unipax
04-30-2009, 02:56 AM
Not nice. Just re-define seed as 'food'
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Re: URGENT - New law threatens US organic food industry
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=91687.0
Email from IAHF President: John Hammell
No MONSANTO!!.....Their Whore DeLauro.........Defend Organics & Backyard Gardening: Kill HR 875!!IAHF List: This entire alert should be pondered against the backdrop of this article and cartoon: US Government Busts Monsanto for Bribery.... http://www.flag-sa.org/blog/2007/07/us-government-busts-monsanto-for_28.htmlIf you lack the time to read this entire alert, please at least scroll to the bottom where in RED you'll see a link to click on to TAKE ACTION against HR 875 which threatens to destroy organic farming in America and even to target backyward gardeners!!! (Please do so REPEATEDLY even if you already have!)See this article "Obama Targets Food Safety" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401600.htmlSee what he's saying about his daughter and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? He has no clue whats contained within the Monsanto driven language of HR 875, the so called "Food Safety Modernization Act" which has language so overly broad, and so dangerous it could drive every organic farmer in America out of business, and even be used to target backyard gardeners, ironically, even including his own wife who just created an organic "victory garden" on the South Lawn of the White House: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_garden http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/michelle-obama-gardenhttp://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/white.house.garden/?iref=mpstoryview As I hope you can see from the Washington Post article above, there will be HUGE PRESSURE on Obama to sign a "Food Safety" bill into law, and all of us are going to have to work OVERTIME to get the dangerous language stripped out of these bills BEFORE they reach his desk, because if we DON'T, mark my words, he WILL SIGN this bill into law, his wife's organic garden notwithstanding, due to the enormous political pressure on him.WHAT IAHF IS DOING TO TRY TO KILL OR AMEND THIS BILLIn an effort to apply pressure on DeLauro directly from Obama and his wife, today I contacted Alice Waters, owner of Chez Pannisse Restaurant in Berkeley, CA who directly influenced Michelle Obama to create her organic "victory garden" on the white house lawn. I learned from communicating with the restaurant that Waters is well aware of the dangers lurking within HR 875 and related so called "Food Safety" bills, but that she was grappling with exactly how to go about approaching Michelle Obama about this due to the sensitivity of the situation.I'm trying to light a fire under her ass by telling her flat out what our political reality here is and why it would be a mistake to assume that just because his wife wouldn't want it that he won't sign this bill into law. I'm also contacting all the organic gardening clubs in Connecticut, especially in DeLauro's district, and also those within the Districts of the cosponsors of HR 875 and related Food Safety bills, if you'd like to help me do this please send a quick email to me at jham@iahf.com and in t he subject line put "want to help" and your phone #.I'm also urging ALL of you to utilize the TAKE ACTION info at th end of this mssg.Congresswoman Rosa De Lauro, sponsor of HR 875 The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 belongs in jail along with her husband (Stanley Greenberg) owner of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. This is one of the worst conflicts of interest I've ever seen regarding a piece of legislation. Right on the front page of Greenberg's website it lists Monsanto as a client.http://www.greenbergresearch.com/index.php?ID=109 (Greenberg's consulting firm provides research to corporations and to political campaigns to help them with "strategic decisions." I notice that his firm has in particular assisted numerous Democratic members of Congress with their elections. This fact is NOT going to help us get any justice from the House Committee of Standards of Official Conduct which is chaired by Democrat Zoe Lofgren with Jo Bonner as the ranking Republican member.)HR 875 directly benefits Monsanto by stopping organic farmers from saving seeds. It imposes a level of red tape that no small farmer could possibly afford to comply with- threatening to impose gigantic fines of a million dollars a day or 10 years in prison for non- compliance. Below you'll find a solid analysis of the bill that I haven't previously provided, and below that see how you can communicate with the House Committe on Standards of Official Conduct to raise hell about the inherent conflict of interest De Lauro is caught in vis a vis her husband's firm's business relationship with Monsanto since Monsanto would directly benefit from passage of this bill.Watch how they will be able to easily criminalize seed banking and all holding of seeds. First, to follow how this will be done, you must understand that:
1. there is a small list inside the FDA called "sources of seed contamination" and
2. the FDA has now defined "seed" as food,
3. so seeds can now be controlled through "food safety."
Those seeds (so far) include:
*seeds eaten raw such as flax, poppy sesame, etc.;
*sprouting seeds such as wheat, beans, alfalfa, most greens, etc.;
* seeds pressed into oils such as corn, sunflower, canola, etc.;
*seeds used as animal feed such as soy ....
That includes most seeds. It may even be all seed, given how they are skilled at 'new' definitions.
And what are the "sources of seed contamination" inside the FDA? They include only six little items:
-agricultural water
-manure (but not chemical pesticides or fertilizers)
-harvesting,
- transporting equipment
- seed cleaning (sorting) equipment
-seed storage (storing) facilities
Did you know that seed cleaning equipment is THE single most critical piece of equipment for sustainable agriculture? It is how we collect organic seed. It is the machinery used after the season, when plants "go to seed," to separate out (sort) the seeds from the plant material so the farmer can collect (harvest) and then save (put in storage) seed for the next year at little cost. With his own seed, the farmer also stays free of patented, genetically engineered, corporately privatized seeds.
This year, 2009, one item on the "sources of seed contamination" list is suddenly illegal in some parts of this country - seed cleaning equipment.
To get the drift, perhaps you need to know that the people who clean seed are being wiped out, as well.
How can they make such vital equipment illegal? Quietly, first of all, so as not to alert organic farmers who have a lot of political ties. And by saying it contaminates food. And by applying their innocent and reasonable sounding "minimum standards."
"Contaminate" is their favorite word since the public fears the deadly contamination that industry itself - not farmers - has caused. That fear is valuable. Scare the public and it is easy to get "food safety standards" set without anyone reading them. 39 progressive co-sponsors leap on, thinking this is about "food safety." But it is only about the use of "food safety," not the reality of it
For to eliminate seed cleaning equipment, the FDA simple set minimum "food safety" standards for seed cleaning (the simple separation of seed from plant) such that a farmer would need a million to a million and a half dollar building and/or equipment to meet the new requirements ... per line of seed.
On the ground, where reality lives, a farmer in the midwest who has been seed cleaning flax for 40 years with his hand made seed cleaner now can't sell his flax on the market anymore. Never mind there are NO instances of anyone ever having gotten sick from seed cleaning equipment. And a farmer in another part of the midwest who has been cleaning wheat, corn and soy for years with one single perfectly fine piece of equipment would now need three to four and half million dollars for three separate pieces of equipment, in order to satisfy the "food safety" standards.
The FDA isn't so high-bar setting when it comes to other things like melamine in baby formula. Though it has proven to sicken and kill infants, initially the FDA just denied the melamine was in all the corporate baby formula but when people found evidence that it was, the FDA then quickly supplied a "food safety" standard that defined whatever level of melamine that was in the formula as fine.
This game playing about "food safety" standards - one to eliminate farmers by setting the bar so high no one can climb, and one to protect industry by setting the bar so low nothing need be done - is nothing new but now it is being suddenly extended to seeds. And it comes with penalties that make bankrupting farmers in an instant, very easy.
The effort to eliminate both seed cleaners and seed cleaning equipment tips us off to who is behind this (shhh) and to this new means of controlling seeds and makes it possible to see just a few suspect words in this bill, and sense where things are heading.
Organic farmers are not aware of any of this happening. It appears the organic community is being treated with kid gloves until HR 875 and related bills should be passed, coddled so they don't get wise to what's afoot. And they are too disconnected from traditional farmers to be aware of how the USDA has been tromping on them for years.
continued...next post
*******
Re: URGENT - New law threatens US organic food industry
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=91687.0
Email from IAHF President: John Hammell
No MONSANTO!!.....Their Whore DeLauro.........Defend Organics & Backyard Gardening: Kill HR 875!!IAHF List: This entire alert should be pondered against the backdrop of this article and cartoon: US Government Busts Monsanto for Bribery.... http://www.flag-sa.org/blog/2007/07/us-government-busts-monsanto-for_28.htmlIf you lack the time to read this entire alert, please at least scroll to the bottom where in RED you'll see a link to click on to TAKE ACTION against HR 875 which threatens to destroy organic farming in America and even to target backyward gardeners!!! (Please do so REPEATEDLY even if you already have!)See this article "Obama Targets Food Safety" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401600.htmlSee what he's saying about his daughter and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? He has no clue whats contained within the Monsanto driven language of HR 875, the so called "Food Safety Modernization Act" which has language so overly broad, and so dangerous it could drive every organic farmer in America out of business, and even be used to target backyard gardeners, ironically, even including his own wife who just created an organic "victory garden" on the South Lawn of the White House: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_garden http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/michelle-obama-gardenhttp://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/white.house.garden/?iref=mpstoryview As I hope you can see from the Washington Post article above, there will be HUGE PRESSURE on Obama to sign a "Food Safety" bill into law, and all of us are going to have to work OVERTIME to get the dangerous language stripped out of these bills BEFORE they reach his desk, because if we DON'T, mark my words, he WILL SIGN this bill into law, his wife's organic garden notwithstanding, due to the enormous political pressure on him.WHAT IAHF IS DOING TO TRY TO KILL OR AMEND THIS BILLIn an effort to apply pressure on DeLauro directly from Obama and his wife, today I contacted Alice Waters, owner of Chez Pannisse Restaurant in Berkeley, CA who directly influenced Michelle Obama to create her organic "victory garden" on the white house lawn. I learned from communicating with the restaurant that Waters is well aware of the dangers lurking within HR 875 and related so called "Food Safety" bills, but that she was grappling with exactly how to go about approaching Michelle Obama about this due to the sensitivity of the situation.I'm trying to light a fire under her ass by telling her flat out what our political reality here is and why it would be a mistake to assume that just because his wife wouldn't want it that he won't sign this bill into law. I'm also contacting all the organic gardening clubs in Connecticut, especially in DeLauro's district, and also those within the Districts of the cosponsors of HR 875 and related Food Safety bills, if you'd like to help me do this please send a quick email to me at jham@iahf.com and in t he subject line put "want to help" and your phone #.I'm also urging ALL of you to utilize the TAKE ACTION info at th end of this mssg.Congresswoman Rosa De Lauro, sponsor of HR 875 The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 belongs in jail along with her husband (Stanley Greenberg) owner of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. This is one of the worst conflicts of interest I've ever seen regarding a piece of legislation. Right on the front page of Greenberg's website it lists Monsanto as a client.http://www.greenbergresearch.com/index.php?ID=109 (Greenberg's consulting firm provides research to corporations and to political campaigns to help them with "strategic decisions." I notice that his firm has in particular assisted numerous Democratic members of Congress with their elections. This fact is NOT going to help us get any justice from the House Committee of Standards of Official Conduct which is chaired by Democrat Zoe Lofgren with Jo Bonner as the ranking Republican member.)HR 875 directly benefits Monsanto by stopping organic farmers from saving seeds. It imposes a level of red tape that no small farmer could possibly afford to comply with- threatening to impose gigantic fines of a million dollars a day or 10 years in prison for non- compliance. Below you'll find a solid analysis of the bill that I haven't previously provided, and below that see how you can communicate with the House Committe on Standards of Official Conduct to raise hell about the inherent conflict of interest De Lauro is caught in vis a vis her husband's firm's business relationship with Monsanto since Monsanto would directly benefit from passage of this bill.Watch how they will be able to easily criminalize seed banking and all holding of seeds. First, to follow how this will be done, you must understand that:
1. there is a small list inside the FDA called "sources of seed contamination" and
2. the FDA has now defined "seed" as food,
3. so seeds can now be controlled through "food safety."
Those seeds (so far) include:
*seeds eaten raw such as flax, poppy sesame, etc.;
*sprouting seeds such as wheat, beans, alfalfa, most greens, etc.;
* seeds pressed into oils such as corn, sunflower, canola, etc.;
*seeds used as animal feed such as soy ....
That includes most seeds. It may even be all seed, given how they are skilled at 'new' definitions.
And what are the "sources of seed contamination" inside the FDA? They include only six little items:
-agricultural water
-manure (but not chemical pesticides or fertilizers)
-harvesting,
- transporting equipment
- seed cleaning (sorting) equipment
-seed storage (storing) facilities
Did you know that seed cleaning equipment is THE single most critical piece of equipment for sustainable agriculture? It is how we collect organic seed. It is the machinery used after the season, when plants "go to seed," to separate out (sort) the seeds from the plant material so the farmer can collect (harvest) and then save (put in storage) seed for the next year at little cost. With his own seed, the farmer also stays free of patented, genetically engineered, corporately privatized seeds.
This year, 2009, one item on the "sources of seed contamination" list is suddenly illegal in some parts of this country - seed cleaning equipment.
To get the drift, perhaps you need to know that the people who clean seed are being wiped out, as well.
How can they make such vital equipment illegal? Quietly, first of all, so as not to alert organic farmers who have a lot of political ties. And by saying it contaminates food. And by applying their innocent and reasonable sounding "minimum standards."
"Contaminate" is their favorite word since the public fears the deadly contamination that industry itself - not farmers - has caused. That fear is valuable. Scare the public and it is easy to get "food safety standards" set without anyone reading them. 39 progressive co-sponsors leap on, thinking this is about "food safety." But it is only about the use of "food safety," not the reality of it
For to eliminate seed cleaning equipment, the FDA simple set minimum "food safety" standards for seed cleaning (the simple separation of seed from plant) such that a farmer would need a million to a million and a half dollar building and/or equipment to meet the new requirements ... per line of seed.
On the ground, where reality lives, a farmer in the midwest who has been seed cleaning flax for 40 years with his hand made seed cleaner now can't sell his flax on the market anymore. Never mind there are NO instances of anyone ever having gotten sick from seed cleaning equipment. And a farmer in another part of the midwest who has been cleaning wheat, corn and soy for years with one single perfectly fine piece of equipment would now need three to four and half million dollars for three separate pieces of equipment, in order to satisfy the "food safety" standards.
The FDA isn't so high-bar setting when it comes to other things like melamine in baby formula. Though it has proven to sicken and kill infants, initially the FDA just denied the melamine was in all the corporate baby formula but when people found evidence that it was, the FDA then quickly supplied a "food safety" standard that defined whatever level of melamine that was in the formula as fine.
This game playing about "food safety" standards - one to eliminate farmers by setting the bar so high no one can climb, and one to protect industry by setting the bar so low nothing need be done - is nothing new but now it is being suddenly extended to seeds. And it comes with penalties that make bankrupting farmers in an instant, very easy.
The effort to eliminate both seed cleaners and seed cleaning equipment tips us off to who is behind this (shhh) and to this new means of controlling seeds and makes it possible to see just a few suspect words in this bill, and sense where things are heading.
Organic farmers are not aware of any of this happening. It appears the organic community is being treated with kid gloves until HR 875 and related bills should be passed, coddled so they don't get wise to what's afoot. And they are too disconnected from traditional farmers to be aware of how the USDA has been tromping on them for years.
continued...next post