Stop Big Ag's Food Safety Bill in the Senate

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This is from the Organic Consumers Association

For over a year, the Farm Bureau and large agribusiness trade organizations have
pretended to support a version of Senate Bill S.510, the Food Safety Modernization
Act, which included essential amendments exempting small organic and sustainable
farmers from Federal regulation. Now in the last week, Republican members of
Congress and Food Inc. have announced they want to pass a one-size-fits-all S.510
without essential protections and exemptions for small organic and sustainable
farmers. From Big Ag's perspective this deceptive maneuver is a win-win: Factory
Farms and GMO plantations can easily absorb the bureaucratic costs and paperwork of
Federal regulations because of their size; they'll gain good PR for supposedly
supporting stronger food safety practices; while their increasingly popular
competition, organic and sustainable farmers and ranchers, will be wiped out by
regulatory burdens. The bottom line is that factory farms and Food Inc. would like
to keep poisoning 80 million Americans every year in ever-larger food safety
epidemics, while organic farmers, who have an outstanding food safety record, will
be driven out of business.

A letter from the Farm Bureau, Big Ag processors and retailers states: "...by
incorporating the Tester amendment Federal regulations] in the bill, consumers will be left vulnerable to the gaping
holes and uneven application of the law created by these exemptions. In addition, it
sets an unfortunate precedent for future action on food safety policy by Congress
that science and risk based standards can be ignored."

What science and risk? Do your own Google search and you will not find any data or
evidence of widespread problems caused by organic or local small farm producers. All
of the major foodborne illness outbreaks, 78 million a year according to the Centers
for Disease Control, have been caused by products that went through the long supply
chains of factory farms, Food Inc. processing giants, and corporate agribusinesss.

Agribusiness's real concern about the Tester-Hagan amendment isn't food safety, but
the precedent set by having Congress recognize that small, direct-marketing
producers are different and should be regulated differently from large operations.

Big Ag is demanding that Senators pull the Tester-Hagan amendment. While the
amendment is currently part of the "Managers' Package" - the amended version of the
bill agreed to by six bipartisan sponsors - nothing is certain until the actual
vote.

Take Action Before Monday November 29:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21628.cfm

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