Land of the free? Michigan Dept of Natural Resources to take on family farmers?

They're at it, again!

The wild-eyed conspiracy theorists of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and people like Mike Adams of Natural News, and . . . oh, man! Just do a Google search on michigan pork producers association dnr--the nut cases are all over the place.

They're claiming the Michigan Pork Producers Association has now "bought and paid for" the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. One more example of big corporate interests taking control of the food you will be permitted to eat.

They are claiming it's a matter of freedom, of self-determination, of rights.

They're saying the DNR is opposed to genetic diversity. They're opposed to people raising pigs out-of-doors, pigs that haven't had their tails docked, pigs that aren't hairless, pigs that don't match the definitions created by Big Agriculture and the Pork Producers Associations of America . . . !

Listen to one of the conspiracy theorists in this so-called war on freedom. . . .



And here's one of the breathless, fear-mongering articles:

Insane Michigan government announces plan to destroy ranch livestock based on hair color and arrest hundreds of ranchers as felons

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) The State of Michigan is only days away from engaging in what can only be called true "animal genocide" -- the mass murder of ranch animals based on the color of their hair. It's all part of a shocking new "Invasive Species Order" (ISO) put in place by Michigan's Department of Natural Resources (DNR). This Invasive Species Order suddenly and shockingly defines virtually all open-range pigs raised by small family farms to be illegal "invasive species," and possession of just one of these animals is now a felony crime in Michigan, punishable by up to four years in prison.

The state has said it will "destroy" these pigs beginning in April, potentially by raiding local farms with government-issued rifles, then shooting the pig herds while arresting the members of the family and charging them with the "crime" of raising pigs with the wrong hair color. This may truly be a state-sponsored serial animal killing spree.

Reality check: You may think this story is some kind of early April Fools prank, but it isn't. This is factually true and verifiable through the documents, videos and websites linked below. The State of Michigan seriously intends to unleash a mass murder spree of pigs of the wrong color beginning April 1.

Yet these are the very pigs that farmers and ranchers in Michigan have been raising for decades. The state doesn't seem to care about this, and there are indications that this ISO may have been nudged into position by the conventional pork industry as a tactic to wipe out its competition of local, specialty ranching conducted by small families and dedicated farmers who don't work for the big pork corporations. (The Michigan Pork [Producers] Association.)

Hear the shocking interview and watch the family farm video...

I have recorded an exclusive interview with Mark Baker from Baker's Green Acres -- one of many ranching operations threatened with total destruction by state bureaucrats and this new Invasive Species Order. Listen to that interview here:
http://buzz.naturalnews.com/000025-Michigan-pigs-invasive_species.htm...

The Baker family has also recorded a video explaining their farming operation and how the state of Michigan is threatening to destroy their entire farming operation. Watch that stunning video (and spread the word about it) at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=843yH_0RMIA

Mark Baker, by the way, is a veteran of the United States Air Force. As a veteran of the U.S. armed forces, he served to protect the rights of others, yet he now finds his own rights and freedoms under assault by the state of Michigan. He told NaturalNews he is determined to protect his livelihood at all costs and to take a stand against tyranny in Michigan.

Got the wrong hair color? The state of Michigan will kill you

The State of Michigan has issued a document describing nine "traits" of what they call "feral pigs" which they claim should be destroyed on April 1.

Read the document describing those nine traits at:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/MDNR_DECLARATORY_RULING_2011-12...

Those traits include having the wrong color on the tip of the hair or even being born with striped hair. The traits are written so that virtually all pigs raised by family ranchers across the state of Michigan will be targeted for destruction by the state of Michigan starting April 1. Farmers who defend their livestock may be arrested as felons and charged with multiple felony crimes by the state.

Michigan to kill all blacks

Here's some of the language from the Michigan document describing which animals are to be destroyed. Remember: For a pig to qualify as "feral" according to state tyrants, it only has to exhibit ONE of these traits, not all of them:

1. Bristle-tip coloration: exhibit bristle tips that are lighter in color (e.g., white, cream, or buff) than the rest of the hair shaft.
    
2. Dark point coloration: exhibits "points" (i.e., distal portions of the snout, ears, legs, and tail) that are dark brown to black in coloration, and lack light-colored tips on the bristles.
    
3. Coat coloration: exhibit a number of coat coloration patterns: solid black, solid red / brown, black and white spotted, black and red / brown spotted.
    
4. Underfur: exhibit the presence of underfur that is lighter in color (e.g., smoke gray to brown) than the overlying dark brown to black bristles/guard hairs.
    
5. Juvenile coat pattern: exhibit striped coat patterns -- a light grayish-tan to brown base coat, with a dark brown to black spinal stripe and three to four brown irregular longitudinal stripes with dark margins along the length of the body.
    
6. Skeletal appearance: Structures include skull morphology, dorsal profile, and external body measurements including tail length, head-body length, hind foot length, ear length, snout length, and shoulder height.
    
7. Tail structure: Straight tails.
    
8. Ear structure: Erect ear structure.
    
9. "Other characteristics not currently known to the MDNR that are identified by the scientific community."

Did you catch that last one? So now the so-called "scientific community" can simply invent whatever trait they want and the state of Michigan will legalize the mass murder of all ranch animals displaying that trait.

The state of Michigan plans to bring guns to destroy local food, local farms

What's clear from all this is that Michigan bureaucrats plan to bring guns and handcuffs to ranches all across Michigan, shooting their family livestock dead and ruining their farming operations. They then plan to arrest these ranchers as felons and separate them from their families, then charge them with felony crimes.

This is all being done under the mantra of "government is good! Government protects you!" It's being pushed under the guise of protecting people from "invasive species," yet what the Michigan bureaucrats don't tell anyone is that now your local food producers have had their own ranch animals placed on that list!

That's the trick here: Michigan has declared farm animals to be an invasive species!

An epic battle of truth, freedom and justice is being waged in Michigan

We need your help to defend farm freedom in Michigan and across the country. Here are some actions you can take:

1. SHARE this article.
    
2. WATCH the video: http://youtu.be/843yH_0RMIA
    
3. LISTEN to the interview at:
   http://buzz.naturalnews.com/000025-Michigan-pigs-invasive_species.htm...
    
4. SUPPORT the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund:
   www.FarmToConsumer.org
    
5. DONATE to help support the legal fees of the Baker family farm. Their website is at www.BakersGreenAcres.com
    
6. DEMAND farm freedom in your area! No government has the right to tell us what food we can or cannot grow, eat or trade! It's as simple as that, and any government bureaucrat, tyrant or local dictator who thinks they can trample on your God-given right to choose what kind of food you wish to produce or consume is in desperate need of having a boot shoved deeply and forcefully up their rear ends.

Give tyrants the boot! Defend local farms. Even if you don't eat pork (I don't), this is still a farm freedom issue worth fighting for.

Read more at:

www.farmtoconsumer.org/michigan-dnr-going-hog-wild.htm

www.BakersGreenAcres.com

Rather overheated, wouldn't you say?

So what's the truth?

I went to the Michigan Pork Producers Association website. They have no comments directly addressing the issues Mr. Baker raises. It's not even on their radar.

But in one of their newsletters, I found an article that speaks to the issue of wild pigs:

MPPA, along with the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and Michigan United Conservation Clubs, has been pressing state officials to declare wild pigs an invasive species.

“An invasive species declaration would make it illegal to possess hogs for sport shooting purposes and this would be helpful in shutting-off what, we believe, has been the source of the problem; animals escaping from the shooting facilities,” said Dennis DeYoung MPPA President.

DeYoung points out that even if an invasive species order is issued and it becomes illegal to have wild hogs for shooting purposes, this is only one part of the problem. “Obviously, we feel strongly that an invasive species order is needed to shut off the faucet, but we still have to deal with the estimated 3,000 to 7,000 that have already escaped into the wild,” said DeYoung. “That’s where the trapping program comes in and why we worked hard to get legislation passed earlier this year that would allow anyone qualified to carry a firearm to shoot them at any time. Wild hogs are a huge threat to our industry and its high-time that state officials take aggressive action to deal with them.”

DeYoung points out that it has now been more than a decade since the wild hog problem was identified in Michigan and some of these animals have been known carriers of the pseudorabies (PRV) virus.

“PRV was eradicated in Michigan in 2000 and in the U.S. in 2004. If the virus spreads from wild hogs to even one commercial operation, losses could be devastating,” said DeYoung. “I know outlawing shooting operations is a controversial and politically charged issue, but the pork industry has too much at risk to do anything less.”

(Michigan Pork, 2010, Vol. 35, No. 3, p. 10)

Whew! This is a big issues, isn't it!?! Good grief! Can you imagine! You've invested millions of dollars into your hog production operation, and now, suddenly, some irresponsible hunting club, or private property owner who wants to bring in sports hunters for profit, engages in irresponsible behavior that threatens your entire investment.

Sounds very reasonable. You've got to deal with the shooting/hunting club operators that let pigs run free in property that is inappropriately contained, and you need to deal with pigs running wild out in the open.

So they ought to come up with some kinds of regulations that will deal with the irresponsible parties and true wild/feral pigs.

So what has Mr. Baker and all of these "freedom and personal rights" people so up in arms?

Let's look at the regulations as written. Forget the spin doctors!

I thought I would do a search for words that might imply "sport shooting purposes" or the equivalent.

I was stunned.

None of the following words appear in the document. You won't find hunting. You won't find shooting. You won't find sport. You won't find anything to do with the purpose for which someone might want to own a particular pig.

There was/is nothing in the regulations about health or safety--either of humans or of animals.

No. What you find is this:

40.4 Additional prohibited species.
   (1) Possession of the following live species, including a hybrid or genetic variant of the species, an egg or offspring of the species or of a hybrid or genetically engineered variant, is prohibited:
. . .
      (b) Wild boar, wild hog, wild swine, feral pig, feral hog, feral swine, Old world swine, razorback, eurasian wild boar, Russian wild boar (Sus scrofa Linnaeus). This subsection does not and is not
intended to affect sus domestica involved in domestic hog production.

And then the rest of the document explains what their real target is: Sus scrofa. Period.

Nothing about true purpose or intent of the owner (if an animal is owned), nor, even, about behavior (something, for example, about where the animal is found--in a field not owned by the putative owner of the animal). Nope. It's all about species.

And interesting, too, that last line I quoted, isn't it? Sus domestica is specifically exempted from this regulation. Doesn't matter if your sus domestica escapes and gets into your neighbors' fields. Doesn't matter if your Sus domestica really does go feral. You're covered.

My take: Mr. Baker has it exactly right.

The Michigan Pork Producers, for PR purposes, speaks of "invasive species" and "feral pigs." But in truth: It's all about eliminating competition by use of the legal/political apparatus.

Hey, Monsanto has been doing this for years! It's time, now, for other corporations to get on the bandwagon. The government is such an awesome tool to use against your competitors!

What scares me: Mr. Baker may soon be labeled an ecological "terrorist"--y'know, one of the people who needs to be targeted not only by gun-wielding Michigan State troopers, but by the federal government because of his threat to national security. One minor blip and, oh well, he's a dead man . . . or thrown in prison without legal recourse.

So I'm back in the camp of the conspiracy theorists. Even if and as their language is "extreme." I don't want to find myself at the wrong end of a "law enforcement" officer's firearm.

Maybe it is time we paid attention to the Ron Paul, small-government activists.

Land of the free? --Food freedom

Here's a story you should probably be aware of.

Beware: Your freedoms are being taken away.

This story has to do with food, food preparation, and government overreach.

I first heard about this from the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

Farm-to-Fork Dinner Fiasco
By Laura Bledsoe | October 24, 2011

What an evening we had this last Friday night! It had all the makings of a really great novel: drama, suspense, anticipation, crisis, heroic efforts, villains and victors, resolution and a happy ending.

The evening was everything I had dreamed and hoped it would be. The weather was perfect, the farm was filled with friends and guests roaming around talking about organic, sustainable farming practices. Our young interns were teaching and sharing their passion for farming and their role in it. (A high hope for our future!) The pig didn’t get loose.

Our guests were excited to spend an evening together. The food was prepared exquisitely. The long dinner table, under the direction of dear friends, was absolutely stunningly beautiful. The music was superb. The stars were bright and life was really good.

And then, …

for a few moments, it felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath us and my wonderful world came crashing down. As guests were mingling, finishing tours of the farm, and while the first course of the meal was being prepared and ready to be sent out, a Southern Nevada Health District employee came for an inspection.

Because this was a gathering of people invited to our farm for dinner, I had no idea that the Health Department would become involved. I received a phone call from them two days before the event informing me that because this was a “public event” (I would like to know what is the definition of “public” and “private”) we would be required to apply for a “special use permit”.

If we did not do so immediately, we would be charged a ridiculous fine.

Stunned, we immediately complied.

We were in the middle of our harvest day . . . but Monte immediately left to comply with the demand and filled out the required paper work and paid for the fee. (Did I mention that we live in Overton, nowhere near a Health Department office?) Paper work now in order, he was informed that we would not actually be given the permit until an inspector came to check it all out.

She came literally while our guests were arriving!

In order to overcome any trouble with the Health Department of cooking on the premises, most of the food was prepared in a certified kitchen in Las Vegas; and to further remove any doubt, we rented a certified kitchen trailer to be here on the farm for the preparation of the meals. The inspector, Mary Oaks, clearly not the one in charge of the inspection as she was constantly on the phone with her superior Susan somebody who was calling all the shots from who knows where.

Susan deemed our food unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event because:

1. Some of the prepared food packages did not have labels on them. (The code actually allows for this if it is to be consumed within 72 hours.)
    
2. Some of the meat was not USDA certified. (Did I mention that this was a farm to fork meal?)
    
3. Some of the food that was prepared in advance was not up to temperature at the time of inspection. (It was being prepared to be brought to proper temperature for serving when the inspection occurred.)
    
4. Even the vegetables prepared in advance had to be thrown out because they were cut and were then considered a “bio-hazard”.
    
5. We did not have receipts for our food. (Reminder! This food came from farms not from the supermarket! I have talked with several chefs who have said that in all their years cooking they have never been asked for receipts.)

At this time Monte, trying to reason with Susan to find a possible solution for the problem, suggested turning this event from a “public” event to a “private” event by allowing the guests to become part of our farm club, thus eliminating any jurisdiction or responsibility on their part. This idea infuriated Susan and threatened that if we did not comply the police would be called and personally escort our guests off the property.

This is not the vision of the evening we had in mind! So regretfully, again we complied.

The only way to keep our guests on the property was to destroy the food.

I can’t tell you how sick to my stomach I was watching that first dish of Mint Lamb Meatballs hit the bottom of the unsanitized trash can.

Here we were with guests who had paid in advance and had come from long distances away anticipating a wonderful dining experience, waiting for dinner while we were behind the kitchen curtain throwing it away! I know of the hours and labor that went into the preparation of that food.

We asked the inspector if we could save the food for a private family event that we were having the next day. (A personal family choice to use our own food.) We were denied and she was insulted that we would even consider endangering our families health. I assured her that I had complete faith and trust in Giovanni our chef and the food that was prepared, (obviously, or I wouldn’t be wanting to serve it to our guests).

I then asked if we couldn’t feed the food to our “public guests” or even to our private family, then at least let us feed it to our pigs. (I think it should be a criminal action to waste any resource of the land. Being dedicated to our organic farm, we are forever looking for good inputs into our compost and soil and good food that can be fed to our animals. The animals and compost pile always get our left over garden surplus and food. We truly are trying to be as sustainable as possible.)

Again, a call to Susan and another negative response.

Okay, so let me get this right.

So the food that was raised here on our farm and selected and gathered from familiar local sources, cooked and prepared with skill and love was even unfit to feed to my pigs!?!

Who gave them the right to tell me what I feed my animals?

Not only were we denied the use of the food for any purpose, [but] to ensure that it truly was unfit for feed of any kind we were again threatened with police action if we did not only throw the food in the trash, but then to add insult to injury, we were ordered to pour bleach on it.

Now the food is also unfit for compost as I would be negligent to allow any little critters to nibble on it while it was composting and ingest that bleach resulting in a horrible death. Literally hundreds of pounds of food was good for nothing but adding to our ever increasing land fill! . . .

If you've been involved in any of the modern freedom fights, you know the Bledsoes made several mistakes when they meekly acquiesced to the demands and interpretations of the health department.

When the health department called and said their event was "public," Laura was correct to wonder, and she should have asked; no, she should have demanded for the legal chapter-and-verse reference for the definition. Laura and her husband should not have "immediately complied."

But then, having complied, when the inspector came and began telling them what they could and could not feed their guests: whence the craven asking the inspector if they could save the food for a private family event that we were having the next day? And after the negative response to that supplication, why the craven request to be permitted to feed the food to their pigs?

The emotional direction of Laura's internalized question was correct: "Who gave them the right to tell me what I feed my animals?" The problem is, the answer implicates her: She and her husband gave the health department and this unseen woman named Susan and Susan's visible agent Mary . . . --She and her husband gave them the right when they abjectly bowed to and did what these people demanded.



*******
Happily, the story doesn't end there.

Somehow, as the last of the food was being destroyed, Laura's husband remembered that they had joined the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) and they "even" had FTCLDF's emergency phone number on their refrigerator.

"We became members of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund several years ago as a protection for us, but mostly to add support to other farmers battling against the oppressive legal actions taken against the small farmers trying to produce good wholesome food without government intrusion," Laura writes. "The local, sustainable food battle is being waged all across America! [But] not one battle has been brought on because of any illness to the patrons of these farms! The battles are started by government officials swooping down on farms and farmers like SWAT teams confiscating not only the wholesome food items produced but even their farm equipment! Some of them actually wearing HAZMAT suits as if they were walking into a nuclear meltdown! I have personally listened to some of their heart wrenching stories and have continued to follow them through the FTCLDF’s updates."

Well, I made the call, told my story and within a short period of time received a phone call back from the FTCLDF’s General Counsel, Gary Cox.

When told the story, he simply suggested that we apply our fundamental constitutional right to be protected against “unlawful search and seizure.”

I simply had to ask Mary two questions. “Do you have a search warrant?” “Do you have an arrest warrant?”

With the answers being “No”, I politely and very simply asked her to leave our property. As simple as that! She had no alternative, no higher power, no choice whatsoever but to now comply with my desire.

She left in a huff making a scene shouting that she was calling the police.

She left no paperwork, no Cease and Desist order, no record of any kind that implicated us for one thing, (we had complied to all their orders) only empty threats and a couple of trash cans full of defiled food.

Laura tells the story of what happened after the inspector left--including the police visit, the chef's hard work to make a new meal from scratch, and many other worthwhile details. If you like "the rest of the story" kinds of stories, I encourage you to read the rest of the story.

Laura Bledsoe concludes her article with the following comments:

I can’t tell you the number of times I have felt the hand of providence helping us in the work of this farm.

As hard and demanding as this work is, I KNOW that this is what we are meant to do.

I KNOW that it is imperative that we stand up for our food choices.

I KNOW that local, organic, sustainable food produced by ourselves or by small family, local farms is indispensible to the health and well-being of our families and our communities now and in the future! If this work were not so vitally important, the “evil forces” would not be working so hard to pull it down. . . .

We were victorious, we will be victorious, we must be! Our grandchildren’s future is at stake! . . .

I feel that we have been compelled to truly become active participants in the ongoing battle over our food choices. This is just one small incident that brings to our awareness how fragile our freedoms are. We are now ready to join the fight!

We would encourage all of you who can to contribute and to become a member of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. They are not only fighting for the farmers, they are fighting for the consumers to have the right to choose. You can find them at farmtoconsumer.org.

As I close, I am reminded of the passage written so forcefully by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”

The same battle continues. I pray the result of the battle will be the same, that we have been “endowed by our Creator with . . . life and liberty.” . . .

Monte and Laura Bledsoe
Written from Quail Hollow Farm
October 24, 2011
quailhollowfarmcsa.com

*******
Sadly (probably in keeping with their apparently normally compliant personalities), neither the Bledsoes nor anyone else on the farm that evening shot more than the briefest few seconds of the inspector's activities.

You can see them in the first 16 seconds of this video. (Sorry I couldn't put the video directly on this page. Every time I did, it wanted to begin playing immediately.)

There's interesting commentary after the first 16 seconds. The chef's response from 1:20 to 1:45 absolutely blows me away. How did he ever control his emotions so well? I think I would be throwing things. I find the last 30 seconds or so, too, particularly poignant: "It makes you wonder: Who owns America?"

The chef makes about a 4-minute speech in this segment. Again, imagine the outrage you might feel if you were a professional chef being told to throw away thousands of dollars of your work. Here he responds with grace even as he outlines the specific--and crazy--charges the health agent laid against the food he had been preparing AND as he contemplates cooking an entire new meal from scratch for 100 guests in 45 minutes. . . .

Ready to do something about the future of your food rights in America?

• Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
   
• Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance

Love to buy fresh fruit from the neighbors? Corn from a roadside stand? Pie from a skilled baker friend? Such pleasures may soon go bye-bye!

Sorry. I'm so "into" research, I'm afraid I forgot how to "market" ideas!

The title of this post tells the real story of my post last night.

Is the world going to come to an end if S510 passes . . . and especially without the Tester-Hagan amendment? No. The world won't end.

But plan to see the federal government, by means of its ever-vigilant-against-the-little-guys/ever-vigilant-in-behalf-of-the-big-guys FDA, cracking down hard on the family gardeners and small-town farmers who dare attempt to sell their fruit or vegetables or homemade pies without first paying $500/year in protection money (not to mention filing mounds of newly-required government reports)!

Yes, by everything I can see, that really is the import of this egregious attempted power-grab on the part of the major industrial agriculture vendors.

I know. It seems hard to believe. But, please: READ THE EVIDENCE. Follow the links.

It really is that bad.

As if the federal government doesn't already have more than enough to do . . .

I've been listening to lectures from past Acres USA conferences (2007 and 2008) and have heard quite a bit about NAIS (National Animal Identification System--a federal program "intended to identify animals and track them as they come into contact with, or commingle with, animals other than herdmates from their premises of origin" but that actually places unbelievable financial and paperwork burdens on even backyard keepers of a few chickens, ducks, or goats (not to mention larger animals like horses, donkeys, cows or pigs).

According to the NAIS regulations, every property on which any such animals are kept is supposed to be registered with the federal government, and, then, unless the owner of such animals also owns and/or operates the meat or egg processing plant, every individual animal is also supposed to receive a unique, 15-character animal identification number which is to be attached directly to the animal itself. And--just as FedEx and UPS now track and report the movements of every item throughout their distribution systems, so the movements of every animal are supposed to be tracked and reported to the federal government.

NAIS was supposed to be "voluntary" (ha ha!), but with federal muscle behind it, Wisconsin, the first state to implement the regulations, made it absolutely mandatory. --Interestingly, the registration system, mandated by law, is "not maintained by state government, but instead relies upon the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium (WLIC) to maintain the database of Premises ID registrants. This is currently continuing with the RFID tagging database as well.[19] The WLIC is a private interest group made up of Big Agribusiness, including Cargill, Genetics/Biotech Corporations, like ABS Global, and RFID tagging companies such as Digital Angel[20]. . . . There are also in fact only 6 RFID tags that are approved by WLIC/NAIS at this time: 2 manufactured by Allflex, 2 by Digital Angel, one by Y-Tex and 1 by Global Animal Management. All four are WLIC members." (Wikipedia article on the National Animal Identification System.

Now we are told that, as of February 2010, NAIS was being abandoned in order to

re-focus its efforts on a "new framework" for animal traceability. The Secretary stated the new framework would apply only to animals that cross state lines and would encourage the use of low-tech methods of identification.

The USDA's announcement sparked widely divergent reactions. Groups representing independent farmers and local consumers applauded the USDA's decision. But the proponents of NAIS, namely the Big Ag and Big Tech groups, expressed disappointment and issued statements about the horrible things that could supposedly happen without a centralized ID system. These pro-NAIS entities quickly re-grouped and announced plans to adopt "model regulations" (i.e. NAIS-type regulations) at the State level.

But the issue is also still far from over even at the federal level. Despite USDA's announcement, Big Ag and Big Tech are pushing for a more expansive federal program. And key bureaucrats who developed NAIS continue to work within the agency, and they do not seem to have changed their views despite the announcements from the top.

--Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (F2CLDF)

Oh! But we haven't begun to discover how far the federal government is wanting to extend its grip into issues for which one would think the interstate commerce clause should limit its reach.

Now comes Senate Bill 510, due for a vote any day now. Possibly even today.

And what does SB510 have to say? Well, here's a rather calm review of some of its more egregious features.

• It will "enable FDA potentially to regulate all farms marketing food products direct to consumers even if the farms engage only in intrastate commerce." --In other words, the local farmers who sell in your local farmer's market: They will be subject to federal oversight. Your neighbor who owns a few chickens and sells or gives you eggs: Such behavior will be subject to federal (FDA) oversight.
  
  If you think it’s a good idea to give FDA more power,
  
  • Here are the agency’s views on your freedom to obtain the foods of your choice; these are direct quotations from the agency’s response to a lawsuit the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (F2CLDF) filed earlier this year challenging the interstate ban on raw milk for human consumption:
    
    • "There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food." [A--p. 25]
       
    • "There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds." [A--p. 26]
       
    • "Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish." [A--p. 26]
       
    • "There is no fundamental right to freedom of contract." [A--p. 27]
      
     
  • For those who think it is a good idea to give the FDA more power, here are some of the products FDA has allowed in the marketplace:
    
    • MSG (monosodium glutamate),
       
    • high fructose corn syrup (HFCS),
       
    • aspartame,
       
    • genetically-modified organisms (GMOs),
       
    • Avandia (prescribed for type 2 diabetes) and
       
    • Vioxx (arthritis pain medication).
    If none of these items alarms you, I guess I have not been doing my job! There is strong evidence of major human health problems related to each and every one of these substances. But the FDA has done nothing to protect us.
    
    Meanwhile, as reported here a few days ago, the FDA is standing in the way of full disclosure of health benefits of good foods like tart cherries and walnuts, claiming that any producer or distributor of such products who associates any health benefits to these items--even if the benefits are well-documented in peer-reviewed scientific papers--the producer/distributor is engaged in the illegal sale of an unapproved drug until it has submitted its specific cherries or walnuts (or whatever) to a costly FDA approval process. . . .
    
    And we are interested in permitting them more power?

Linn Cohen-Cole wrote a powerful post on an earlier (and less-egregious-than-it-is-now) version of the same bill:

Wisdom says stop a bill that is broad as everything yet more vague even than it is broad.

Wisdom says stop a bill that comes with massive penalties but allows no judicial review.

Wisdom says stop a bill with everything unspecified and actually waits til next year for an unspecified “Administrator” to decide what’s what.

Where we come from, that’s called a blank check. Who writes laws like that? ”Here, do what you want about whatever you want and here’s some deadly punishments to make it stick.”

Wisdom says know who wrote that bill and be forewarned.

Wisdom says wake up.

Here’s the bill. Let’s use our imaginations and extrapolate from the little bit it reveals and from the reality we know.

SEC. 206. FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITIES.

(a) Authorities- In carrying out the duties of the Administrator and the purposes of this Act, the Administrator shall have the authority, with respectto food production facilities, to–

(1) visit and inspect food production facilities in the United Statesand in foreign countries to determine if they are operating in compliance with the requirements of the food safety law;

(2) review food safety records as required to be kept by the Administrator under section 210 and for other food safety purposes;

(3) set good practice standards to protect the public and animal health and promote food safety;

(4) conduct monitoring and surveillance of animals, plants, products, or the environment, as appropriate;

(5) collect and maintain information relevant to public health andfarm practices.

(b) Inspection of Records- A food production facility shall permit the Administrator upon presentation of appropriate credentials and at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, to have access to and ability to copy all records maintained by or on behalf of such food production establishment in any format (including paper or electronic) and at any location, that are necessary to assist the Administrator–

(1) to determine whether the food is contaminated, adulterated, or otherwise not in compliance with the food safety law; or

(2) to track the food in commerce.

(c) Regulations- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and representatives of State departments of agriculture, shall promulgate regulations to establish science-based minimum standards for the safe production of food by food production facilities. Such regulations shall–

(1) consider all relevant hazards, including those occurring naturally,and those that may be unintentionally or intentionally introduced;

(2) require each food production facility to have a written food safety plan that describes the likely hazards and preventive controls implemented to address those hazards;

(3) include with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment . . . and water;

Ah, such a little paragraph, and so much evil packed in it. Notice they mention harvesting, sorting and storage operations? Notice they never mention seeds? But they are precisely what those words cover.

Come again? What's that? Why this concern about seeds?

Because, Cohen-Cole says, that is exactly what these kinds of regulations are always about: maximizing profits for Big Ag (the Monsantos and Cargills of the world). [Interesting: That is what the F2CLDF also says: "[The] FDA’s true clients are not the American people but rather the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries."

But, but . . . wait a second! What do seeds have to do with Big Ag? And why this interest in seeds?

• Watch where Monsanto is and has been going for the last 15 to 20 years, say the observers. Monsanto has been aiming for a monopoly on seed production worldwide. And they are getting closer than most of us would care to know!

Cohen-Cole writes:

When you know that Monsanto with the help of the US government plundered ancient and rare seed banks in Iraq that held seeds with a genetic heritage (a biohistory belonging to all of us) going back 1000s of years and then made it a crime for farmers there to collect or use their own normal and non-patented seeds off their own land, you see how extreme the intent to control is. . . .

The Iraqis are now utterly at the mercy of Monsanto and the US for survival itself and will have to pay whatever prices are set for food. They can no longer just grow their own and be free people. So, no matter what form of government they may ever have, as long as this is true, they are now enslaved because the control over them is that extreme. Kissinger was right – control food and you control people. . . .

In Afghanistan, people are buying and planting beans from America which at the end of the season have nothing whatever inside, the pods are empty. In Ecuador, the potatoes there do not develop eyes so can’t be planted next season to grow potatoes.

Biotech’s claim to care about feeding starving multitudes is belied by its blocking human access to normal seeds and its terminator technology (empty beans). Monopoly is monopoly is monopoly. And at this level, and when it comes to seeds which are life itself, monopoly terminates democracy as well as beans.

Please, read The World According to Monsanto by Marie-Monique Robin I told you about a few days ago.

"Watch how they will be able to easily criminalize seed banking and all holding of seeds," Cohen-Cole writes.

First, to follow how this will be done, you must understand that:

1. there is a small list inside the FDA called “sources of seed contamination” and

2. the FDA has now defined “seed” as food,

3. so seeds can now be controlled through “food safety.” . . .

Farmers, gardeners, seed saving exchanges, seed companies, scientific seed projects, and seed banks, all require sorting. All are working overtime to protect biodiversity that is rapidly disappearing specifically because of genetic engineering. As Monsanto began reducing access to seeds, people around the world have worked hard to compensate.

But now the effort is to take over the whole game, going after even these small sources of biodiversity – by simply defining seeds as food and . . . all farmers’ affordable mechanisms for harvesting (collecting), sorting (seed cleaning) and storing (seed banking or saving) as too dirty to be safe for food.

Set the standard for “food safety” and certification high enough that no one can afford it and punish anyone who tries to save seed in ways that have worked fine for thousands of years, with a million dollar a day fine and/or ten years in prison, and presto, you have just criminalized seed banking.

The penalties are tremendous, the better to protect us from nothing dangerous whatsoever, but to make monopoly over seed absolutely absolute. One is left with control over farmers, an end to seed exchanges, an end to organic seed companies, an end to university programs developing nice normal hybrids, and an end to democracy – reducing us to abject dependence on corporations for food and gratitude even for genetically engineered food and at any price. . . .

There are three other items of the list which surely will be controlled as well. In toto, that little list of six items (agricultural water, manure, harvesting, transporting and seed cleaning equipment, and seed storage facilities) contains the pieces to deconstruct farming itself, especially organic farming.

Oh, there is more, much more! Please take a look at the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund page about S510. As I said above, it is non-alarmist. But it ought to cause your hair to stand on end.

The article was written in September and concludes,

S510 is not about protecting the public health but rather about increasing federal control over food and transferring market share from the local food system to the industrial food system. The bill grants broad rulemaking power to FDA, a grant not merited by the agency’s track record. Its passage will cripple local food over time.

There have been reports in the media that S510 is dead. Don’t believe them. The bill could still be brought to the Senate floor before Congress’ pre-election break and it could also be brought up for a vote during a lameduck session after the elections.

Guess what? Cloture was passed yesterday. It is being voted on during the lameduck session. It is time to take action.

For more on the subject, see S510 Talking Points by Pete Kennedy, Esq.

And for a relatively easy method of figuring out how to communicate with your senators, go to the F2CLDF's Action Page.