Wednesday
Mar112009
Tyranny on YOUR TABLE!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 12:00PM
I'll keep this short: HR875 is in the house right now. It is basically A Federal Take-Over of Food Regulation. It's couched as a food safety act. It will significantly impact your choices as both a consumer and as an individual.
Regardless of size or product a farm produces - under the bill, farms are designated as ‘food production facilities’. Within the vagueness of this legislation the Federal government potentially has the capacity to:
Stop the sale of non-traceable seed lines (read heirloom varieties)
Inspect small farm operations (read road side stands)
No farm may produced good that are not inspected (read "farm fresh" egg sales)
The bill clearly states "Custom slaughterhouses and those farms processing poultry, officially and unofficially, under the federal exemption granted by Public Law 90-492 would now not be able to slaughter unless an FSA inspector is present." (read - no chickens)
THOSE ABOVE PROVISIONS APPLY TO INDIVIDUAL GARDENS AS WELL UNDER THE DEFINITIONS WITHIN THE House VERSION OF THE BILL. (this is Federal legislation - so YOUR state would be impacted)
There are several other items that are disturbing to say the least - but here's the bottom line:
The requirements this bill introduces to the operations of small farms and the intrusive Federal control it creates over small farm operations threaten the future viability of sustainable agriculture and the local food movement.
Please don't just surf away from here after reading this today - please take a moment to follow the links below and let your elected representation know you oppose this bill - both the House and Senate versions.
Who's your House Rep?
Who's your Senator?
House Version of the Bill
Senate Version of the Bill
Farmers Defense Fund
Regardless of size or product a farm produces - under the bill, farms are designated as ‘food production facilities’. Within the vagueness of this legislation the Federal government potentially has the capacity to:
Stop the sale of non-traceable seed lines (read heirloom varieties)
Inspect small farm operations (read road side stands)
No farm may produced good that are not inspected (read "farm fresh" egg sales)
The bill clearly states "Custom slaughterhouses and those farms processing poultry, officially and unofficially, under the federal exemption granted by Public Law 90-492 would now not be able to slaughter unless an FSA inspector is present." (read - no chickens)
THOSE ABOVE PROVISIONS APPLY TO INDIVIDUAL GARDENS AS WELL UNDER THE DEFINITIONS WITHIN THE House VERSION OF THE BILL. (this is Federal legislation - so YOUR state would be impacted)
There are several other items that are disturbing to say the least - but here's the bottom line:
The requirements this bill introduces to the operations of small farms and the intrusive Federal control it creates over small farm operations threaten the future viability of sustainable agriculture and the local food movement.
Please don't just surf away from here after reading this today - please take a moment to follow the links below and let your elected representation know you oppose this bill - both the House and Senate versions.
Who's your House Rep?
Who's your Senator?
House Version of the Bill
Senate Version of the Bill
Farmers Defense Fund
tagged commentary, sustainability in Farm Life
commentary, sustainability in Farm Life
Reader Comments (4)
I can't even believe how ridiculous this is! It's CPSIA for food. I can only fight so many battles, but I will be contacting my representatives....hopefully we can stop this before it happens, unlike CPSIA. Again, it's the people who offer alternatives to large corporation made food/goods that are getting hurt. Whether it's toys, clothes or food, we are losing our right to choose.
You are absolutely right (for readers who are not familiar with CPSIA - that's the already passed Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)you may have head about in the news - the law that makes reselling some articles of clothing at thrift stores, hand made & natural toys, clothes & other similar children's products, ... the list goes on and on) - it was/is a pile of manure - and this legislation is simply another removal of the right to choose.
This is disgusting government at it's worst.
I not only contacted my elected officials, I joined some face book groups regarding this, and I contacted a local news blogger in my area. I've gotten a very positive response from him in regards to CPSIA, perhaps we can stop this thing before it gets too far.
BTW This is Misty Torrey, Josh Torrey's wife :)
@MistySeptember - HELLO!