FDA Rules Threaten Organic Farmers
by William Bigelow 23 Feb 2014,
12:03 AM PDT
The Food and Drug Administration was given permission by Congress in
2010 to regulate practices on farms across the nation. Now small farms, many of whom use organic farming
techniques, are finding that the methods they have been using for years,
including spreading house-made fertilizers, tilling their farmland with grazing
animals, and irrigating with water from open creeks, are coming under assault.
The 2010 act, titled the Food Safety Modernization Act, was a response to data
that showed 3,000 people die every year in the U.S. from tainted food, while tens
of millions are made ill from eating food that is tainted. Concerns about
bioterrorism also played a role.
In 2011, 33 people died across the
nation from eating tainted cantaloupes, which triggered the FDA to be more aggressive in pursuing
its supervision of farms.
Dave Runsten, policy director for
Community Alliance with Family Farmers in Davis,
Calif., said, "They are going to drive farms out of business. The
consumer groups behind this don't understand farming. They talk out of both
sides of their mouth. They demand these one-size-fits-all regulations, then
say, 'I don't want to hurt those cute little farmers at the farmers market. I
shop at the farmers market.' It is frustrating."
It doesn’t help the FDA’s case
when they sound out-of-touch; just recently Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
chastised Michael Taylor, a deputy commissioner with the FDA, noting that one
draft set of rules from the FDA wrote that kale is "never consumed
raw." She responded, "I was going to offer to make a kale salad for
you. It causes you to wonder if those who are writing these rules have ever set
foot on a farm."
But Caroline Smith DeWaal, food
safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, had a
different view, saying, "We don't believe large facilities are the only
place where outbreaks are happening." She noted that farm-to-fork growers
need to see that E. coli and other bacteria are a danger to their produce just
as much as they are to the produce of giant processing plants. She added,
"At the end of the day, consumers will be paying a little bit more for
this. But a few cents here may help avoid a severe illness."
Meanwhile, examples abound of
farms losing business as a result of the FDA’s rules; Don Bessemer, the owner
of the last working farm in Akron,
Ohio, which had fed locals for
117 years, gave up, and 30 workers lost their jobs. Bessemer commented to the Akron Beacon
Journal that he would fight pests and even drought, but not bureaucrats.
Taylor pointed out that the FDA is softening its stance; and
added that thousands of the smallest farms would be exempt from new inspections.
Food and Drug Administration
Margaret A.
Hamburg is the commissioner for the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Note: Ted Turner is a
co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and the founder of CNN.
Walter
Isaacson was the chairman & CEO for CNN, and is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think
tank), the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Stewart A. Resnick
is a benefactor for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the chancellor's
advisory board member for the University
of California at Davis.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director
at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think
tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Donald
Kennedy was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Mark B. McClellan
was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a commissioner
for the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
James J. Duderstadt
is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the chancellor's
advisory board member for the University
of California at Davis.
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
David
J. Lane was the director of policy & public affairs for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the
assistant to the president & counselor to the chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration, a member
of the Advisory Committee for Trade
Policy and Negotiations, and is the U.S. representative for the United Nations Agencies for Food and
Agriculture.
Bob
Stallman is a member of the Advisory
Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and the president for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
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