Thank you so much Norabell,
I too, am an organic gardener,so is my daughter,i signed the petition,and so did she,we will pass this along to all we know.
cAROL

Thank you, cAROL, and a big thank you to your daughter. Every bit we can do helps!

cheers,
Joanna

I signed it!
-B

This bill does not effect what we grow in our own ground for our own use.

I'm okay with letting the government decide the standards for food safety.

If you take away that oversight them you get a lot more Peanut Corporations killing people because of their greed.

Thanks Nora Belle! I signed the petition and sent this to everyone I know by email.

I sure hope this gets denied. With all the problems we are having I can't believe this is something they are doing! So many people are trying to grow their own veggies to save $$ too!

Karen

Hi Nora, I bookmarked it for this evenings reading and action. Thanks for the help. Elizabeth

I agree, Trudi, that the bill does not directly, right now, affect home gardeners, and I think that the bill is coming from a place of wanting to avoid the senseless illness and death such as the peanut contamination in the South. (Although, I attribute much of the peanut issue to human greed and not to the peanuts. HR 875 is getting at the seeds and growing practices not necessarily just greedy people who lack a conscience when it comes to running a food processing business and earning a profit.)

However, one of the bill's biggest backers is Monsanto, and the bill is vague enough right now that the type of regulation that begins as a desire to help our food supply creates an opportunity for Monsanto to come in and create more centralization and manipulation of our food sources, such as seeds not to mention breeds of animals, which is one of the biggest problems for our food supply right now--not enough diversification and genetic difference.

Right now it is a crime to purchase raw milk even if I am willing to take the risk. HR 875 has the ability to put into place a similar power to tell small farmers, market farmers, "No, you can't sell your produce unless you use these methods, chemicals, seeds, etc." I find this troubling, and I am glad that we can discuss these issues here together and continue to read more about this important bill.

Cheers,
Nora Belle

Here is a copy of the bill for those how want to read the text in full:

Here is a link that might be useful: Text of HR 875 bill

I agree Nora,
Just one question everyone should ask "How does Monsanto make its money??" More government is never the right answer.
-B

Seeds of Deception
"You are what you eat" takes on a new meaning
by Kim Matthews
March 30, 2009
Food has lost its innocence. Works like Fast Food Nation have exposed the underbelly of consumption: the greed of the supplier and the naivete of the consumer. The new milieu proved that food isnÂt what we thought it was, thus spurring the organic and sustainable revolution.

However, even eating organic isnÂt enough to keep yourself healthy and safe. Science has dramatically complicated the food system, genetically modifying the plants that grow our food and producing fruits and vegetables that our bodies arenÂt designed to digest.

The internationally renowned author, Jeffrey M. Smith, "reveals how industry manipulation and political collusion  not sound science  allow dangerously genetically engineered food into your daily diet" in his bestselling book: Seeds of Deception. The publication reveals the health risks of eating genetically modified foods through the unfolding of evidence that includes internal memos by FDA scientists, warnings of toxins, studies on killing animals, revelation of new diseases and the blatant subversion of information by the powers that be.

Smith estimates that 60Â70 percent of the American food supply has unregulated genetically modified ingredients. According to the Institute of Responsible Technology, the bulk of the current commercialized crops in the United States are grown from genetically modified seeds:

Soy (89 percent)

Cotton (83 percent)

Canola (75 percent)

Corn (61 percent)

Other sources of GMOs include:

Dairy products from cows injected with rbGH

Food additives, enzymes, flavorings, and processing agents, including the sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet®) and rennet used to make hard cheeses

Meat, eggs, and dairy products from animals that have eaten GM feed

Honey and bee pollen that may have GM sources of pollen

Contamination or pollination caused by GM seeds or pollen

While this information proves that problems clearly exist in the American food industry, Smith also provides ideas for solutions. The Seeds of Deception website is packed with information on how to change your shopping and gardening habits to protect your family. His other books and resources are also available for order, and there is a link to the new documentary film, "The World According Monsanto," from French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin. The film exposes the seed giantÂs participation in everything from Agent Orange to the new infiltration of genetically modified food.

It's time to eat smarter!

Found on internet.
-B

I haven't read the bill in it's entirety, not from this post or the one that was on front page several days ago...

But I think some steps need to be taken to keep our food supply more safe. I'd like to be able to buy produce and not have to worry about becoming sick, or my family becoming sick from it - it wasn't that many months ago the only tomatoes at the store deemed safe were those sold on the vine, from Canada. Not to mention those particular green house grown tomatoes were $3.49/lb here...

Did anyone notice last nights nut recall on the news? Second largest processor in our country recalling about one million pounds of pistachio products....

Thank you for the additional reading opportunities, Brandy, I have not seen the Seeds of Deception before. So many places on "the Internets."

I agree with your comments, morz8, which is one of the reasons I posted what I did here. I think GW has a great many people who have a connection to the earth that many people haven't had the opportunity to explore or don't realize how important the connection is to have.

I know I'm taking this line from someone, whether famous or a friend, but the person stated that the founding fathers never put anything in the Declaration about the right to food because they wouldn't have imagined a time when most people had their food shipped hundreds, thousands, and countries away. The more we can get our hands into our own earth, know the soil that we grow in, and find places to purchase food from people who are doing the same, we are taking steps to keep our food supply safe.

Although I understand some of the why when food is viewed as a commodity/profit-making-product instead of a means to health and nourishment, in my opinion, having one or two places process all the pistachios, peanuts, beef, spinach, whatever, etc. in the US lacks sense. Concentrating anything that much in one location seems to call up the problems related to the adage about keeping all the eggs in one basket. Unless you are Mark Twain, who wrote, "Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket." And in this case, I think the baskets have become too big and corporate and politically powerful to watch. Returning to smaller farms and slower foods seems to be one piece of the complex puzzle.

Okay, so tell me again, what's happening to the honey bees? Oh yeah, hive collapse. I guess that's what's going to happen to the rest of us--as much as I love gardening, only a small portion of what my family eats comes from stuff that I can control, since the HOA won't let me grow my own cows...
Seriously, this GM foodstuffs is a big problem, and government needs to BUTT OUT and let the people decide. Let's see, do I want milk from a test tube, or would I rather have the real thing? Is this a trick question?
As far as possible enforcement in my own back yard, I guess I'll be sitting in jail. I'll be alone, however, because all the other people that don't do their own gardening will be in the hospital with some new, unknown disease, thanks to the GM stuff that they unknowingly ate. It's already out there, folks. We need to make our voices heard.

Thanks, Norabelle, for informing us.