
Food & Water Watch

1616 P St. NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
[e-mail]
www.foodandwaterwatch.org

It seems to me that we're concentrating our outrage on the wrong bill!

[Grinchie]

35. The traceability requirement is what we call an Invoice.

I use it to find out who and where my product was sold. I print the invoice myself on a 99 dollar printer, using MS Access and a database I wrote myself. Total cost, almost negligable.

It also creates an Accreditation system for laboratories that perform food safety tests, which place accountability on the labs, and probably would have prevented Test Result Shopping that was discovered in the Peanut Corporation of America debacle late last year.

I just finished reading the bill, and it looks good to me. It just makes me want to find out where the original talking points, viral videos, and backing is coming from. When we find that information out, their are going to be some embarrassed Lobbiest/Corporations out their ready to be eviscerated when people learn how they attempted to manipulate perception via boldfaced lies!!

You know, like Bush did to start the war in Iraq.

[jmowreader]

36. Any time I see "Monsanto" and "HR 875" in the same story I scream BULLSHIT!!!

Monsanto doesn't make food. They don't grow food. They make frankenseeds and Roundup, neither of which are regulated by this bill.

HR 875 would scare the shit out of me if I was ConAgra or Kraft. They're going to be required to track every lot of every ingredient in every product they make.

The primary source of faux outrage against this bill is coming from Ron Paul's libertarian group. The bill itself, if you choose to read it, isn't bad. It could be better--its penalties need to be able to pierce the corporate veil, so food company directors can be sent to jail for allowing food that kills people to leave the plant. As it stands, though, it's something I think we can live with.