(NaturalNews) If there's one thing to give thanks for this year, it's the fact that the Senate floor vote on the so-called "Food Safety Modernization Act" has been delayed until after the Senate's Thanksgiving recess. This gives all of us -- the commonsense opponents of S.510 who don't want the FDA having authority over raw milk, seeds and backyard gardens -- another week to flood the offices of U.S. Senators with calls, faxes and emails that express opposition to the bill.
The jury is still out on the
Tester-Hagan Amendment which would exempt small farmers from some of the more tyrannical requirements under the law. If this amendment were adopted, it would substantially improve the bill, but even with this amendment, the bill is just another overreaching expansion of Big Government into yet another area of incompetence. (If the government can't run health care worth a darn, how are they supposed to manage the entire food supply?)
The 1099 paperwork amendment
As part of this debate over the safety of the food supply, Sen Mike Johanns is making a courageous attempt to kill the new, idiotic
1099 reporting requirement that would require every person running a small business in America to get 1099 forms from Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Costco, Amazon.com or any other retailer where they've spent over $600 in the previous year.
This absolute nightmare of 1099 paperwork was passed as part of the Obamacare health care reform legislation earlier this year (
http://www.naturalnews.com/028854_1099_small_business.html). It will turn America's small business owners into
paperwork pack rats and criminalize anyone who doesn't spent several hundred hours a year chasing 1099 forms from corporations that are almost certain to refuse to give them to you. This is the government's way of penalizing small business owners in America and killing off yet more jobs as a way to destroy the economy.
This 1099 recall is the only real positive thing being considered in the Food Safety and Modernization Act. And as you've probably noticed, it has nothing to do with food.
What comes next for S.510
On Monday, November 29, a vote will be taken on the Harkin amendment, which is merely a rephrasing of the bill with some new wording that came out of committee.
After that, a
vote is planned for the bill itself, meaning S.510 could be passed into law on November 29th.
Additional debate time might be invoked for various amendments to the bill, as there are some motions still pending (Johanns, Baucus, Coburn). So it's not a given thing that a final vote will happen on Nov 29th.
Watch NaturalNews.com for more updates on this bill throughout next week. We will continue to
rally opposition to the bill.
I'm not against some commonsense improvements in
food safety, but to give Big Brother yet more control over seed saving, backyard food production and small organic farms is an outright disaster, not an improvement.
Besides, as we now know, the problem with e.coli, salmonella and other pathogens in the food supply is really a problem with
factory animal farms -- notably cattle and chicken operations. That's where these pathogens come from (e.coli grows in the intestines of animals), so cleaning up factory animal farms is the answer to food safety, not invoking the FDA and its
food irradiation agenda.
Why not hand the FDA more power over our food supply?
It's amazing to see that people are lining up to grant more power to the FDA -- the very agency that has killed more Americans through its corruption, fraud and negligence than any other organization in the history of the nation.
I've written a full story on this important fact, which details how the
FDA is
far more dangerous than terrorists and that putting the FDA in charge of our national food supply can only lead to disaster. Read that story at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/030461_Senate_Bill_510_Food_Safety.htmlTake action now to stop S.510
Your voice needs to be heard on this issue. The vote on this bill has been delayed until after the Thanksgiving recess, so you have more time to oppose this dangerous legislation.
Call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator's office: 202-224-3121.
You can find other contact information for your US Senator at
http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfmOther petitions on the 'net where you can voice your opposition to this bill include:
Citizens for Healthhttp://www.citizens.org/?page_id=2312Natural Solutions Foundationhttp://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_...
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has authored and published several downloadable personal preparedness courses including a downloadable course focused on safety and self defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Saturday, November 20, 2010
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