Q: Would a new bill in Congress make my backyard organic garden illegal?

A: A House bill proposes to split the Food & Drug Administration, creating a separate entity to oversee food safety. Its aimed at food sold in supermarkets and doesn’t say anything about organic gardening, pesticides, farmers markets or that tomato plant in your backyard.

FULL QUESTION

This one keeps hitting my inbox.

Hello friends and fellow citizens,

⬐ Click to expand/collapse the full text ⬏

< = =text/>expand(document.getElementById('eet1006047972'));expand(document.getElementById('eetlink1006047972')) BEWARE THE FOOD POLICE! HR 875/S425
IT WOULD NATIONALIZE FARMING- DESTROY ORGANICS- EVEN ATTACK YOUR PRIVATE
GARDEN!

I just stumbled on some pretty disturbing legislation coming out of the Congress of the United States. The bill is HR 875 and it’s labeled as the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. At first glance it didn’t seem like much. However, there are several, including exposing some pretty scary legislation enclosed in the bill.
In the midst of the financial crisis, it seems that these initiatives are sliding in under the radar. Many people are not even aware of them-
It is imperative that you look into this immediately and with extreme scrutiny as our heath and well-being are threatened!!! If this bill passes, you can say goodbye to organic produce, your Local Farmer’s market and very possibly, the GARDEN IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD!!!!!
Things we are finding in the bill:
* Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word organic.
* Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
* Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
* Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.
* Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?
* Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
* Section 207 requires that the state’s agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.
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.

I encourage you to look into this immediately and help remove this bizarre piece of legislation.

FULL ANSWER

Talk about Internet hysteria. This bill, H.R. 875, introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), has sparked chain e-mails, blog postings and other exclamation-point-filled rants (like the one above), claiming that the legislation targets organic farmers, benefits manufacturers of genetically engineered seeds, and threatens to uproot backyard vegetable gardens across the country. It doesn’t.

DeLauro introduced H.R. 875, called the Food Safety Modernization Act, on Feb. 4, and it was promptly referred to House committees. There’s no indication as to when it may be brought to the floor for consideration, despite what some blog posts maintain. The stated purpose of the bill is “to establish an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services to be known as the ‘Food Safety Administration,’ " which would oversee food safety and labeling in the U.S., creating a single government entity in charge of preventing food-borne illnesses. DeLauro’s press release announcing the legislation, introduced after the peanut butter salmonella outbreak in the U.S., said that “FDA would be split into an agency responsible for food safety (the Food Safety Administration) and another responsible for regulation of drugs and devices. This move creates an agency solely focused on protecting the public through better regulation of the food supply.”

The bill has 41 cosponsors and has been endorsed by major food and consumer safety organizations, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Food & Water Watch, and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit organization that advocates for clean water and safe food and is headed by a woman who used to work for Public Citizen, the consumer group founded by Ralph Nader. It has posted a fact sheet on H.R. 875 on its site, disputing rumors about "food police."

The legislation stipulates that the new FSA (Food Safety Administration) would set safety regulations for food establishments and "food production facilities" and would be able to inspect such facilities. Its regulations also would pertain to imported foods. The e-mail posted above and others say that the definition of "food production facility" is so broad that it could include backyard gardens. The bill says: "The term ‘food production facility’ means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation." It seems quite a stretch to think that anyone’s personal vegetable patch would be considered a "farm, ranch or orchard." First Lady Michelle Obama showed no signs of concern last week as she broke ground on a sizable 1,100-foot garden plot on the White House lawn. Organic, of course.

The e-mail above argues that DeLauro’s bill "[e]ffectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word organic." We’re not sure how exactly a bill would criminalize something it doesn’t mention, but the e-mail is correct in that the word "organic" is nowhere to be found. Another Internet posting more alarmingly claims: "Bill will require organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency to ‘make sure there is no danger to the public food supply.’ " But the quoted phrase isn’t in this bill. Nor is there any mention of chemical versus organic fertilizers or "poisonous insect sprays," or, for that matter, pesticides in general.

The only mention of fertilizers we could find was this, requiring that the FSA create regulations to: "include, with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water." The idea that "fertilizer use" would not include organic fertilizers is pure speculation well beyond what the legislation calls for.

Also, organic farming is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under its "National Organic Program," not the FDA.

And It Gets Even More Hysterical

E-mails and blog postings claim that the agricultural giant Monsanto will benefit greatly from the bill; some say the often-protested company was the main lobbyist, and still others say DeLauro’s husband "works for Monsanto." He doesn’t.

DeLauro’s spouse, Stanley Greenberg, is chairman and CEO of Greenberg-Quinlan Research Inc., a public issues research and polling firm. The company does surveys. And public relations work. Monsanto was one of the firm’s clients. Greenberg is a pollster, not a lobbyist or a Monsanto employee, and he just released a memoir on his life as a pollster to five world leaders, including Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela.

Also, there is nothing in the bill about "GPS tracking" of animals, as the e-mail above states, and not a peep about "seed banking."

Small Farm Concern

Small farmers, however, may well have concerns about this bill. Food & Water Watch’s fact sheet acknowledges that there’s always a worry that government regulation of food production will adversely affect small farms, which can’t absorb the possible costs of abiding by regulation as easily as big food producers can. "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," the site says. It goes on to say that other bills, not H.R. 875, that have been introduced could create problems for small operations, such as one that requires electronic record-keeping and registration fees with the FDA.

Another group called the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, which supports "sustainable farming and direct farm-to-consumer transactions," raises several concerns about DeLauro’s legislation and how it could affect small farms and in particular, producers of raw milk, which the FDA has declared to be unfit for consumption. But the group states that "much of what has circulated the internet is not accurate," and nowhere in its criticism of the legislation does it say organic farming would be outlawed or home gardeners would face regulations.

We suppose in the grand realm of all that’s possible, or more likely a futuristic B movie, federal bureaucrats could decide that public safety calls for inspections of every backyard garden in the nation, leading everyday citizens to surreptitiously cultivate tomato plants in a closet with a sunlamp, lest they get busted by the cops. But we kinda doubt it.

– by Lori Robertson

Full disclosure: The author has an organic vegetable garden.

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/03/illegal-backyard-garden/

 

Where to get money for the "Free" Health Plan you ask?  Simple
You ask the same people who financed  Barak Husane Abama election campaign  
to pay for the health plan

reality check wrote: If the FDA wants to get on top of this maybe they could look at Salmonella and E. Coli rates in eggs and meat and get that problem fixed first. JMHO.  They don't have enough people to work on the big issues. Thanks for listening! D

[/QUOTE]

Try this on for size...

According to numerous published stories and reports, Taubenberger stated that he and his team utilized super-computers to map the complex RNA and DNA structures of the 1918 killer virus, then utilized human plasmids to successfully re-create the 1918 killer. Taubenberger completed his work in early 2005, then immediately left the employment of the U.S. Army at Ft. Detrick to take a much more lucrative position with the National Institutes of Health. His new focus was to create a VACCINE against the very same 1918 killer flu that he and his team had, just months earlier, successfully “reverse engineered” and created.

The so-called “Swine Flu” grabbing headlines today is actually a recombinant, or “split-influenza” virus consisting of A-strain Bird-Flu (H5N1), Swine Flu (H1N1) and multiple strains of human flu (H3N2). Likewise, the 1918 Killer Flu that killed untold millions of people was a recombinant or “split-influenza” virus composed of Bird flu, Swine Flu, and multiple strains of human flu.

Med

What is relevant? This is. Good to see you back. We estimated a significant change on the 25th August and then some pattern formation by August 31st through September. Watch the news - R.C.

reality check wrote: Good to know..Med..btw glad to see everyone including me being a tad more respectful. RC

We have been extremely immersed in IRL developments. I am looking forward to Albert's return as I have posted in the discussion forum in terms of dealing with events which have occurred during his absence. He has specifically informed me that as owner of the site he would deal with these upon his return. He is the head of the site, and despite delegations of authority has the last call on all issues. That was his last communication to me.

The same issues remain issues, and the lack of transparency in counting or reporting cases, is a primary and vital issue. Since, while diverting, the focus of the site is Flu- what is happening with the Flu should be the most important issue of all. And there is a LOT happening with the flu and we will be releasing more numbers.

For one I am from Sunnyvale, and sent most of my life in San Jose. Two people died there from Swine Flu, meaning now an area with 4,000,000 people is infected. This, if not already will spread immensely.

The new health plan, while important to Americans, absolutely is irrelevant to the coming Second Wave.

Med

the bill as it stands needs to be put down and save us misery. I would recommend that you read the first 70 pages before thinking this is a great plan. It has Rahm emmanuel's thinking ,as well as his brother's behind it To state that you believe that life starts at 2 years of life... wow and here we are agueing life begins at conception and rights of the unborn.. So please before this thread goes any further read the first 70 pages. You will not need a lawyer, just a throw up pan

Yep...the Government is facing all the Boomers living as long as their parents 80's and many 90's. With this fact Government would love to have the Boomers get to 65 -70 need a triple by pass and tell them so sorry you do not have enough years left for Medicare give you the operation you need . So sorry...just make do and and we will give you an End of Life Counselor with a .

This scares me after what I have been through with my family. I would rather pay for my insurance, have a higher deductabel and file bankrupsy if I had too than a Government Run Insurance/Health Care plan.

I'm so sorry to hear abour your mom.  A very difficult time.  I understand her desire to find a way to go on...my pop had a triple bypass at an advanced age and he is  82 now.  there are still 3 grands to marry ...and have great grands...and he wants to see them very much.

Thank you my point is I agree that you should not have a deah counsil as part of the bill

My mom was 80 when she had colon cancer surgery & lived another 7 years!  She had hip surgery at 84! 

Turboguy

 

Exactly what are you saying. Are you insinuating the Republican party does not have fulltime paid organizers. And if so (That’s Laughable). Of course each side will organize in support of what they believe, that’s called being involved. And if you are doing the work fulltime, you should be paid for it (Right or Left). How many people can afford to take 3 months off without pay (Anyone)?

 

What your really saying is if anyone organizes in anyway that disagrees with your views you want to start a civil war

 

Is that about right

 

 

Sounds like your advocating a Dictatorship (My Way Or The Highway)

Hey Turboguy

.

Health Records On Line Full Steam Ahead
..........................................................................

I know some people don't like it...  But Doc's need to get on line and share knowledge...
if my patient has xyz...  I haven't seen this... I'll check what they are doing to help other
patients... not a bad idea... have you ever heard a Doc say?   "I don't do internet."  ?

I sounded odd to me ...   :)    (not my Doc)

the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)

announced details of two programs that will provide $1.2 billion in grant funding to

encourage the adoption and use of health information technology (HIT) systems and

promote health information exchange (HIE).

 

The two programs announced by ONC yesterday, authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, will:
Fund the establishment and development of an estimated 70 HIT Regional Extension Centers across the country. The HIT Regional Extension Centers will be responsible for providing technical assistance and guidance to hospitals and other health care providers to achieve “meaningful use” of HIT.

Provide funding to states and/or state-designated entities to promote widespread and sustained HIE. New York’s designated entity, the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) has been working to develop policies and procedures governing New York State’s HIE infrastructure, the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY).

Contact: Kevin Krawiecki
Published August 21, 2009

http://www.hanys.org/news/index.cfm?storyid=1147

.

Health Records On Line Full Steam Ahead
..........................................................................

I know some people don't like it...  But Doc's need to get on line and share knowledge...
if my patient has xyz...  I haven't seen this... I'll check what they are doing to help other
patients... not a bad idea... have you ever heard a Doc say?   "I don't do internet."  ?

Mary008 wrote:   What do we Americans Not Understand about... A Govt. Takeover Of Health Care  ....    Will Not Cost LESS   ...   ? How can we help people with Health Care... and still keep the Beast in Check? ............................................................................................................................. Take it from our friends in the UK- From The Times September 3, 2009 Tim Glanfield: Behind the story (UK National Health Care System) The NHS is enormous, expensive and still growing ...................................................................................................................  excerpt- It was always going to be expensive to create a healthcare system for all that was free at   the point of service, but not even the NHS founding fathers could have realised what an   economic colossus it would eventually become.   In 1948 the service had a budget of £437million, about £9billion today. Each year since, this figure has climbed by more than the rate of inflation, last year the budget topping   £100billion - more than £1,500 for every man, woman and child in the country. Sixty per   cent of this goes on staff and 20 per cent on drugs.   The NHS, with its 1.5million employees, has become the largest employer in the world after Wal-Mart, Indian Railways and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army article in full here- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6819259.ece       ...............

After decades of evolution in health care, America had reached a balance. Much of the health care plans were handled by medical insurance, Medicare, Medical (from Calif.) Medicaid, Social Security- and most hospitals while grumbling handling many patients for free worked when I was a child. My father worked hard, sometimes 20 hours a day and paid heavy taxes. My cousin, a high paid scientist at IBM would watch from 30%-40% of his check go to support the unworking who sometime remain unworking for three generations.

We lived in the heavily populated Silicon Valley, and there were the rich - who truly bore the burden of educating, taking care of, and medicating, the vast wave of immigrants that eventually destroyed the balance.

The upcoming health care plan was unrealistic as it hit the Senate committee, and remains like a house financed with a balloon payment in the stratosphere. Greed and dishonest fueled hospitals where patients were triple billed for that never saw the doctor and were never even in the hospital. This was so common, that upon receiving a hospital bill once when I was more able to deal with such things, I found medications never given, even ones never subscribed even to me, and treatments done to other patients.

As I worked in the health industry for 30 years plus, I saw things would eventually go belly up. You cannot run medical ponzi scheme forever, and that is what it had become.

And so it is like someone who has never fought in a war, commanded men, becoming a general overnight and over vast battalions.  We take a person with little or no medical experience and have them draw up a health care plan.

You are in a recession, and health care is one of the highest priced items to even touch. The only way you could hope to balance the books is to cut benefits feverishly and dump millions into a "looks like we are going to get care but actually- it is not an increase- it is a massive cut in quality and care.

Example a pizza place that used to be 4.00 all you could eat went to 5.00. The place become a ghost town. So they went back to 4.00 but- where was the many types of pasta- the succulent garlic bread- replaced by wisps of dried out (is there any garlic in this?) cold pizza- messy tables- you get what you pay for and this was 200% worse pizza with only a $1 less discount.

Early on it was posted- and it was stated when we talked health professionals- health care is a high price item. Soon after the mist of the 100 days was clearing- someone began to remark - where's the beef?

Basically we cannot afford health care reform. And we can least afford it when we are being hit by a massive expensive of vaccinating America. Where will the money come from? Well they promised not to tax the middle class- and especially the poor. And well, since the rich still do have a lot of influence one might notice those increases in taxing corporations and the rich - did they happen?

Selling health care and prep to America seems to be biographies of great health people who carry hand sanitizers in their pocket. Isn't Swine Flu spread through the air?  Why are people wearing masks?

Will the health care plan put us 1.6 trillion dollars in debt by next year? That was one number I heard.

People are apprehensive. Give us a new plan that covers everyone, don't touch Medicare, don't raise taxes, and decide if someone doesn't look like they are not going to make it 5 years - no treatment- most aggressive cancers in patients that need treatment.

Medclinician