Lawmakers and Farmers Clash on Food Safety Bill

Lawmakers and Farmers Clash on Food Safety Bill

www.scientificamerican.com...

The Food Safety Enhancement Act (HR2749), a bill currently being moved through the House of Representatives and gaining attention over the summer, could give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate the way animals are raised on farms a prospect that worries many small farmers.

(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 22-7-2009 by RoboKy]

[edit on 22-7-2009 by RoboKy]

[edit on 22-7-2009 by RoboKy]

mod edit: attempt to fix quote


[edit on 27-7-2009 by DontTreadOnMe]

Sorry if I mess this up a bit, first thread.

Although I dont normally get as worked up about these types of stories as some do here, this one I find to be flabbergasting. The FDA is a joke, nothing more then a sieve with a very wide mesh that lets through an inexcusable amount of detritus into the general population.

And this is the group that is going to tell farmers how to raise and care for LIVING ANIMALS, when they can barely do the job that's already been assigned to them?

www.scientificamerican.com...
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 22-7-2009 by RoboKy]

mod edit, to fix link


[edit on 27-7-2009 by DontTreadOnMe]

reply to post by RoboKy


Have you *seen* the industrial chicken farms in Georgia? How about the way pigs are treated in Purdue farms?

The list goes on and on...


YES YES YES The FDA MUST do this as it is their PRIMARY REASON FOR EXISTENCE!

Do you know why the FDA was created? Because the world stopped buying our meat!

And why? Because of the way we handled it! It was exposed in Upton Sinclairs book, The Jungle


So YES... this is the job of the FDA if there is any....

Did they stop teaching history in school?

[edit on 22-7-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Originally posted by HunkaHunka
Did they stop teaching history in school?

[edit on 22-7-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Yes, if they ever taught it in the first place. We hardly skimmed through US history after the civil war when I was in high school.

If it wasn't for projects like the one the FDA was taking on, there'd still be lead in tin cans and other really bad stuff in our food.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Exactly. Sometimes the government is looking out after us. I am all for our food not being sprayed down (or injected) with chemicals and our meat products being raised in a human manner.

Helllooooou Codex Alimentarius !

Coming to you soon!

Oh they will be taking control. Just one more reason not to be a farmer in the US. Wonder if we can get a farmer's opinion of this one. Someone who's already almost regulated, interrogated, spied on (my monstanto rent-a-rejects), injected, infected and crop dusted out of business already.

The corporate boys are in control - the big corporate run farms make the rules - Purdue and Tyson among them. You can bet [they] won't be bothered by such a thing one tid bit.

Yeah, let's just see if the almighty FDA (chuckle) does anything good for the consumer when it comes to the corporations lobbying the rules.

Shall we get out the record books, and see just how much "good" the FDA has done for us? Or is it possible to at least agree that the rules favor the monetary profits and with not much more than an illusion of concern for humanity in most cases?

And yeah, they don't teach much of anything other than preparing kids for a productive life trade in school anymore. They get to know what they're good at, and extrapolate all the possible fields they could go into from there (being the only real choices the student is presented with) - and that's if they're lucky and don't have someone dictating everything they will do 'in their best interests' for most of the rest of their lives. History, Current Events, World Events, or really anything outside their own little worlds of existence (usually about the size of their own li'l heads), is completely and utterly irrelevant to the school board or them anymore. It truly is remarkable when a child chooses to delve into these subjects on their own...let alone the big bad truth.

Originally posted by Roufas
Helllooooou Codex Alimentarius !

Coming to you soon!

That's the red flag that went off in my mind when I read this...

For all of you people praising this garbage, have you educated yourselves on Codex?

This is a capitalistic society. If you don't like the meat you are eating, DON'T BUY IT. But now you want federal agencies to control the food just so you don't have to research your food sources before devouring them?

Seems entirely moronic, to me.

Wake up!!!

reply to post by ninecrimes


Exactly , they do not need to regulate how the farmer does his job. That is meddling in their affairs too much.

We are not in the XV century , they can have other laboratories check on the food right before it is ready for sale , and see if it has "quality".

Originally posted by ninecrimes

This is a capitalistic society. If you don't like the meat you are eating, DON'T BUY IT. But now you want federal agencies to control the food just so you don't have to research your food sources before devouring them?

Seems entirely moronic, to me.

Wake up!!!

It's not a matter of being too lazy to research our food sources before buying food from certain company's. We do live in a capitalistic society, and people will do whatever they can do to make a buck. However, just because they can do whatever they like to make a buck does not mean that they should do whatever they like to make a buck. What seems entirely moronic is that certain practices are even allowed to go on in this first place.

No, people shouldn't have to research everything they consume before eating it. There should be laws against inhumane practices dealing with food products that people consume. Also, it's not just small farmers that should be effected by laws like this, there are big company's that should be effected as well.

I am not a huge player in animal rights issues but I honestly can't say that this is a bad idea. If you simply hate regulations then I have nothing to say to you. I honestly don't want to live in a lawless society where people are free to do whatever they like. I don't trust you or what many people would do in that type of society and I believe that there should be punishments for certain actions.

reply to post by RoboKy
This law is designed to help the factory farms sell more frackenfoods. People have woken up to how bad the food has become. They are turning to independent farmers. A rubbery tomato can not compete with non gmo tomato grown organically in terms of taste. This is all about control. Control the food and control the people. One word for those who support the FDA ;melamine. The FDA is no longer useful. Consumer groups are now far better watch dogs than the FDA. These criminal laws designed to destroy family farms belong in the gutter.

Originally posted by lagnar
Oh they will be taking control. Just one more reason not to be a farmer in the US. Wonder if we can get a farmer's opinion of this one. Someone who's already almost regulated, interrogated, spied on (my monstanto rent-a-rejects), injected, infected and crop dusted out of business already.

The corporate boys are in control - the big corporate run farms make the rules - Purdue and Tyson among them. You can bet [they] won't be bothered by such a thing one tid bit.

Yeah, let's just see if the almighty FDA (chuckle) does anything good for the consumer when it comes to the corporations lobbying the rules.

Shall we get out the record books, and see just how much "good" the FDA has done for us? Or is it possible to at least agree that the rules favor the monetary profits and with not much more than an illusion of concern for humanity in most cases?

And yeah, they don't teach much of anything other than preparing kids for a productive life trade in school anymore. They get to know what they're good at, and extrapolate all the possible fields they could go into from there (being the only real choices the student is presented with) - and that's if they're lucky and don't have someone dictating everything they will do 'in their best interests' for most of the rest of their lives. History, Current Events, World Events, or really anything outside their own little worlds of existence (usually about the size of their own li'l heads), is completely and utterly irrelevant to the school board or them anymore. It truly is remarkable when a child chooses to delve into these subjects on their own...let alone the big bad truth.

I am a farmer and I have friends that are chicken farmers. Most are not all that happy with the deals they got from the companies. They were painted a pretty picture about all the money they were going to make. After they borrowed lots of money and built the chicken houses ( these chicken houses cost about $200,000 each and most farmers have 6-8 houses) they get a cold dose of reality about how the system works. The farmers have the full responsibility of the debt and the companies regulate how many chickens you get to raise and when. The figures they give you are optimum condition figures which will not work in reality. What it all works down to is the farmers are buying themselves a minimum wage job that they are bound to for 15 years and being responsibly for a million dollar debt and the companies that buy the chickens can do whatever they want and shut down production and leave you holding a debt that you can never repay.

Originally posted by Styki
No, people shouldn't have to research everything they consume before eating it.

I stopped reading right there.

You would rather have your food controlled, than to simply know what you're eating and choose wisely?

That is not capitalism. That is not America, my friend. And you are not a good American if this is what you believe.

Originally posted by ninecrimes

Originally posted by Styki
No, people shouldn't have to research everything they consume before eating it.

I stopped reading right there.

You would rather have your food controlled, than to simply know what you're eating and choose wisely?

That is not capitalism. That is not America, my friend. And you are not a good American if this is what you believe.

I got a simple explanation that follows one of the terms being
tossed around a lot these days.

Herd animals are known to be easy to herd, where as things like
cats are not easy to herd.

Thus the term..sheeple.

Some ppl are just of the mind to be of the herd mentality.

Orwell wrote animal farm partially for this reason to clarify this.

I think in the end it will be found that Orwell and Huxley were 'dead on'.

I found out today that Pilgrim's Pride is shutting down plants in Georgia and Alabama. Exactly how are the farmers going to make the payments on those chicken houses now? How many farmers will lose everything they have worked their entire lives for because of this? The farmer always gets the shaft.

Story

Originally posted by HunkaHunka
[


YES YES YES The FDA MUST do this as it is their PRIMARY REASON FOR EXISTENCE!

Do you know why the FDA was created? Because the world stopped buying our meat!

And why? Because of the way we handled it! It was exposed in Upton Sinclairs book, The Jungle



So YES... this is the job of the FDA if there is any....

Did they stop teaching history in school?

[edit on 22-7-2009 by HunkaHunka]

The FDA is no different than the labor unions that also sprang fron the same era that was written about in "The Jungle" it was actually written more about the labor practices of the time and workers rights.

The labor unions were initially were there for the workers but eventually became political and business entities that revolve around profit motives for the organization instead of the individual workers who are members.

The FDA is also a political organization that is operated for the benefit of big business and profit driven politics.
The FDA isn't there to guarantee the quality of our food or our drugs. It is there to look out for the financial interests of the food and drug companies and to prevent outside influences from lowering their profits.

These outside influences include any and all entities that would serve to reduce the maximum profitability and continuing growth of controll over food sources, pharmaceuticals and their use as a profit making commodity.

These threatening entities include small farms, non monoculture markets, natural resources that can reduce the use of manufactured profit making drugs, private individuals and members of the medical community that would cure disease instead of perpetuate chronic treatment forcing consumption of more drugs by the citizens, entities that would act as cooperative groups for the end user and those that would encourage any diversified food production based at the local level. .


Buy the hype or believe the propaganda but the FDA is there to exploit you -the end user- not to protect you.


[edit on 26-7-2009 by badgerprints]

reply to post by MBF

Yup. That's exactly what I hear around here (Purdue Country). The small farmer always gets the shaft, without exception.

Star for you...thanks for chiming in. My wife keeps naggin' me about those chicken houses. In short, I needed your post.

And Badgerprints pretty much said everything else I was gonna say, so star for you as well, BP (oops, no cruel association meant ).

reply to post by lagnar


And if anybody thinks the government is going to help the farmer out, that is true to a point, they will help us completely OUT. I'm starting to fight them again on a problem they caused 10 years ago. It is even going to probably put my life in danger this time. They are nothing but a bunch of (snip) crooks.

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[edit on 27-7-2009 by DontTreadOnMe]