Rosemary's Sharebook 

Ani L. Schwartz Arroyo Seco, NM @ 04:38PM PST Apr 12

Initiated this Pledge @ Change.org

Educating Congress: Do Not Supress Organic and Small Farmers and Ranchers; Natural Food Products

Farmers Under Attack...

This urgent message is from our correspondent, Linn Cohen-Cole:

We have just weeks to stop the take over of family farms and ranches,organic and natural foods.

H.R. 875 and S. 425 [and similar bills such a H.R. 759]

We need to rally people immediately. 
The new administration is pushing new farm controls through Congress as fast as possible and have coordinated the bills so there will be no debate and the committee meetings are closed.  

Transparency, change, undoing Bush's regulations, giving the public time to comment, grassroots anything?  Our entire food system and thus our health is being decided without the public knowing and those who do know have zero access and the media is absent and they are moving at warp speed to sew this up.

Would you put these out, in this order, showing the article as you do so people are more likely to read it?  They are imperfect but the closest I've come to explaining how the game is going to be played.  No direct, frontal assault on organic farming but an insidious process of "infecting" organic farming...  

Example: imagine Joel Salatin's wonderful organic farm under the direction of the USDA, with detailed instructions on what he must feed and when, how he must medically "treat" his animals and with what, what he must "spray" and when, ... you get the picture. 

These bills will industrialize all farms and insure the farmers are forced to buy chemicals and drugs.  Organic is dead.  As well as human control over the food supply.  As well as health.

Schoolmarm approach to punishing farmers out of farming. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-and-the-Schoolmar-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090214-935.html

Bills being rushed through Congress, set to destroy organic farming.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-bills-being-rushe-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090217-758.html

Bills being rushed through Congress, set to destroy organic farming.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-bills-being-rushe-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090217-758.html
 
Linn Cohen-Cole is a dedicated researcher and "Paul Revere" of health freedom. At her urging, we've set up an Action Item for you to send an unmistakable message to your representatives in the Senate and the House. We must educate Congress that you do not want organic and small farmers regulated out of existence. You do not want "Big Agra" regulations, perhaps necessary to protect the public when dealing with large scale agra business, applied to organic and small family farms and ranches or to natural and organic food products, including Dietary Supplements.

LINK: Send a message to Congress.  
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-criminalization-of-see-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090301-82.html     

EDITABLE PETITION:

Protecting Organic and Small Family Farms and Ranches; Natural Food Products

Natural Solutions Foundation, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org, as part of its efforts to educate Congress regarding the inestimable benefits of health care freedom of choice, asked its hundreds of thousands of supporters to let our Congressional representatives know about our concerns for the protection of organic and small family farms and ranches from new legislation and regulation that is more properly applied to large-scale agricultural businesses.

Our concern focuses on pending legislation to establish a “Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services.” This bill is H.R. 875 and the Senate is considering a similar bill, S. 425. While we do support DIVESTING THE FDA and USDA of their often mis-used food authority, we do not support these bills. AS MY CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE, I WANT YOU TO VOTE AGAINST THESE BILLS and any substitutes, such as H.R. 759.

If Congress insists upon passing these bills, it is very important that Congress write into these bills specific language protecting organic and small family farms and ranches. These enterprises and all natural products, including organic and natural food products and Dietary Supplements, must be exempted from the controls of these bills.

Such products and such farms and ranches are not part of the food safety problem. The problem is with mega-farms and agra business facilities.

We demand that our natural and organic food products, Dietary Supplements and their producers be protected from the increased regulation of food producers provided in these pending bills and any similar enactments.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Health Freedom was one of the Top Ten Social Issues on Change.org and was added to the President's Briefing Book on Change.gov - “Health Freedom is Our First Freedom!”

Addendum: Kindly accept this PETITION requesting that Congress amend the pending bills to include a specified Rule of Interpretation:

PETITION

To Amend the Food Safety Modernization Act
H.R. 875 [and Substitutes]

By the Addition of the

Natural and Family Food and Farming Exclusion Amendment

To:  The Members of the Congress of the United States of America:

Whereas the proposed Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services should focus its activities on the significant public administration issues involving the capacity of large scale, industrialized agriculture to threaten public safety,

Whereas organic and natural agriculture, family farms and ranches, and natural or organic food products, including dietary supplements are not a significant part of the food safety problem, and

Whereas Congress previously provided for an exemption for natural food dietary supplements from the increased agency authority granted by the FDA Modernization Act of 2007, through a rule of interpretation, added as section 1011 of that Act, and has on numerous occasions exempted small and family farms from the same level of regulation as has been deemed necessary in the case of industrialized agriculture,

The citizens ascribing to this Petition therefore hereby request that the Food Safety Modernization Act be defeated, or that it, or any substitute for it, such as H.R. 759, be amended to exclude organic and natural agriculture, family farms and ranches, and natural or organic food products, including dietary supplements, through a rule of interpretation, as follows:

“Rule of Interpretation

“No provision of this act shall be deemed to apply (a) to any home, home-business, homestead, small farm organic or natural agricultural activity, (b) to any family farm or ranch, or (c) to any natural or organic food product, including dietary supplements regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.”

We also note the language of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 USC sec 203 (s) (2) which provides, "(2) Any establishment that has as its only regular employees the owner thereof or the parent, spouse, child, or other member of the immediate family of such owner shall not be considered to be an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce or a part of such an enterprise..." Language such as this would be helpful to allay our concerns.

If the FDA Center for Food Safety is to be moved into a new Food Safety Agency, then Dietary Supplements, regulated as foods under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) should be included in such agency, with the proviso that such substances, as foods, are deemed safe when used as directed.

Furthermore, the ascribing citizens Petition the Congress of the United States to declare it the public policy of the United States that organic and natural agriculture, family farms and ranches, and natural or organic food products, including dietary supplements shall be at all times free from suit, vexation, trouble, penalty, or loss of their goods, for the inestimable values they confer upon the public.

This action is shared between food, healthcare, global health, humanitarian aid, fair trade, poverty, genocide