The American Codex, part two

To recap where I've been the last few posts-

SB 510 (even with the much ballyhooed Tester Amendment) will firmly place American agriculture under the jackboots of the Department of Homeland Security, the Food and Drug Administration, not to mention the monumental juggernaut of the US Dept of Agriculture.

No where does it address the failings of the safeguards currently on the books, by the way. It does not fund more inspectors, training for those inspectors, or even increase the frequency of them. The food processing industry as a whole, is pretty much free to police themselves, within the vast sea of regulations and permitting processes which manages to make about one visit every five years. Note that I stated "food processing", not food production.

Per the directives of the Codex Alimentarius (originating from the UN, and which the United States has adopted), all foods grown in the US will eventually be held to the same standard as the "global community". In theory, this is supposed to help with trade-but, many US products are not allowed into Europe or even China as it is now. The reasons are complex but include the current modern methods of intense agricultural production. Herbicides, pesticides, GMO plants, RoundUp Ready seed, etc, are part of what makes the US one of the "bread baskets" of the entire world.

But SB 510 is not just about trade. It is actually about control of the nation's food supply, disguised as "protecting" it.

The mandates it contains are frightening to anyone who thinking about getting into agriculture, even in a small way. Even my tiny business, which I had hoped to expand, would not be exempt. Never mind the $500,000 in gross sales and 275 mile geographical limits contained within the Tester Amendment. Nope, I get to jump through an incredible variety of regulations. Not only that, the USDA and FDA are handed unlimited powers to create any regulations they chose. They have a year to craft these, then impose them on America's family farms, from tiny niche organic producers to mega farms growing mono cultures. One language change within the bill, gives the Department of Homeland Security (Yes, DHS) the power to confiscate your LAND if they have "reason to believe" an outbreak of some sort has occurred, or that a threat to a food supply exists.

Not proof, mind you, but just a suspicion. Anyone who grows anything that ends up in the commercial food chain is subject to this. That includes U picks, and road stands if you didn't know. So, Pyrah's in the Butte falls under their control. So does Palmer Produce, and many other local farms, both large and small. And, even if they don't realize it yet, nearly every single forage producer is included also. Why? Because their forages do generally end up in our food supply. Hay and grain is grown which is fed to beef cattle which are then butchered which is then sold to the public, that's how.

The devil is in the details in that bill, and you cannot find this information easily. As soon as I relocated the correct link with all annotated pages, I will add it to this entry.

The promised link:


http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-510