Breaking News: NEW “Food Safety” Threat—Urgent Action Alert!
September 14, 2010
A brand new bill has just been introduced in the Senate. It’s supposed to hold accountable those who taint our food supply on purpose. But as drafted, it actually gives license to the FDA to target supplement and natural health product companies. Please take action today!
This new bill is on top of the House and Senate Food Safety bills that we have been updating you about for some time. Please keep in mind the truth about all these bills: there are already laws on the books to ensure the safety of our food; all we need is for those laws to be properly enforced. Instead, for the past two years, lawmakers have been trying to “beef up” current rules. The main vehicle for this effort has been something called the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, or FSEA.
- The House version of this bill, H.R. 2749, passed at the end of July 2009. ANH–USA has especially opposed that bill. It is a travesty. It would not only impose draconian new penalties, including long jail terms, on both food and supplement producers who even inadvertently fail to follow FDA bookkeeping rules to the letter, a provision clearly intended for use in intimidating small producers. It also places undue economic hardship on small and mid-sized farms and food facilities (both organic and conventional), which could easily drive many of them out of business and lead to monopoly control of food by large corporations.
- The Senate version of that bill, S. 510, introduced in March 2009, was passed out of committee, but an agreement has not been reached to bring it to the floor of the Senate for a vote. See our article “True Food Safety” in this issue for more information on how you can help.
- Now comes the “Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010” (S. 3767), introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D–VT). This new Senate bill appears to use language similar to the language found in the dreadful House bill. It increases criminal penalties to ten years’ imprisonment for any person who knowingly introduces or delivers for introduction into interstate commerce any food that is adulterated or misbranded, or for any person to adulterate or misbrand any food in interstate commerce.
Because the terms “misbrand” and “adulterate” are very broadly defined, such a law would, for example, hold companies liable if even one of the supplements they carry cites peer-reviewed science about the benefits of the supplement. The same goes for even minor record-keeping violations—the law would say the company had “knowingly introduced a product into interstate commerce” when they offered it for sale, even if they didn’t know there were record-keeping mistakes associated with the supplement (even if the product were completely safe).
Here’s the crazy part: this bill would not necessarily hold accountable a company that tainted a product, even on purpose, if this type of adulteration occurred before the product was sold by a distributor!
The FDA has a long history of targeting natural health product companies under false pretenses. This is what happened to a group of cherry producers that cited Harvard research about the benefits of cherries on their website. The FDA forced them to sign a consent decree so burdensome that it almost put them out of business. With the bigger threat of increased criminal penalties, FDA would practically have free rein.
This new food safety accountability bill has been referred to Sen. Leahy’s Judiciary Committee. This means he could easily fast-track the bill in an attempt to get it on the Senate floor alongside the original food safety bill, which is expected to be voted on before Congress adjourns this year.
The Senate’s version of the food safety bill does not contain a criminal sanctions provision like the one in the House bill. ANH-USA has also been told by several key Senators that they would not allow this negative criminal provision into the Senate food safety bill, or into a final bill during the conference process, should the Senate bill pass. Knowing this, we suspect that this new Food Safety Accountability Act has been introduced in coordination with Congressman Henry Waxman (D–CA), who supports the House criminal sanctions language. If the original Senate food safety bill and this new Food Safety Accountability Act both pass, the two can easily be merged with the House bill during the conference process—and we will basically end up with the dreadful House bill.
Just as Sen. John McCain (R–AZ) may not have understood the implications of his own bill when he introduced it—the Dietary Supplement Safety Act, which threatened continued access to supplements—we wonder whether Sen. Leahy understands that his Food Safety Accountability Act threatens to give the FDA an even bigger hammer with which to go after supplement and natural health food companies. We need your help to educate him NOW! Please contact your senators and ask them to oppose Sen. Leahy’s Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010.
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The site linked won’t appear till January 15, 2011. If you want to know who’s targeting supplements, discover who owns Big Pharma. Yes, it’s The Pilgrims Society, the Crown’s financiers in London & New York. That’s the source of efforts to return the world to Feudalism and they well understand how important it is to control “medicine.” You can Google Pilgrims Society or Meet The World Money Power.
Thank you for keeping us informed about this lying country, all they want to do is keep us sick so they can keep the money flowing.
My GOD! They don’t even CARE that we know exactly what they are doing!! Sen. Leahy “INTRODUCED” a bill? Yeah…BUT WHO WROTE IT???? WHO thought it up and created it????? I want to write to Leahy and tell him how much I distain HIM!!! Look att the newest bill he is “INTRODUCING”! :
(Censorship of the Internet Takes Center Stage in “Online Infringement” Bill
Senator Patrick Leahy yesterday introduced the “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” (COICA). This flawed bill would allow the Attorney General and the Department of Justice to break the Internet one domain at a time — by requiring domain registrars/registries, ISPs, DNS providers, and others to block Internet users from reaching certain websites.)
What has happened to this man?? I used to think he was pretty upstanding. How many millions are stuffed in his offshore accts for doing these things??? Him, McCain, Dodd, and the rest of them.
We HAVE a congressional accountability bill going. It’s called the Spending in Elections (disclose) Act and it’s twice been stopped to bring to a vote. Surprised?? They are terrified it might pass!! It’s just another election year, sound bite, dog and pony show.
ONCE AGAIN BIG BUSINESS HAS ITS AGENDA.
This is so much becoming for big business; by big business and of big business! What happened to “We the People”?
As much ‘pro opposition’; here in response to this article, ‘we the people’ NEED to get revolutionary! not necessarily ‘up in arms’ but up in votes.
We must tell our Government (our representatives to big businesses) that we, as a people, are DONE with ALL this BS we’re being ‘fed’; both literally and physically! I’m not gonna take it any more!
I quite taking most prescription drugs and I am now ‘drug free’. Many US citizens are more drug addicts than what you would think. Our Gov likes to display the drug t hing as a street problem but it is much more than that. It IS a national problem that our ’sheep’ are being led to a slaughter by ALL big businesses including the pharma’s!!!
Big business also includes the food industry poisoning ALL OF US everyday with the systemic pesticides THEY use!! Avoid big businesses and their products. They are trying to kill us in the name of more money for their business and their pockets. They DO NOT care about your pockets except to empty them and have the ‘happy, bleating sheep’ follow along blindly.
The government needs to stay away from supplements that do not fall under their watch. Supplements have been so beneficial for me personally and I can get them cheaply and safely right in a store or on the internet. We do not need more intrusion when something is working so well.
i’m trying to find a copy of the bill to read in its entirety – couldn’t this bill help us to defeat monsanto as it’s stated right now….. ‘adultered food’ is indeed gentically modified food. what’s the deal? can you notify me with your reply?
thanks.
As always it is clear that our elected politicians are all corrupt. They can’t enforce the current laws, so make new laws which further empower the government. For what purpose? It doesn’t protect the public, just the special interest groups that keep them in office. Throw them all out and start all over again!
Anything to take more control from us – what happen to our freedom — our right and then trying to trick us. This absolutely ridiculous – this is crazy – it is wrong..
It is bad enough that they try to fed us clone meat and/or jack up with all kinds of crap.
It should be our right to say what we want vitmans or drugs. I will take vitmans and all natural if all possible.
It’s obvious that the directive from the Power ELITE CONTROLLERS BEHIND THE SCENES has been in place so that the world phama can profit at our expense in every way: insert us into Codex Alimentarius so we can control the population by dietary vitamin/ mineral deficiency. Makes you wish they all acquire the deadly deficiencies instantly, before they can come up with yet an other attempt..
Yea, Patty! Maybe it’s just that I’m old, but I distinctly recall learning about deficiency diseases in middle school science class (such teachings are probably considered subversive now, per FDA standards). Therefore I WOULD like to see how these fools would respond if they suddenly came down with rickets, beriberi, scurvy, goiter, rabbit starvation syndrome, and a few other deficiency ailments. A perverse aspect of my nature would get a kick out of watching them try to drag themselves to their seats to vote, hobbling with canes, crutches and walkers, and raise their lumpy necks to vote, only to be misunderstood owing to the difficulty of speaking after their teeth have fallen out of their otherwise empty heads. As for those proposing such deadly nonsense as FDA and FTC control of our dietary choices, I’d particularly love to see THOSE honorable gentlemen and ladies learn firsthand the difference between lying THROUGH their teeth, and lying IN them.
Remind them that it is not their responsibility to “protect” us. Theirs is to uphold the Constitution, and they have more than enough to do without worrying about this. Let the states worry about the food safety. Using Interstate Commerce is just an excuse to justify butting in where they should keep their noses out!
You make a very good point-there is a lot of truth in what you said
“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson
This is just absolutely ridiculous!!!! What are they going to do next? We, the people are sick of your “stupid laws”….get a life!! WWJD!!!!
WE should all send E-mails to Sen Leahys website so he can see how much distain we have for this horrible Bill
It’s already happening Bro-myself & others have already submitted e-mails letting them know EXACTLY what they can do with their so called bill
Our primary objective should be to get all lobbyists and money from special interests out of government. Until we eliminate corruption our “civil servants” will always serve their corporate masters.
SOOOO TRUE!!!
We should all remember what these Senators are doing to us in November. They should all be voted out and replaced with people more closely conected to the voters.
That is true but continual history shows us that it is a corrupt system & you either play by their rules, or you will be removed by whatever means necessary.. I SO wish it was different but our government is run by greed & power–period.
What we really need is a Congressional Accountability Act.
Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard all year! We could call it “Senate Bill 86″
AMEN TO THAT BROTHER!!!
Drug companies are indirectly killing Americans. They have managed to make it illegal to cure cancer and many other horrific diseases by paying polititions to pass laws against supplement companies. I am curing my systemic cancer that I’ve had since 2002 with cheap over the counter items. There’s an FDA law that keeps me from making public the items I’m using. A supplement company must spend millions of $s before they can sell a product as a treatment for a disease. I wish I could afford to sue the FDA to be able to reveal how I’m cheaply curing my cancer. I can proove “I’m” curing my cancer to be a fact.
My dads stage 4 colon cancer has completely stopped growing using a simple food substance…..I bet they would like to take that 38 dollar bottle of something that grows naturally on our planet off the market too……….
Ella and Janie,
For Goodness Sake! Tell us about your natural cures for cancer! Unless you are making claims for a product you are selling, you have nothing to worry about. Freedom of speech is still protected by the Constitution! (at least for now).
They can’t sue you over sharing information like that. How sure are you about your cure and how did you come up with it?
I wrote a story on a man who cured himself from cancer by alkalizing and using a frequency device called the quantum pulse (google it) …. he really thinks the quantum pulse made a world of difference… although I think he would not have been able to cure himself without alkalizing… he basically drank double the amount of what was recommended of one of those green powdered mixes that are chalk full of alkalizing green goodness (get em at most any health food store) and he tested his alkaline levels every day… he managed to keep his level up at 8 which should kill any disease in your body. Apparently disease cannot live in an alkaline environment. He did this for about 3 months… said it was really hard to do, but he cured himself within 3 months of his diagnosis and has been totally cancer free for nearly 2 years now.
I’m always looking for stories of cancer healing… I think my website is showing… if so and you’d like to share your story I’d love to share it with my people… The month of October, i’d like to post as many stories of natural cancer healing as possible while there is a lot of fundraising going on for big pharma during the breast cancer awareness activity.
Why don’t they enforce the laws requiring animal be treated humanely? The reason the eggs have salmonella is because the chickens are stuffed so close together, they get sick and no amount of antibiotics can control the diseases they get from living in their own filth.
I know the reason. They don’t give a crap about the people that are dying because of the tainted food produced in this country by greedy factory farmers. They are in cahoots with the farmers and BIG PHARMA against the supplement and natural food companies, who are slowly but steadily winning the public opinion battle through internet information sites like this one.
i agree with what you say, but request you change the word “farmer” to “industrial agriculturalists. I grew up on a 160 acre farm and have been a small farmer and worked on medium sized farms for years.
For all that we (farmers) are not always joy/love/light in our production practices, the difference between us and industrial agriculturalists is that we raise animals to make a living, and they tweak commodities (chickens/cows/hogs, etc) to maximize profits. As alternative farmers, we raise animals in such ways that our customers approve; industrial agriculturalists only care that their customers buy, buy, buy — and beyond that, customers are a hassle.
Stuffing chickens in cages is (according to industrial agriculturalists) a cost effective way to tweak their commodity. Beyond that, they don’t give a damn about you or the chickens.
sigh … i wish it weren’t so. Jim
These subtle ploys to change bills in congress are powerful please keep me informed.Thank you, for your hard work. MLG
They are headed again in the wrong direction, they should be focused on “Big Pharma”. Unfortunately that is where the big money is and so… they dance with the devil.
The Big Pharma that’s hacking jobs left and right? Even with all that government help, Merck and the like are headed the way of the banks, and more of our money will be shoveled their way to save them. Politicians only really care about Main Street on election day.
I SOOO AGREE!!! The focus should be on ENFORCING the rules that are already in place!! These people took an OATH to protect us yet they are the very people allowing us to be poisoned for profit (PFP) but they aren’t being penalized for it!!! Big Pharma owns ALL the organizations SWORN to look out for us so how can we be expected to trust them let alone give them free reign to make our health choices? It is completely & totally ridiculous!
The unconstitutional government out of hand….AGAIN!!!
Sen. Leahy’s Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010.
A devious dishonest bill to help protect, A devious dishonest industry.
An wise honest man could see that !
But where are U going to find one of them, in Washington ???
vote them all out…
We can! kickthemallout.com!
they can,t get there greedy hands on the supplements legally so now they are trying it any way they can to tap into the supplement market.people.get rid ot these politicians,ask yourself one question,are you better off today then you were one year ago,remember its we the people,not them the people.impeach obamaduh,frank serpico for president and bob barr for vice president,don,t know who frank serpico is,go back to 1969 and read about the knapp commission,nuff said
You are absolutely on target, Gary Schnakenberg. Our vote is the only leverage we have, and if we use it to vote strictly party lines, we almost always waste it. One strategy that is spreading across the country is, “Out with the old; In with the new” in every election until the welfare of our nation and its populous are finally treated as the reason for the existance of government in the first place.
The problem has been that both those in the House and those in the Senate feel secure in their positions, and they concentrate on furthering their careers and increasing their bank accounts. The wants and needs of the masses are very often the last things addressed. But if forced limits of the terms of these “employees of the people” were the standard, and if these “employees of the people” had to return to being merely citizens, they might be a bit more careful about the laws they pass for other “merely citizens.”. As it stands now, they can enact a set of laws for the masses and exempt themselves from being subject to them.
Let’s give them a reason to enact rules and regulations that are beneficial to ALL citizens. Let’s force them to live with those rules and regulations.
Thia new law is not for consumer’s benefit.
This is the same government that wages war against cannabis–the most useful plant on the planet. We are all in this together friends.
We don’t need this bill. Do not vote for it.