The new FDA Bill

They’re at it again.  The Senate passed the Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510).  It is heading over to Obama’s desk for his signature to become law.  You can all now rest assured that Food Safety is now more “Modern.”  What a joke.

I read about 100 pages of this bill (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s510es.txt.pdf).  In my opinion this bill is another major power grab by the federal government.  It gives the FDA total control of our food supply.  Probably the most scary part of this bill is allowing the FDA to force companies to recall their product if the Secretary has deemed there is a “reasonable probability” that the product could potentially cause death to animals or humans.  This bill also is going to cost farmers a lot of money due to the extra cost of having to fill out additional paperwork. 

I have seen rumors floating around the internet saying that this bill makes it illegal to grow, sell, or trade your homegrown food.  I went searching through this bill to see if I could prove that.  There are no specific comments about growing your own food that I could find.  But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible for this to happen.  Numerous times this bill mentions that the Secretary can create rules as he goes in order to carry out the purpose of the bill.  So basically a single person has the power to create rules that the rest of us have to follow.  This completely goes around Congress.  Land of the free…what a joke.   This bill also names the Department of Homeland Security to work side by side with the FDA to enforce this bill.  That should raise a few concerns.

This bill benefits the larger food companies.  It’s no surprise that Monsanto, Kraft, and Nestle all supported this bill and gave large campaign contributions to its sponsors.  The larger companies have the capital to cope with the additional paperwork and any adjustments needed to be made to their factories.  This again puts smaller companies at a disadvantage, and in fact, will probably force some smaller companies that were already struggling to close their doors.

It is laughable that people are blaming Capitalism for the cause of small businesses being shut down.  WAKE UP PEOPLE!  Capitalism hasn’t gotten a fair shot in over 100 years in the United States.  Large companies are buying off politicians to make sure they continue to have a competitive advantage over small business.  We are too busy watching Jersey Shore, trampling people on Black Friday to buy a T.V., going to clubs, going to sporting events, ect.  I can’t understand why so many people continue to bury their head in the sand.  This country reminds me of a bunch of people dancing on the deck of the Titanic as it’s broken in half about to go to the bottom of the ocean. 

This country was set up by the founders with most of the power being in the state governments, with a lot of power also given to local governments.  This was their way of making sure that the people were the ones in control of their government.  Can we honestly say today that the power still resides with the state and the people?  Or has the federal government become the supreme ruler of the nation?  We must spread the word of what is happening to our nation.  We are already going to experience a lot of pain in the next few years, but let’s come out on the other side proud of what we accomplished in the face of disaster.  Make sure you’re not one of the people begging the government to help you once things get bad.  I can guarantee that the next set of bills to take away what’s left of our Liberty are already written, they are just waiting for the next emergency to be put to a vote.  If we’re prepared, then we can think rationally and stand up to these bills.  I guess Benjamin Franklin summed it up best, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”