Food Safety Laws Signing on January 4, 2011
Born under a bad sign;
Passed the house on the winter solstice
and lunar eclipse, signed on the Solar Eclispe,
what is up with this bill?
Date: 1/3/2011 11:28:26 PM ( 13 y ) ... viewed 16141 times
FOOD SAFEtY NEWS ABOUt THE SIGNING
YESTERDAY
FOOD POLITICS
Historic Food Safety Bill Signed into Law
BY HELENA BOTTEMILLER | JAN 05, 2011
Using 15 pens, President Obama signed the long-awaited FDA Food Safety Modernization Act into law Tuesday evening.
The legislation, widely hailed as the most sweeping update to U.S. food safety law since the Great Depression, survived a constitutional slip-up, repeated filibuster threats, fierce debate over controversial amendments, and managed to advance amidst a jam-packed legislative agenda in one of the most productive Congresses in recent history. In the last 18 months, food safety legislation cleared the Senate twice and the House three times.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday plans to sign into law a sweeping overhaul of the nation's food safety regulations that has been more than two years in the making.
But actually implementing the law created following a massive 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak that was traced to Georgia peanut products still faces some major obstacles -- including a potentially big one from a Georgia congressman.
Republican U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah has said he doesn't think the overhaul of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is worth the $1.4 billion it is expected to cost over the next five years. Kingston is the front-runner for chairmanship of the House Appropriations subcommittee that is responsible for funding the FDA.
AMAZING BUT TRUE
Vilsack calls for a "new paradigm"
In an open letter to Ag stakeholders released on Dec. 30, 2010, Secretary Vilsack called for "a new paradigm of coexistence and cooperation" among farmers who grow both genetically engineered and non-GE crops, to ensure that "all forms of agriculture thrive so that food can remain abundant, affordable, and safe." The letter came just two weeks after USDA completed its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa, the status of which has been tied up in litigation since 2005.
*Stabenow takes over Senate Ag
For only the second time in history, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will be led by a woman. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will be taking over the powerful committee; former chair Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) lost her seat in the midterms. Michigan has a diverse Ag economy, with one in four citizens employed in the Ag sector, and Stabenow is considered well informed, and she is well regarded. With the 2012 Farm Bill coming up, Stabenow pledged to approach the gargantuan task in a bipartisan manner.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, as we begin writing a new farm bill that once again recognizes the importance of America’s agricultural economy and rural communities," Stabenow said in a statement about her chairmanship.
*Lucas takes over House Ag
Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) will chair the House Agriculture Committee, and he's already issued a statement promising to hold oversight hearings to investigate the EPA, thanks to the agency's "fondness for overreaching regulations that defy Congressional intent and threaten production agriculture and rural economies.” See above: That apparently offensive EPA statement on Roundup Ready alfalfa. As for the Farm Bill, Lucas is promising legislation that reaches for the stars: http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2011/01/upcoming-in-obama-food-ag-initiati...
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