44. Vote NO to H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 – The penchant of congress to give bills glorified names is astonishing. This bill is another example of such miss labeling. The March 16th, 2009, version of this bill was very broadly defined. The definition of farmer could affect everyone in this country that grows produce for sale or even back yard gardens. This bill would mandate federally approved fertilizer, food additives, and herbicides. This bill was introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro [D-CT] who is married to a former Monsanto representative. Whether this bill was written by Monsanto, is anyone’s guess. This bill places very stiff penalties to anyone who goes against this law, up to and including one million dollar fine, even to first offenders. Essentially, this bill is anti-organic legislation that must be voted down. It requires farms to tag each produce item as to when it was harvested and by whom.
• The driving ideal of this bill is to introduce food protection legislation, but most of the food problems that our nation has faced were originated not at the producer level but at the processing level. Food processing businesses under the sponsorship of Bush’s initiative of self regulation, has found it is cost effective to cut corners on food safety. Legislation to enforce food safety should be focused on the food processers and not the food producers.
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