The Clandestine War Over the Food Safety Modernization Act

Is the day coming when even your home garden will be against the law?

Brian Doherty | April 20, 2009

Critics say that the proposed Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (H.R. 875), introduced in early February by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), will “effectively criminalize organic gardening,” conceivably outlaw “seed banking,” and will serve as part of a concerted Monsanto conspiracy to drive all but corporate agri-business out of the food production racket.

According to the office of Rep. DeLauro, the bill was inspired by a recent wave of contaminated food recalls and is supported by consumer groups both organic and non-organic. The bill should also, if it has the effect of increasing consumer confidence in the food supply promised, be of ultimate benefit to big food production companies whose livelihoods depend on public trust in the food supply.* (Which means that they have every incentive to police themselves, and in the enormous staggering majority of the time they manage to do business without killing or harming their customers.)

Indian farmers commit mass suicide

DEBT related to crop failures has driven more than 1500 farmers in the Indian state of Chattisgarh to commit suicide. The Indian Government recently waivered $15 billion worth of farmer loans, but it had no effect on those who were forced into private arrangements with local money-lenders. More than 10,000 of India’s farmers have killed themselves in the past decade. *A popular crop is BT Cotton (GMO); they drink the pesticide when it fails.

EU, Bayer’s GM rice to be approved
GreenPlanet – April 10, 2009

According to APCOM, this would be the first EU authorization to a GMO directly destined to human consumption and not to be fodder for livestock, like the several GM maize types allowed until now. LL62 rice type has been modified with a gene that makes the plant tolerant to glufosinate weed-killer produced by Bayer under the brands “Basta” and “Libery” (LL stands for Liberty Link). The genetic modification allows farmers to spread the weed-killer on rice cultivations, thus destroying all infesting plants without affecting the rice itself. IN 2007 glufosinate has been re-allowed in the EU for 10 years, according to pesticide regulations at that time. EFSA, however, in 2007 gave its technical “all clear” to LL62 rice, though in 2005 its opinion was quite alarming about this herbicide’s toxicity for reproduction, concluding that there were “high risks” for mammals in case of swallowing, “acute risk” for children, and – in few cases – also for farmers who have been exposed for too long. Precisely for this “repro-toxicity”, indeed, glufosinate is to be banned in EU from 2017 (the authorization won’t be renewed anymore), according to what is provided by the “black list” in the new EU regulation on pesticide, voted by the European Parliament last January.

Soybean growers protest water-quality research
Minneapolis Star Tribune – April 9, 2009

What started as a $600,000 project to improve water quality in rural Minnesota is in jeopardy after soybean growers protested, causing funders to reconsider and send the money to more cooperative states. The controversy centers around a $5 million initiative that Monsanto Co., which produces seeds and herbicide, announced last December in an attempt to reduce fertilizer runoff and sediment in the Mississippi River. It planned to work with farmers and conservation groups to measure whether different methods of fertilizing, tilling, and filtering runoff improved stream water quality or affected crop yields.

Organic Kicks Monoculture Ass
Mother Jones – April 6, 2009

The simple conclusion: Diversified systems were more profitable than monocropping and organic systems were more profitable than the Midwestern standards of continuous corn, no-till corn, no-till soybeans, and intensively managed alfalfa. Even adding risk premiums into the equation did not give monoculture the edge expected by the researchers. Bottom line: monoculture is riskier and less profitable than organic and rotational farming.

Is There a Federal Attack on Organic Food Production?
GreenPlanet.Net – March 24, 2009

John C. Hammell, president of International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF), believes so. He cites Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, the sponsor of HR 875, introduced in February 2009. DeLauro’s husband is Stan Greenberg, a political strategist. Another “food safety” bill that has organic and small farmers worried is the brainchild of another Democrat, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, who last September introduced S. 425, the Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act. Brown’s bill is backed by lobbyists for Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland and Tyson. It was introduced in September and has been referred to the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. Some say the legislation could also put small farmers out of business. Like HR 875, the measure establishes a nationwide “traceability system” monitored by the Food and Drug Administration for all stages of manufacturing, processing, packaging and distribution of food. It would cost $40 million over three years.

Federal Ban on Organic Farms/Gardens
OpEdNews – March 11, 2009

Henry Kissinger once said control of food means control of people. We have now three urgent legislative matters that dictate we can eat only “frankenfood” and drink toxic liquids: any codex alimentarius material; HR 875 and S 425, which prohibit organic farming and gardening for personal use. This is fascism at its finest, folks.

The bills are speculated to have been funded by agri-business giants including Monsanto. The threat of the new standards is that only approveed seeds, fertilizers, and farming methods could be used, and if Monsanto gets their way, all farms and gardens be growing their plants and using their products. That is definitely a scary thought.

Putting the Dangers of Frankenstein Foods On The Table
NewsBlaze – March 10, 2009

Prof. Jeffrey M. Smith of the Institute for Responsible Technology, USA, has authored the internationally renowned book, ‘Genetic Roulette – The Documented Health Risks Of Genetically Engineered Foods’, which illustrates how the world’s most powerful biotech companies mislead critics and put the health of societies at risk. In an interview, Prof. Smith, who has spearheaded a revolutionary industry and consumer movement to remove GMOs from the US food supply, talks about the dangers that Indian farmers and consumers face from genetically engineered crops and genetically modified foods.

Monsanto’s Dream Bill, HR 875
OpEdNews – March 9, 2009

HR 875 was introduced by Rosa DeLauro,
whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto!

The bill is monstrous on level after level – the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international “industrial” standards to independent farms – the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.

The corporations want the land, they want more intensive industrialization, they want the end of normal animals so they can substitute patented genetically engineered ones they own, they want the end of normal seeds and thus of seed banking by farmers or individuals. They want control over all seeds, animals, water, and land.