Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Monsanto to try and outlaw Organic Farming

I couldn't even make this one up. H.R. 875 PLEASE Read.

Main backer and lobbyist is Monsanto – chemical and genetic engineering giant corporation (and Cargill, ADM, and about 35 other related agri-giants). This bill will require organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency to "make sure there is no danger to the public food supply". This will include backyard gardens that grow food only for a family and not for sales.

The Purpose of this bill is to
  • (1) the safety of the food supply of the United States is vital to the public health, to public confidence in the food supply, and to the success of the food sector of the Nation’s economy;
  • (2) lapses in the protection of the food supply and loss of public confidence in food safety are damaging to consumers and the food industry, and place a burden on interstate commerce and international trade;
  • (3) recent ongoing events demonstrate that the food safety program at the Food and Drug Administration is not effective in controlling hazards in food coming from farms and factories in the United States and food and food ingredients coming from foreign countries, and these events have adversely affected consumer confidence;
  • (4) the safety and security of the food supply require a systemwide approach to prevent food-borne illness involving the integrated efforts of Federal, State and local agencies; a thorough, broad-based, and coordinated approach to basic and applied science; and intensive, effective, and efficient management of the Nation’s food safety program;
There are in total 12 purposes. This seems to be right out of the documentary: The Future of Food. To all that have not watched this movie, please put it on your netflix queue. It will change the way you think about food, inherently we are what we eat. Monsanto is estimated to own 11,000 patents on different seeds; 11,000

How can we as a society mess with the genetic diversity of the very foundation on civilization, food? I hope that this entry, movie and bill will motivate you to go to you farmer's market and support local farming. If not, you didn't watch the movie. This is the same fear marketing that the Bush Administration 'patented' so well. If the USA passes this bill, we will have regressed in the advancement of human civilization. I fear that these large seed bank pockets are too large to divert our politicians.

No comments:

Post a Comment