posted March 15, 2009 12:23 AM
just passing it on..
Is this the CHANGE we were hoping for?
United States Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has proposed
legislation, H.R. 875, which would literally prohibit Americans from
raising food for themselves, their families, or even for their
animals, without the uber alles national government's permission!
Extreme statement? NOT! H.R. 875 makes Americans serfs on their own
land! Read on; this one bill could wipe the United States, as a free
nation, from the face of the Earth! We urgently need your help to kill
this extremely dangerous bill!
H.R. 875, the so-called Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (FSMA)
sounds innocent enough at first blush, with language purporting 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. " In reality, the FSMA is an
extensive and all-controlling abomination that must be stopped!
The FSMA mandates registration of every "food production facility, "
which the bill defines as "any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard,
aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation; " and every
"food establishment, " which the bill defines as "a slaughterhouse...,
factory, warehouse, or facility owned or operated by a person located
in any State that processes food or a facility that holds, stores, or
transports food or food ingredients. "
H.R. 875 makes NAIS look tame. This bill will not just sweep up
commercial food operations. The fine print of the FSMA will subject
hobby gardeners, home canners, anyone with a few chickens, or anyone
who "holds, stores, or transports food " - including mushrooms or wild
berries gathered in the wild - to registration, extensive management,
and inspection by a huge new bureaucracy, the Food Safety
Administration (FSA)- even if the food items will only be consumed
personally. And registration must be via "an electronic portal, " which
will be costly and difficult for those without computers.
H.R. 875 exponentially advances the "Foodborne Disease Surveillance
Systems " required of member states of the World Health Organization
(WHO), which includes the United States. "Food establishments" will be
required to adopt preventive process controls, including implementing
recordkeeping and labeling of all food and food ingredients to
facilitate their identification and traceability, including
instructions for handling and preparation for consumption. This might
sound rather reasonable... until you remember the definition of a
"food establishment" above.
Immensely telling of how seriously this bill does not take "food
safety, " though, is Section 204(2)(C), which promises the
Administrator will identify the "5 most significant (food)
contaminants ", and "not later than 3 years after a contaminant is so
identified, the Administrator shall promulgate a performance
standard... " Gee whiz, what's the rush?
Perhaps the Administrator's promulgation timetable has little to do
with acting quickly and decisively to protect U.S. citizens (or even
"all people in the United States " as required by the FSMA) and much,
much more to do with the World Health Organization's stated desire in
its 2004 report entitled "FOODBORNE DISEASE MONITORING AND
SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS " that "the objectives and strategies (of food
borne disease surveillance systems) established by each country should
be acceptable to all member countries
(www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/006/j2381e.htm), " which doubtless would
take time.
Perhaps it is because "studies linking pathogens in food to the
disease in humans would help quantify the risk of food borne
diseases. " In other words, no entity, not the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), and not the WHO, can prove a significant
problem exists in the United States.
The FSMA will not even quickly implement protections for Americans
from contaminated foreign foodstuffs. The bill states, "(n)ot later
than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act " imported
food products shall be certified safe "by the accredited foreign
government (think CHINA!) or by an accredited certifying agent... "
Again, what's the rush?
Maddeningly, the FSMA expects Congress to again approve a far-reaching
bill without knowing the details. In this case, Congress will find out
much later:
what federal resources would be dedicated to foodborne illness and
food safety research;
what transfer of agencies, personnel, assets, obligations, and
consolidation, reorganization, or streamlining of agencies will be
involved; and
the details of regulations the new Food Czar (Administrator of the
FSA) will promulgate after enactment of the Act.
Among the statutory foundations the FSMA claims for guidance and
authority is the National Animal Identification System, which HAS
NEVER BEEN ENACTED INTO LAW BY CONGRESS!
But beyond the mandated violations of our civil liberties in the FSMA
- registration, traceability, inspections, seizures, etc. (all without
court orders or search warrants), - the truly chilling language lays
out civil and criminal penalties of up to $1 million per day, per
infraction, and imprisonment of five or ten years, or both, depending
how serious the violation(s).
Additionally, "(a)n order assessing a civil penalty against a
person... shall be a final order unless the person-- (A) not later
than 30 days after the effective date of the order, files a petition
for judicial review of the order in the United States court of
appeals... (and) (t)he findings of the Administrator relating to the
order shall be set aside only if found to be unsupported by
substantial evidence on the record as a whole. " The FSMA is so
over-the-top in its overreach that the bill's language states, "(t)he
validity and appropriateness of the order of the Administrator
assessing the civil penalty shall not be subject to judicial review. "
And if you're by now thinking this is about as outrageous as this bill
can be, you'd be very wrong. Section 406 clearly states, "(i)n any
action to enforce the requirements of the food safety law, the
connection with interstate commerce required for jurisdiction SHALL BE
PRESUMED TO EXIST. "
Now, for those who noticed, and questioned, why "foodborne " is spelled
as if we reside "on the Continent, " and why the United States
government is attempting to implement a "solution " wanting for a
"problem " - you guessed it - "Foodborne Disease Monitoring and
Surveillance Systems " are a priority with the World Health
Organization, to which our national government has committed US
through its membership.
The 53rd World Health Assembly (a branch of the WHO) in the year 2000
adopted a resolution to recognize food safety as an essential public
health function and called for the development of a Global Strategy
for reduction of the burden of food borne diseases. The resolution
(WHA 53.15) encouraged member states "to implement and keep national,
and when appropriate, regional mechanisms for food borne diseases
surveillance. " All this, despite the WHO admission in a 2004 report
(www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/006/j2381e.htm) that "(t)he true dimension
of the burden of food borne diseases is still unknown... "
The FSMA is a "government solution " in seek of a problem! In the year
1900 at least some cases in two of the ten leading causes of death
might have been food related (diarrhea/enteritis, liver disease). But
the twin leading causes were pneumonia, followed closely by
tuberculosis..
In 2002, WHO listed the leading cause of death in the U.S.
(www.who.int/whosis/mort/profiles/mort_amro_usa_unitedstatesofamerica.pdf)
as ischaemic heart disease, killing ~ 514,000 people. The second
greatest cause was cerebrovascular disease (stroke), killing ~
163,000. None of the top ten causes bore any relation to foodborne
illness.
In apparent support of all this brazen, strong-arm command and control
attempt, the CDC reports its estimate that every year in the United
States sees approximately 76 million cases of foodborne illness
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/foodborne.html),
with 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths (which equates to one
death out of every 15,200 who become ill). Admittedly those 5,000
deaths are significant, and devastating to all those involved, but
this figure must be put in perspective. We must consider the larger
picture long before we even consider such draconian measures as those
mandated by the FSMA.
Perhaps too little is known of reports that "iatrogenic events " -
medical errors - kill almost 800,000 in the U.S. each year
(www.whale.to/a/null9.html#Underreporting_of_Iatrogenic_Events_).
That's the equivalent of six jumbo jets falling out the sky each and
every day. Those who track these events believe as few as 5% and no
more than 20% of these deaths are ever reported.
Clearly deaths resulting from foodborne disease are exponentially
lower than these other major causes, which begs an obvious question:
If Congress is so very concerned about our health, why haven't they
felt inclined to tackle the much more significant incidence of
iatrogenic deaths in this nation? Hmmm?
One need only consider the "Healthy People 2010 " goals
(www..healthypeople.gov/About/goals.htm) to understand the true
(A)genda behind this initiative.
ACTION TO TAKE
The FSMA is an extremely dangerous bill. We recommend a multi-prong
attack, as the more salvos we throw at the FSMA the better chance we
have of killing this abomination.
Contact House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, via phone: (202) 225-0100, or
email: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/.
Contact the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, via phone:
202.225..3130, or email: www.majorityleader.gov/email_and_rss/email_the_leader/.
Contact the House Republican Leader John Boehner, via phone: (202)
225-4000, fax: (202) 225-5117, or email: http://republicanleader.house.gov/Contact/.
On March 11th Congress will hold its first hearing in many years on
the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), conducted by the
Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee. It is vitally important you
contact all the committees below.
Contact the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee members listed
below. If one of the Subcommittee members is from your state, call
that member.
Mike Rogers (R-AL)
Phone: 202-225-3261
Fax: 202-226-8485
Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
Phone: 202-225-6131
Fax: 202-225-0819
Jim Costa (D-CA)
Phone: 202-225-3341
Fax: 202-225-9308
Joe Baca (D-CA)
Phone: 202-225-6161
Fax: 202-225-8671
Betsy Markey (D-CO)
Phone: 202-225-4676
Fax: 202-225-5870
David Scott (Chair), (D-GA)
Phone: 202-225-2939
Fax: 202-225-4628
Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
Phone: 202-225-3806
Fax: 202-225-5608
Steve King (R-IA)
Phone: 202-225-4426
Fax: 202-225-3193
Walt Minnick (D-ID)
Phone: 202-225-6611
Fax: 202-225-3029
Frank Kratovil, Jr. (D-MD)
Phone: 202-225-5311
Fax: 202-225-0254
Adrian Smith (R-NE)
Phone: 202-225-6435
Fax: 202-225-0207
Tim Holden (D-PA)
Phone: 202-225-5546
Fax: 202-226-0996
David P. Roe (R-TN)
Phone: 202-225-6356
Fax: 202-225-5714
K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
Phone: 202-225-3605 or 866-882-381
Fax: 202-225-1783
Randy Neugebauer, Ranking Minority Member (R-TX)
Phone: 202-225-4005 or 888-763-1611
Fax: 202-225-9615
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Phone: 202-225-5431
Fax: 202-225-9681
Steve Kagen (D-WI)
Phone: 202-225-5665
Fax: 202-225-5729
Contact your own Representative and ask him or her to approach the
Subcommittee member to urge them to oppose NAIS.
If you're not sure who represents you, click here: www.congress.org/.
We strongly recommend that you make at least your initial contact by telephone.
Additionally, H.R. 875 has been assigned to the committees on Energy
and Commerce, and Agriculture.
Contact members of the Energy and Commerce Committee via phone: (202)
225-2927, or email: http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1313&Itemid= 1.
Contact members of the Agriculture Committee via phone: 202-225-2171