Bisphenol-A in our Cans: Food Justice bill #s-510P
The Food Safety Modernization Act will help ensure
we can regulate our large scale commodity farmers
and at the same time give us less local organic farmers.
Date: 3/18/2010 5:49:27 PM ( 14 y ) ... viewed 1594 times
&Itemid
March 18, 2010
3:25 PM
This Plant Your Dream Blog
was written with Jonathan Swift standing
over my shoulder telling me what to say.
For a look at one of my other favorite
writings of his, please see:
"A Modest Proposal." http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html
[ Note: Jonathan Swift (1667-1745),
author and satirist, famous
for Gulliver's Travels (1726)
and A Modest Proposal (1729).
This proposal, where he suggests
that the Irish eat their own children,
is one of his most drastic pieces.
He devoted much of his writing
to the struggle for Ireland
against the English hegemony.}
ABOUT FOOD SAFETY
We on the Plant Your Dream Blog
are very concerned about Food Safety.
Thank you to the men and women on the Hill
who are at this very moment having thoughts about
Food Safety.
Some of them are wanting to harmonize
our Food Safety Moderization Act #s-510
with theFood Rules recommended by the
Codex Alimentarius Commission.
My ally Michael R. Taylor is one of the lead FDA
reps behind this move to harmonize
US policy internationally.
Michael is our food Czar.
For those who read this blog, you also know that
Keep The Beet Media Star, the World's First Talking
Beet Plant is the Czarina of foods. I talk to beets.
Michael talks to my allies on the Codex as regularly.
Michael lives near Washington D.C. where he influences many
in government. Keep the Beet influences me
and my thinking and writing here on the
Plant Your Dream Blog.
For those who have not been introduced
to the Codex Alimentarius Commission
and its work in the world, this is
the body of international Food Safety experts
who determine in a round about way what our children
ate this morning for nutrition in our schools.
They set the standard for nutrition by the things they say
and do not say. Their Food Safety Rules,
to some extent help the trading of commodities
around the world. When a nation complies with
the Food Rules expressed by the mulit-nation
assembly of the Codex, that nation is looked upon
favorably.
that went through
the House of Represenatives last July in a matter of days,
as well as the upcoming #s-510 that will be passing
through the Senate. Watch C-Span and be sure to keep
set your VCR or DVD to capture the historic sessions
as the senators help our nation come into alignment
with the international regulatory body of the Codex.
The talks in the House were stunning and fascinating
to watch last July. I need to do some research on the web
to bring some of these points of view to you.
I mistakenly erased my copies. I did not think
much of them at the time.
There were numbers of House of Representatives
who voted to defeat #USblll 2749. The first day
the congress was embarrassed. The bill was defeated.
Their was a tremendous internet outcry. The Dingell-
Harvey Waxman house led committed regrouped and sent
a modified version of #USBill 2749 through the House
within 24 hours. Special rules were inacted. Most
who voted for the bill never read it. It passed.
This was a good thing. Reading so many words
can hurt the eyesight and insight.
I loved watching the debate on #USBill 2749 on C-Span.
I am sure the passage of #s-510 will be equally worth
watching. I highly recommend that those of you tell
your friends who watch daytime soap operas to switch
over to C-Span. The bill will be on TV some time
soon in March. Amazing true to life T.V., the best
reality T.V. show I know, U.S. Government in action.
Back to my point: Food Justice and Injustice.
There is an issue of Food Safety I want to bring to your
attention. There is a chemical in cans approved
by my allies at the FDA. The chemical is called
Bisphenol-A. The FDA deems Bisphenol-A safe.
That is likely why it is not an issue of Food Safety
and is outside the scope of the Food Safety Moderization Act
#s-510.
More info can be found at the links below.
I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING
A REP OF THE FDA at MY LOCAL HILLCREST
FARMERS MARKET SOON
With the passage of #s-510, we will have
more FDA oversight not only over cans with
Bisphenol-A, but regulating our local farmers.
This is likely a good move. We have too many
local, organic farmers. Local, organic farmers
are the cornerstone of authentic Food Safety
in America, the locals say.
The passage of #s-510 will ensure that
our big agricultural commody farmers
have new Food Safety laws to protect them.
The passage of #s-510 will give them tons
more paperwork to do. The same amount
of paperwork will be passed along to the
small organic farmers. These organic small
farmers do not have enough work on their hands.
They get up at 5 AM in the morning and work till late
at night, so added hours of paperwork will help
keep them waking up earlier and working later.
Passage of #s-510 will will keep them
from saying "Happiness is organic" each morning.
I do not want to make life easier on our local organic
farmers, as they
do their best to grow what they call
the last "Real Food" in America.
SPENDING GOOD MONEY
FOR A GOOD PURPOSE
As every intelligent person in America knows,
our FDA, and their local representatives, will
benefit from the additional billions of dollars
that it will take to enforce the new regulations.
I do not think we actually know how much money
it will cost to regulate Food Safety.
I highly recommend that President Obama
set aside one more trillion for this.
The idea of supporting local organic farmers
will be a very silly idea. If we had one million
more of them in America, we would have
earth-based homeland security. I do not
think this is a good idea.
The passage of s-510 will give us many more
FDA representatives and bring them into closer contact
with the law enforcement agencies on the state
level who will benefit from these additional funds.
There have been few instances where local organic
farmers have run into the same Food Safety contamination issues
as their larger brethren in Ag, both the larger
scale organic farmers or the conventional farmers
that help support our valuable pesticide industries.
I want to thank Representative Dingell #US BILL 2749,
and their counterparts
in the Senate for pushing through on #s-510 quickly
so the public is not distracted by the unnecessary
information that might be coming out both about
Bisphenol-A, or healthy locally produced organic food.
It is good that the Food Safety Moderization Act
does not listen to the many local organic farmers
who are in Washington now attempted to get them
to understand what it really takes to grow a healthy
head of lettuce.
My allies on the Codex Alementarius Commission
deserve accolates for letting us all know that nutrients
are toxins, and nutrition has little to do with health.
This is their position. They deserve accolates for
helping Europe lower the dosages within supplements
to the levels of sugar coated pills.
I am disappointed in Senator John McCain for withdrawing
his support of a bill that was headed through congress
that would also have lowered our high potency levels
within our natural supplement industry.
The natural product industry is a 96 Billion a year industry,
and the organic industry at around 23 Billion a year.
I am concerned about this.
If we do not put stops to the growth of this industry
there is no telling where they are headed.
OTHER NOTES
FOX NEWS TO THE RESCUE
LINKS To LOOK AT
Plastic disaster breaks through to mainstream:
scandal over bisphenol-A
Despite the obviously questionable use of synthetic materials pervasive in a society ruled by profit maximizers, and several warnings in the news, little has changed until perhaps now. Blind faith in scientific progress for daily convenience also delays full realization of the error of plastics-dependence. Overcoming this may be harder than punishing corporate wrongdoers and banning chemicals.
John Dingell, Democratic Congressman of Michigan, has successfully defended Detroit's automakers for decades. This has assured the optimum pollution and energy waste associated with millions of cars made each year. But when a powerful politician has seen fit to maintain a friendly relationship with a major industry, he or she can be free to compensate or seek redemption by pursuing justice and environmental protection in other areas. Now he finds himself in a major role as a Congressional committee chairman (Commerce and Energy) spearheading the investigation of the Food and Drug Administration's hiding the clear danger of bisphenol-A.
LET ME REPEAT
spearheading the investigation of the Food and Drug Administration's hiding the clear danger of bisphenol-A.
spearheading the investigation of the Food and Drug Administration's hiding the clear danger of bisphenol-A.
___
Bisphenol-A is the basic component of hard plastics that include baby bottles, linings of food cans, sealants for jars and bottles, and other well-known products that modern people have become dependent on. After several years of news stories about scientific studies and a few legislative attempts to ban or regulate bisphenol-A and other poisonous plastics, a scandal has just emerged involving U.S. government favoritism for corporate perpetrators.
Plastics such as bisphenol-A cause breast cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, obesity, and birth defects -- although the evidence is often argued to apply so far only to laboratory animals. Other common plastics posing great danger include phthalates (softeners) and PVC (for piping, flooring, containers, etc.).
___
CONGRESSMAN DINGELL was the main
proponent of #US BILL 2749. This bill for Food Safety
was under his name when it passed the House
last July. Rep Harvey Waxman also worked very
strongly on it. The rush it get it passed helped get
it through without the mainstream press getting too
wise. My fellows and Ladies are the press may are
the same who eat cans with Bisphenol-A that
has an effect on how we think clearly.
THIS IS MY FAVORITE QUOTE OF 2009
GIVEN AT THE KUCINICH HEARINGS ON
LEAFY GREENS
MR MICHAEL TAYLOR UPDATES US ON CODEX
ALIMENTARIUS IN HIS TESTIMONY JULY 29
In addition, FDA is leading an effort
through the Codex Alimentarius Commission,
the international food safety standards body,
with support of the Food and Agriculture Organization
World Health Organization, to develop
commodity-specific annexes
to the Codex hygienic code for fresh fruit
and vegetable production,
starting with an annex for fresh leafy
vegetables and herbs.
In June 2009, FDA conducted the first Codex international
elechonic working group with members of the Codex Committee
on Food Hygiene (CCFH)
to advance the drafr Annex for Fresh Leafy Vegetables
to the next stage of completion. In November 2009,
CCFH will consider how to proceed
with the next tier of priority commodities.
The problem is that Codex is dominated by Europe and Europe is putting into place an increasingly restrictive regime on supplements. Under this regime, a supplement containing more beta carotene than a couple of carrots is deemed dangerous, as is a supplement containing more lycopene (0.5mg) than might be found in a day’s consumption of tomatoes. Just to make it sillier, lycopene as a food additive is approved without limit by the world body Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) despite the European limit on supplement use.
These are European rules; they are not yet Codex rules. But because Europe has the dominant voice in Codex, it is quite likely that these same standards will be embraced by Codex. Why not? Even the US government, as presently represented by the anti-supplement FDA, would readily go along with these standards.
Why, by the way, does the FDA agree with the Europeans? We think the Agency’s judgment is warped by the fact that it depends so heavily on drug approval fees, and it also takes the view that unapproved supplements are competing with the approved drugs, even though absolutely no health claims by supplement producers are allowed. In other words, we think that the FDA has been captured by commercial drug interests, and that the FDA would welcome a chance to use Codex to shut down the supplement industry as we know it.
What does the Senate bill actually say about Codex? In section 306 (c) 5, it commits the U.S government to an objective of international "harmonization" of food and supplement standards through the Codex Alimentarius process. The actual words of the bill instruct government agencies to develop "Recommendations to harmonize requirements under the Codex Alimentarius." This presumably means harmonize all countries, not just the U.S., but certainly includes the U.S. This is more than the elephant getting its nose under the tent. This almost amounts to a pre-endorsement of Codex standards, not yet completed, by the U.S Senate. Clearly this provision should be deleted from the bill and the sooner the better.
PART OF THE DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN
AGAINST #HR2749
* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers. [This astounding control opens the door to CODEX. WTO "good farming practices" will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industry's products. They will be slaves on the land, doing the work they are ordered to do - against their own best wisdom - and paying out to industry against their will. There will be no way to be frugal, to grow one's own grain to feed the animals, to raise healthy animals without GMO grains or drugs, to work with nature at all. Grassfed cattle and poultry and hogs will be finished. So, it's obvious where control will take us. And weren't these the "rumors on the internet" that were dismissed but are clearly the case?]
Alert Webmaster
