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Organic Farmer on Food Safety Ag Panel July 16
URL Link for DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PANEL
on FOOD SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ACT 2009 (FSEA)
#usbill FSEA #HR2749 set for 10 AM, July 16, 2009
This is a FUll Committee-Public Hearing.
1300 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, CD
Date: 7/16/2009 7:13:59 AM ( 15 y ) ... viewed 1833 times
UPDATE ON GREEN LEAFY
AMENDMENTS
as of JULY 29, 09
KUCINICH LOOKS at this in
committee
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1464610
GO SIGN THE PETITION NOW TO
PROTECT SMALL FARMERS and OUR HEALTH FREEDOMS.
This petition on the site of the FTCLDF
is very well done. When I put in my
contact info, it brought up my representatives
and senators, and opportunity to direct community
with local newspapers. Excellent work.
Ask Congress to Defeat HR 2749
111th U.S. Congress - House Bill
FSEA #HR 2749 (Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009)
http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum993.php
4:16 PM
July 16, 2009 Note
This is the phone number and email
for the AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE:
House Committee on Agriculture
1301 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2171
Fax: 202-225-8510
Email: agriculture@mail.house.gov
EARLY THIS MORNING, at this URL
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/schedule.html
I was able to access all the names of the
panelists. I only copied one here.
The page I viewed is no longer at this URL.
I am going to request a copy of all the panelists.
tomorrow.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC HEARING
HELD JULY 16 in WASHINGTON
ON #HR 2749
There is one organic representative
who will have an opportunity to speak this morning
at the DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
panel that is looking at #usbill #Hr 2749.
The panel meets at 10 AM July 16.
MR NICHOLAD MARAVELI is listed on the SCHEDULE
as the number seventh speaker out of eight on Panel 1.
http://www.discoverfrederickmd.com/farmersmarket/html/detail.htm?cat=118&stor...
Panel 2 includes three representatives from
Government including MR MIKE TAYLOR,
Senior Advisor to the Commissioner
of the U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ASMINISTRATION.
THIS IS THE URL for the AGRICULTURE
COMMITTEE HEARING JULY 16
with the NAMES OF ALL PANELISTS
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/schedule.html
THE LIST OF PHONES OF MEMBERS OF
THE AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE
CAN BE FOUND HERE
http://www.thefutureisorganic.net/FoodSafetyAction.htm
I got this list thanks to the work of
CHRYS OSTRANDER.
I also reprinted this on
this PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
http://www.thefutureisorganic.net/FoodSafetyAction.htm
4:55 AM
July 16, 09
LIVE AUDIO and VIDEO of
the Hearing on #usbill #HR2749
July 16, 2009
htto://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html
You need Windows Media Player to hear.
I was not able to hear the speakers on this imac.
Transcripts will be available in a few weeks,
the site says electronically.
PHOTO JULY 12, SAN DIEGO, CA--
Locally grown, fresh picked that morning
fragrant, organic, luscious, full of seeds,
sweet as natural sugar strawberry from
the HILLCREST FARMERS' MARKET July 12.
This quality of food is the backbone of
American Agriculture. These berries
were grown by JOE RODRIGUEZ, Jr,
fourth generation family farmers in San Diego
County, working against odds to continue
farming in spite of water cutbacks and intense
red tape. No pesticides were needed to
grow this strawberry, merely care
and tending of the field with strong
soil. The field has plenty of ladybugs,
and little children running through the
field helping at times. It is industrial ag where the
problems lie. Sterile fields are not the answer.
More Rules and Regs for big ag, YES, not
for family farmers who have direct links with
the faces of those they are growing to feed
and make healthy. The key
to healthy Food Safety in America is
Knowing Your Grower. Grow some of your
own food. Know the farmer growing the rest
of your food. If these berries were at the
HOUSE AGRICULTURE OPEN PUBLIC HEARING
that begins in Washington within the hour,
-- #usbill #HR 2749-- the strawberries would
speak for themselves, and the room would be
filled with the fragrance of life.
--Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
POSITION OF THE
FARM TO CONSUMER LEGAL DEFENSE FUND:
HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. The bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisans and producers; and it would disproportionately impact their operations for the worse.
HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the HR 2749 does not specifically direct regulation
or resources to these areas.
ALARMING PROVISIONS *
Power to Quarantine a Geographic Area;
the FDA can also Halt All Movement of All Food in a geographic area.
* Random Warrantless Searches of Business Records.
* Establishing a Tracing System for Food. * Severe Criminal and Civil Penalties.* Annual Registration Fee of $500.
* Regulation of How Crops Are Raised and Harvested.
COMMUNITY ALLIANCE WITH FAMILY FARMERS
POSITION:
http://www.caff.org/policy/foodsafetyfederal.shtml
“Industrial food companies have an uncanny way of creating problems and then proposingsolutions that only industrial food companies are capable of implementing,” said Tom Willey,
owner of T&D Willey Farms in Madera, CA. “If family-scale farmers try to swallow the burdensimposed by the industry guidelines, it will doom us.”
MESSAGE FROM THE
NATIONAL ORGANIC COALITION, Go to
the website of CHRYS OSLANDER
http://www.thefutureisorganic.net/FoodSafetyAction.htm
On Chrys he publishes the
ACTION ALERT OF THE NATIONAL ORGANIC COALITION.
He writes, "Since the Action Alert is not on either the NSAC or the NOC websites, I’ve posted it on my website"
CHRYS has an outstanding site,
called THE FUTURE IS ORGANIC.
These are the questions they would like posed
at this mornings hearing and future hearings:
1) Why are all food "facilities" under the proposed new law, even those that gross well under $500,000 annually, subject to the same registration fee of $500 each year? Isn't this a regressive tax that disproportionately impacts smaller producers? Why would a small processor have to pay the same annual fee as the largest facilities in our food system?
2) If left as is, provisions in the HR 2749 bill could encourage farmers to tear out important wildlife habitat and buffer strips that protect streams and rivers in an effort to try to create a "sterile" on-farm environment free of bacteria. What do you know about this? Can't we harmonize the safety of our food supply with environmental protection?
3) I'm concerned that organic producers who already have to comply with food safety standards outlined in the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 will be burdened by another set of separate standards if HR 2749 becomes law. What can be done to ensure we are not creating a disincentive for farmers to transition to organic?
4) Farmers that sell directly to consumers or who use marketing strategies that preserve the identity of their farm products pose less of a food safety risk because their products are easily traced back to their farm. Should there be a comprehensive exemption for these kinds of farms in HR 2749?
FOR THE FULL VIEW OF THE MESSAGE FROM THE
NATIONAL ORGANIC COALITION, Go to
the website of CHRYS OSLANDER
http://www.thefutureisorganic.net/FoodSafetyAction.htm
POSITION FROM WESTERN ORGANIZATION OF
RESOURCE COUNCIL (WORC)
MORE TO STUDY:
THIS IS IMPORTANT!
THIS IS IMPORTANT!
FROM
http://www.worc.org/userfiles/file/Food%20Safety%20Act2.pdf
Tell congress:
One Size
Does Not
Fit All When
Considering
Food Safety
Bills
Local foods businesses are not the same
as animal factories or mega-farms
that sell products into industrial scale
national and international markets.
H.R. 2749 – Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009
Lead Sponsor: Rep. John Dingell
The House of Representatives is working on H.R. 2749, the Food Safety
Enhancement Act of 2009. It’s an attempt to address the worst problems in
U.S. agriculture, but as it stands the bill threatens to undermine the best things in U.S. agriculture – small farmers producing for local markets. H.R. 2749 is a well-meaning attempt to address the genuine problems of contamination from foodborne pathogens and complications in prevention and intervention caused by large, industrialized food distribution systems.
---
PLEASE READ THE FULL ALERT FROM
POSITION FROM WESTERN ORGANIZATION OF
RESOURCE COUNCIL (WORC)
July 16, 09
uploaded here
THIS IS IMPORTANT!
THIS IS IMPORTANT!
FROM
http://www.worc.org/userfiles/file/Food%20Safety%20Act2.pdf
THIS REFERENCE ALSO CAME FROM
CHRYS' SITE. He gives thanks
to JILL RICHARDSON, who is doing
a marvelous full time job of tracking
key and very important issues on her
SITE, http://lavidalocavore.org/main/0
I highly recommend you get a copy
of Jill's new book RECIPE FOR AMERICA.
I will be reviewing this book soon.
THIS IS THE URL FOR
MR NICK MARAVELI,
the organic farmer who was on the
schedule to speak
at the open public hearing
July 16
http://www.discoverfrederickmd.com/farmersmarket/html/detail.htm?cat=118&stor...
Nick's Organic Farm
Farming organically since 1979, the operation is certifed by the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The farm offers certified organic grass fed beef in whole, half, split half, and smaller quantities. Free Range eggs, pastured chickens and turkeys are available as well. Call to order you Thanksgiving Turkey! Animals are not fed antibiotics or hormones. Dairy, horse and beef quality organic hay, balage, and straw. Forages include alfalfa, timothy, and orchardgrass and mixes. Sold in round bales or square bales. Organic feeds available for most livestock. Also grow organic corn, soybeans, barley, and cover crop seed. Delivery is available.
Contacts: Nick Maravell
Store/Farm Address:
2733 Buckeystown Pike
Adamstown, MD 21710
Phone: 301-983-2167
301-874-4854
Fax: 301-983-0290
Home Address:
8565 Horseshoe Lane
Potomac, MD 20854
Directions: On route 85 (Buckeystown Pike) about 1.5 miles south of Buckeystown Less that 10 minutes form I-70, I-270, or Route 15.
Email us!
CHRYS OSTRANDER has a marvelous site
called THE FUTURE IS ORGANIC.
KEEP The BEET Media Star
The World's FIrst Talking Beet Plant,
my close associate,
reminds me that the last 8000 years
of Nature Wisdom from many traditions
is "organic." It is merely the last 100
years or so that we have lost our the Beat
with Nature. For the Way Home, grow
a beet. See
BEET KEEPERS, Return! '09
THESE ARE PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOGS
I have written that represent more than
50 hours looking at #usbill FSEA #HR2749
Pros and Cons: Food Safety Law #HR 2749
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1455917
After a careful look at both the CONSUMER UNION (CU)
recent comments about #HR2749
and the FARM TO CONSUMER
LEGAL DEFENSE FUND (FTCLDF) Rebuttals
of the position of the CU I still find
that both have some good points.
The FTCLDF position is very important.
HERE IS ONE SPECiFIC that is very telling.
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1456173
The FDA has yet to demonstrate that it has any understanding whatsoever of the needs of small scale and diversified farms. And the new language does not prevent FDA from developing standards that drive such farms out of business under the guise of developing “enforceable standards.”
--from the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund Rebuttal
to the Consumer Union
I support this ACTION PAGE and PETITION.
GO to the PROS AND CONS: FOOD SAFETY LAW #HR2749
PLANT YOUR DREAM LINK
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1455917
for all the links to the information that
has caught my eye including both the statements
by the CU and the FTCLDF.
GO SIGN THE PETITION NOW TO
PROTECT SMALL FARMERS and OUR HEALTH FREEDOMS.
This petition on the site of the FTCLDF
is very well done. When I put in my
contact info, it brought up my representatives
and senators, and opportunity to direct community
with local newspapers. Excellent work.
Ask Congress to Defeat HR 2749
111th U.S. Congress - House Bill
FSEA #HR 2749 (Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009)
http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum993.php
Follow through Congress on Thomas:
http://www.thomas.gov/
I am want to comment this site,
OPEN CONGRESS.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2749/show
This will take you to a page where you can tract this bill.
I also find very valuable the site
called TWEET CONGRESS.
http://tweetcongress.org/
This site lists all the Members of
the House of Representatives and
the Senators. It lists each elected official
with either their tweet address and/or
their phone, web addresses, and emails.
"We the Tweeple of the United States,
in order to form a more perfect government,
establish communication, and promote transparency
do hereby tweet the Congress of the United States of America."
OTHER PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOGS
INFLUENCED BY #usbill #HR2749
WE ARE IN A NATIONAL FOOD EMERGENCY
Radical education is needed now
to get out of our current predictament.
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1454813
GETTING EDUCATION
Here is one telling article
by CAROLYN LOCHHEAD
Crops, Ponds Destroyed in Quest for Food Safety
THIS ARTICLE SAYS IT ALL FOR ME!!!!
Published July 13, 09
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/07/13
'Invisible to a public that sees only the headlines of the latest food-safety scare - spinach, peppers and now cookie dough - ponds are being poisoned and bulldozed. Vegetation harboring pollinators and filtering storm runoff is being cleared. Fences and poison baits line wildlife corridors. Birds, frogs, mice and deer - and anything that shelters them - are caught in a raging battle in the Salinas Valley against E. coli O157:H7, a lethal, food-borne bacteria.
In pending legislation and in proposed federal regulations, the push for food safety butts up against the movement toward biologically diverse farming methods, while evidence suggests that industrial agriculture may be the bigger culprit."
A food safety bill sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, passed this month in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It would give new powers to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate all farms and produce in an attempt to fix the problem. The bill would require consideration of farm diversity and environmental rules, but would leave much to the FDA."
This article by Carolyn Lochhead
makes reference to the
COMMUNITY ALLIANCE WITH FAMILY FARMERS.
I like this group. I met a former ranking officer
years ago and liked him very much.
The article by Carolyn Lochhead brings up
the attempts by Big Ag, to solve the problem
of contamination through creating sterile farms.
Sterile Farms are not the answer
to Healthy Food Safety. Supporting
local organic farmers and sustainable farming
is the answer.
“Industrial food companies have an uncanny way of creating problems and then proposing solutions that only industrial food companies are capable of implementing,” said Tom Willey,
owner of T&D Willey Farms in Madera, CA. “If family-scale farmers try to swallow the burdensimposed by the industry guidelines, it will doom us.”
From the Carolyn Lochhead Article:
"The Galvanized by the spinach disaster, large growers instituted a quasi-governmental program of new protocols for growing greens safely, called the "leafy greens marketing agreement." A proposal was submitted last month in Washington to take these rules nationwide."
COMMUNITY ALLIANCE WITH FAMILY FARMERS (FAFF)
POSITION:
http://www.caff.org/policy/foodsafetyfederal.shtml
This LEAFY GREENS MARKETING AGREEMENT (LGMA) is addressed
in a letter here from the CAFF dated 2007:
http://www.caff.org/policy/documents/USDA_Comments_44.pdf
"We are concerned that the science needed to make effective
rules regarding the spread of pathogens such as E. coli 0157:H7 is inadequate and making blanket rules is premature and costly. There have already been two recalls involving signatories of the California LGMA, showing that their “Good Agricultural Practices” do
not solve the problem of E. coli 0157:H7 contamination.
CAFF and the farmers we represent acknowledge that all farms face potential food safety problems. We are working with local produce distributors, the University of California, and other government agencies to create a more practical, less costly and more environmentally friendly approach to food safety that diverse, traditional farmers of all sizes could implement.
We urge you to take biological practices into consideration in any proposed rules, since such things as microbial diversity in soil and wetlands have been found to reduce pathogens. Biological farming promotes biodiversity in soil in which food pathogens (such as E.coli 0157) have to compete with other microbes and are less likely to thrive. Conservation practices on the farm, such as wetlands and grassed waterways, have been
shown to filter water, reducing food-contaminating pathogens and improving water quality.
MY TAKE: The Science that the FDA leans toward now
needs a radical orientation.
Before I would give any additional powers to the FDA
there would have to be a full restructuring of the Agency
and massive reeducation. As the Justices on the Court
learn toward various points of view, President Obama
would have to begin appointed various high ranking
employees who understand science based on an Traditional
and TIme Tested points of view that have existed
for thousands of years. BIG AG now leans
increasingly toward a GMO point of view.
For a telling insight into where the FDA now stands,
please see THE DVD KING CORN.
I would have the President do a Salon
at the White House.
FOOD SAFETY IN THE WHITE HOUSE
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1454239
The DVD's KING CORN, THE FUTURE OF FOOD,
and The Most Recent FOOD INC. need to be viewed
by the President, his wife, and members of the Ag Committee.
Watch clip of President Obama here
on Food Safety, Also TOM VILSACK,
http://www.sustainablefarmer.com/bblog/?p=133
our Secretary of Ag with local farmers
is good to watch here.
IT's ABOUT TRADE:
#HR 2749 HURTS SMALL FARMERS
AS IT NOW STANDS
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1452740
IMPORTANT BASIC INFO TO EDUCATE
YOURSELF AND OTHERS:
LOOK at THIS ORGANIC CENTER VIDEO
narrated by SARA SHOW:
http://www.youtube.com/TheOrganicCenter
FOOD WARS SPOOF:
from THE ORGANIC TRADE ASSOCIATION
and FREE RANGE STUDIOS:
http://www.ota.com/news/press/175.html
"These are Dark Times, Young Cuke!"
FOOD WARS; THE ORGANIC REBELLION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVrIyEu6h_E
I am concerned about the quality of water
they may be drinking in the WHITE HOUSE!!!
Pharmaceuticals in Our Water Supply Are Causing Bizarre Mutations to Wildlife By Greg Peterson, E Magazine. Posted August 9, 2007.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/59305/?page=entire
So how about all the Chemo users urine in the toilet?
Thanks to STEVEN COLBERT for pointing this article
out to me!!!
WE BECOME SILENT:
IMPORTANT VIDEO TO WATCH.
A telling scene interviews an employee
of the FDA and indicates the science model
that is currently supported by the FDA.
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1451565
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