[OKC] HR 875 . Rumor Update of the Week from the Organic Consumers Association

[Shauna Struby]

FYI -- From the Organic Consumers Association .


Rumor Update of the Week


HR 875


The following note is typical of the calls and e-mails Organic Consumers
Association has been receiving this week:

"Do you know anything about HR 875, a 'food safety' bill that was written by
Monsanto, Cargill and ADM? I've heard a few individual activists scream
about this as the death of farmers markets, CSAs and local organic food, yet
have seen no alerts from any of the reliable groups, including OCA. Any idea
what's up with this?"

For the record, Organic Consumers Association does have an alert out on
HR875 <http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17194.cfm> . As OCA
points out in our Action Alert, we cannot support a "food Safety" bill
unless it provides protection or exemptions for organic and farm-to-consumer
producers and cracks down on the real corporate criminals who are tampering
with and polluting our nation's food supply--- such as Monsanto.

Having said that, OCA supports aspects of HR875 that call for mandatory
recalls of tainted food, increased scrutiny of large slaughterhouses and
food manufacturers, and hefty fines against companies that send poisonous
food to market. The now discredited ultra-libertarian notion that companies
or the "market" will regulate themselves is not only ludicrous, but
dangerous, whether we are talking about the banking system or the food and
farming sector.

Of course, Monsanto and large corporate agribusiness are out to destroy
traditional farming. Unfortunately, while many people have been distracted
by HR 875, the biotech companies have been hard at work pushing their
agenda: Monsanto's gene-altered (so-called) drought-resistant corn,
Epitopix's E. coli vaccine, and the ban on rBGH-free labeling that
Monsanto's successor Eli Lilly is trying to push through the Kansas
legislature <http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17366.cfm> .
We need to keep working together to work towards positive alternatives, such
as organic agriculture and the green economy.

Learn more <http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17355.cfm> 

 

 

 

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