IMPORTANT! Akaka voted against HI's small farmers

[tjs]

This is one of the worst things that is coming our way!
Please help stop it in its tracks!

Senate Bill 510 has already passed committee and is on the Senate calendar. It calls for enhanced expansion of FDA authority over small farms, ranches, and other food producers, establishes burdensome administrative requirements for large and small operations, and arbitrary legal authority to recall "unsafe medications," the definition of which is not clearly established; if in line with the global standard set by Codex Alimentarius, "unsafe medications" could extend to dietary supplements and herbal products. There is language that currently exempts from heavy regulation dietary supplement manufacturers and packagers. However, the FDA and its agents are notorious for interpreting regulations their own way.

U.S. Senate Bill S 510 is now on the Senate floor where a vote is expected shortly. Yesterday, the Motion to Invoke Cloture passed on a vote of 74-25 (see how they voted, below), sending the bill forward for a final vote perhaps as early as today.

US Senate offices are experiencing a huge backlash of grassroots opposition to the bill -- called the Food Safety Modernization Act -- as virtually every health freedom organization, family farm group and even dietary supplement companies have aligned to oppose this new bill. It is being called "The most dangerous bill in United States history" and would thrust America into a new Dark Ages of FDA tyranny over seeds, foods, herbs, gardens and nutritional supplements.

Take Action:
I happen to agree that the FDA has no business telling us we can't buy raw milk, or we can't save our own garden seeds or grow organic produce and sell it at the farmer's market.

How they voted so far - Remember this list when it comes to vote for them again!
Here's how the senators voted on the motion to send S.510 to a full floor vote: (this is a procedural vote to move the bill forward so that it can be voted on for final passage)

Who voted in FAVOR of moving S.510 forward
These are the senators who don't want small farmers to be able to sell their produce in farmers markets. These are the senators against anyone being able to save seeds to plant. These are the senators who are curtailing our freedom!

Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Brown (R-MA)
Burr (R-NC)
Burris (D-IL)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Coons (D-DE)
Corker (R-TN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
LeMieux (R-FL)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Who OPPOSED S.510
These are the senators who want us to be able to have more freedom of choice in our food supplies.

Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Graham (R-SC)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Nelson (D-NE)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Wicker (R-MS)

All of you who live in states where senators voted in favor of this need to call your U.S. Senate offices today -- right now -- and urge them to oppose this nefarious bill.

Call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator's office: 202-224-3121.

We are about to lose our food freedoms over the bill, because unless more pressure is brought to bear, it looks like this bill will soon pass -- and we will be thrust into a new era of FDA tyranny over the food supply.

[Kapohocat]

Email -

Akaka - http://akaka.senate.gov/email-senator-akaka.cfm

Inouye - http://inouye.senate.gov/Contact/ContactDKI.cfm

Summary of Bill - http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext...l=s111-510 Full text available on same site.

You might want to read the whole thing. When I looked at the list and the yes's were dems and the no's were mainly Rep's - I had to check out the whole thing.

[Rob Tucker]

It has been my understanding that there is an amendment that would exempt farmers who make less than $500,000 a year in revenue and sell directly to consumers, restaurants, or grocery stores within 275 miles of their farms to avoid the expensive food safety plans required of the larger operations.

[Guest]

Gee,

looks like the D party wants the Autos, Banks, our guns, medical, and now our food.

Yep, we are on our way to being subjects all in the name of freedom and change and Hawaii may be leading the way. Hawaii is one of the biggest D states in the union. I can see it now here in Hawaii, government run farmer markets where you buy two tomatos, one for you and one for the person that won't work.

The Lack

The Lack Toons

[Kapohocat]

Yes this is why I had to read the whole thing when it was such a polarized vote. And I still cant make out exactly what they are trying to do as the full text has so many strike outs.

I provided our senators email addresses so once you read it you can weigh in your opinion which ever way you believe is better.

[Rob Tucker]

It is my understanding that the bill is intended to tighten up standards for corporate mega farms following a series of outbreaks of salmonella, e coli and other deadly situations over the past few years.

The outcry about outlawing farmer's markets and small farmers seems so alarmist that it makes me suspect that big business might just be marketing paranoia in the form of "grassroots" protest. As a technique it has been successful in the past. But from my reading there is an amendment which dilutes the protest.

I deleted a previous post on the subject as it was posed as a national issue and Punaweb's policy is to keep it Hawaii. Tjs, the originator of this topic, has posed the subject in light of Hawaii's Senator Akaka's vote. As such it has standing on Punaweb as long as it doesn't drift too far afield.

Assume the best and ask questions.

Punaweb moderator

[Bob Orts]

Small agricultural operations have been exempt from many federal regulations regarding food safety because they traditionally were local operation selling locally. Tracking health and safety problems related to these backyard, family, or small farmer operations was pretty simple.

However, those days are gone. Now these small farmers are shipping products all over the US, being commingles with other products. The FDA has no way to track back any product from this group in the event of a health or safety issue. Almost all health outbreaks where the source could not be found by the CDC was from these small operations because they didn’t have to keep records and were not required to follow standard safety procedures for food handling.

This Bill places similar standards required for all other agriculture operations to those who formally were allowed to operate outside the standard regulations. The US is not targeting small local agricultural operations; they are simply expanding the regulations to cover operations that no longer meet the intent of the former exemption.

There is an amendment that will be included that will continue to exempt the small local agricultural operation.

The question everyone has to ask, do you want some type of minimum food safety and heath standards on agricultural products you consume, and do you believe that records should be kept as to where the products came from? Forget the entire BS over raw milk and seed collection that is a distorted gross exaggeration of the truth made to illicit support from those unable or unwilling to rationally think it through.