The power of food: House quietly passes HR 2749, Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

The Collins Report ^ | February 5, 2010 | Suzanne Eovaldi

[jmaroneps37]

While millions of Americans are struggling to feed their families, President and Mrs. Obama have thrown 170 parties costing taxpayers an estimated $10 million dollars and have served such delicacies as Wagyu beef, at an obscene cost of $100 to $150 a pound, according to a special investigation done by GLOBE MAGAZINE. Was Henry Kissinger prescient when he said, “If you control the food supply, you control the people?”

Just consider several troubling governmental actions concerning our food and water resources. The US House of Representatives quietly passed HR 2749, that if confirmed by the Senate and signed into law by the President, would empower the FDA to control and regulate how our crops are grown and harvested.

Euphemistically called Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, this proposed new law would regulate and tax our small farmers and local food producers but apparently would not address needed regulation for the large agribusiness industry.

Why are authorities not investigating what would happen if lab terminator seeds pollinate with the replicating seeds our grandparents used to gather for spring planting?

A second initiative by UN organizations seeks to regulate what Americans eat and drink with the attempted passage of very draconian food code laws called Codex Alimentarius. According to Robert Singer’s research, this Codex program began in l962 in the UN Food and Agricultural and World Health Organizations. He said while Codex’s stated mission is to protect consumer health, it may well present the greatest disaster ever for America’s food supply. He warns if not stopped, Codex is “likely to be implemented in 2011.” Fortunately courageous action by Dr. Rima E. Laibow M.D. and others at HealthFreedomUSA.org blocked implementation of Codex in the U.S. at the end of 2009. Our use of vitamins, herbals, minerals and supplements would be sharply limited

[jmaroneps37]

Control of food means control of population.

[Diogenesis]

“It sure must suck being a taxpaying powerless little people”

[Kimberly GG]

Those who voted YES:

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Altmire
Andrews
Baca
Bachmann
Baird
Baldwin
Barrow
Barton (TX)
Bean
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boccieri
Boren
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown, Corrine
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Butterfield
Buyer
Camp
Cao
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carson (IN)
Castle
Castor (FL)
Chandler
Chu
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly (VA)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Dahlkemper
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Deal (GA)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly (IN)
Doyle
Driehaus
Edwards (MD)
Edwards (TX)
Ehlers
Ellison
Ellsworth
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Fortenberry
Foster
Frank (MA)
Frelinghuysen
Fudge
Gerlach
Giffords
Gingrey (GA)
Gonzalez
Gordon (TN)
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Guthrie
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Halvorson
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Herseth Sandlin
Higgins
Hill
Himes
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hodes
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick (MI)
Kilroy
King (NY)
Kirk
Kirkpatrick (AZ)
Kissell
Klein (FL)
Kline (MN)
Kosmas
Kucinich
Lance
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
LaTourette
Lee (CA)
Lee (NY)
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lynch
Maffei
Maloney
Markey (MA)
Matheson
Matsui
McCollum
McCotter
McDermott
McGovern
McHugh
McIntyre
McMahon
McNerney
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Michaud
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy (NY)
Murphy, Patrick
Murphy, Tim
Myrick
Nadler (NY)
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Nye
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Paulsen
Payne
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Platts
Polis (CO)
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Putnam
Quigley
Rahall
Rangel
Reichert
Reyes
Richardson
Rodriguez
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sarbanes
Scalise
Schakowsky
Schauer
Schiff
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sestak
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shimkus
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (NJ)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Space
Speier
Spratt
Stark
Stupak
Sutton
Tanner
Taylor
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tiberi
Tierney
Titus
Tonko
Towns
Tsongas
Turner
Upton
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walden
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Wexler
Whitfield
Wilson (OH)
Wolf
Wu
Yarmuth
Young (FL)

[Kimberly GG]

BACHMANN????

[originalbuckeye]

They have already taken control of the California Central Valley farmers. By cutting off the water, ostensibly to protect the Delta Smelt, many farmers have nothing but dust left on their farms. Driving down the 5 in December I saw signs that said ‘Congress created dustbowl’ about every 20 miles. I wondered who those farmers knew to be able to get water. I wondered if the same thing that happened in the Auto Industry was happening to the farmers, i.e., if you contribute to the Dems you get to keep your business.

[elk]

Mark my words (and pray that I am very, very wrong):

Americans will trade guns for food.

This is very bad news, indeed. I would be curious as to who voted for this legislation. I think Backman would, despite her rhetoric about freedom.

I would love to see the list of lobbyists working on this bill....and to see if it leaves out the little guy, except to regulate his garden or small organic farm to death.

The classical liberal (not the progressives) had better stand up for themselves and the rest of us, or they are going to lose their freedoms to acquire food, their organic farms, too.

[ozark hilljilly]

Yes, that Bachmann.

She had stated her support for this several months ago.
As much as I like her, this one is unforgivable, I’m afraid.
I would love to hear her rationale for being in favor of this.

[hennie pennie]

If you go to the grocery store this week, check out the tabloid called THE GLOBE -- they stated that it was ten million dollars worth of "booze parties" at a very inebriated White House with drunken conga lines and other similar shennanigans.

[Kimberly GG]

Codex Alimentarius (World Food Code)
Summarized in 7 Points
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=157

[Kimberly GG]

Hopefully, it’s on the front cover and visible to EVERY American waiting in a grocery line!

[fullchroma]

What we need is a do-nothing Congress. In the good old days, they spent their days drinking and getting fat at Bullfeathers and the Monocle, leaving us blessedly free of their meddling and corruption.

Keep the country safe and pave a few roads. That’s all we ask.

[massgopguy]

The are America’s answer to Baby Doc and Michelle Duvalier.

[MrB]

The elites know they can’t control an armed population of 300 million Americans.

So, they’re working to reduce the armed component as well as the total numbers.

Look at the “solutions” they provide for “global warming” - most involved some sort of direct or indirect population control. Look how they’re clinging to these solutions even in the face of the destruction of the global warming theory.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I wasn’t quite sure what the article is complaining about.

It looks like it was complaining the food act didn’t do something about genetically altered foods.

[familyop]

"BACHMANN????"

Yes. Too often, there's a big difference between campaign rhetoric and votes. And anyone who quotes facts about votes will be flamed by the "progressive" bandwagon. Each family of oligarchs is controlling government in order to eventually lay exclusive claim to its sector of business. The following may provide a better look at the big picture of what's going on.

Let’s Get Fisical
Pimco ^ | 1/12/2010 | Bill Gross
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2427132/posts

[Texas Fossil]

Here is a link to my Congressional Score Card that lists this vote. I posted it several months ago.

There are links to a profile for each congressman.

It is listed by State & by Congressional District.

Updated Congressional Score Card> http://bit.ly/8w9ckV

This bill enables the most extreme weapon for citizen control. Food control. It is an absolute horror waiting to happen.

[hennie pennie]

OBAMA'S DRUNKEN White House Parties!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2443173/posts

President Barack Obama has blown $10 million on drunken White House parties, Washington insiders tell GLOBE. This week's Special Report rips the lid off the Commander-in-chief's outrageous antics, including boozy conga lines and dinners featuring $150-a-pound Japanese beef! It's must reading for every American.

[exDemMom]

Sorry, but the website you linked is rather full of alarmism and inaccuracies, and short of concrete knowledge. For instance, in the second section:

While Risk Assessment is a legitimate science (it is a branch of toxicology), it is the wrong science for assessing nutrients! In fact, in this context, it is actually junk science. Biochemistry, the science of life processes, is the correct science for assessing nutrients. Codex Alimentarius treats nutrients as toxins, which is literally insane.

My PhD is in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology. However, I am as likely to tell people that I am a Toxicologist. The training is not radically different, nor are the disciplines mutually exclusive. Furthermore, it is completely appropriate to characterize the toxic profiles of presumably "safe" nutrients. There are many minerals necessary for health that are poisonous in high quantity: you cannot live without salt, but eating a pound of it will probably kill you.

I did not read past the second section.

[tlb]

Reads like hysterical gibberish. First, White House entertainment have WHAT to do with international food regulations?

Secondly, “UN organizations seeks to regulate what Americans eat and drink with the attempted passage of very draconian food code laws”, but how ? That doesn’t seem to be important enough to describe in any coherent detail. Is he saying fertilizer will be banned ? Do you believe that would be approved quietly by representatives of farm states?
Because after all, if there is one economic sector that is meek and silent, it’s Agribusiness.

If there is a reasonable point to make, maybe it would have been more useful to actually make it.

I’m only surprised he left out fluoridation.

Just a reminder, the government got into the food regulation business as far back as Teddy Roosevelt. Most people think it’s a good idea. Botulism and Mad Cow Disease find few defenders.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2749/show

OpenCongress Summary H.R.2749 - Food Safety Enhancement Act

This bill would give the FDA greater regulatory powers over the national food supply and food providers with the goal of preventing food-borne illnesses and ensuring food safety.

More specifically, it would increase the frequency of FDA inspections of food processing plants, expand the FDA’s traceback capabilities for when outbreaks do occur, give the FDA mandatory recall authority, and require food facilities to have safety plans in place in order to mitigate hazards.

Concurrently, the bill would impose annual registration fees of $500 on all facilities holding, processing, or manufacturing food and require that such facilities also engaged in the transport or packing of food maintain pedigrees of the origin and previous distribution history of the food.

The bill is an enhancement to H.R.759, and to a lesser extent, H.R. 857, previously proposed food safety bills in the 111th Congress.

[familyop]

Best follow the link to the whole article. Coming from Bill Gross, it’s a shocker.

http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Featured+Market+Commentary/IO/2010/Let%E2%80%99s+Get+Fisical+January+2010.htm

And BTW, keep your eye on the markets.