In Sunday-evening surprise, Senate unanimously passes food safety bill

[babylonsister]

Ha! rethugs apparently couldn't justify blocking this. +1 for us!

In Sunday-evening surprise, Senate unanimously passes food safety bill
By Alexander Bolton - 12/19/10 07:55 PM ET


The Senate unexpectedly approved food safety legislation by unanimous consent Sunday evening, rescuing a bill that floated in limbo for weeks because of a clerical error.

The Senate passed the Food Safety and Modernization Act on Nov. 30 by a vote of 73-25. But the bill was later invalidated by a technical objection because it was a revenue-raising measure that did not originate in the House — Senate staff had failed to substitute the food safety language into a House-originated bill.

A coalition of groups supporting the bill sent a letter Sunday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) calling for action on food safety.

“Our organizations are writing to support attaching S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, to the Senate's proposed short-term continuing resolution,” the groups wrote. “Strong food-safety legislation will reduce the risk of contamination and provide FDA with the resources and authorities the agency needs to help make prevention the focus of our food safety strategies.”

The American Public Health Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union and other groups signed the letter.

snip//

Sen. Tom Coburn, the outspoken conservative Republican from Oklahoma, had been blocking the legislation. He lifted his objection at the final moment.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/food-safety/134447-in-sunday-evening-surprise-senate-passes-food-safety-bill-by-unanimous-consent

[Lucinda]

1. Anyone know what it consists of? I haven't researched this and the article was vague

TIA

[frazzled]

2. Essentially

It's increased (and enhanced) oversight and regulation of food industry, so we won't see so many outbreaks of illness from tainted spinach and meat. The only objection to it was from small farmers who were worried that the regulations might place a financial strain on them. That's been worked out by exempting farmers who sell their goods within a certain radius of where it is grown. The worry is about regional and national outbreaks, so they felt they could exclude small local farmers (whose food, btw, does cause illness, too--it will just be contained within a small region).

[Lucinda]

3. TY. Still curious about how they will implement and pay for it

but that gives me a good overview. Thanks much!

[Clio the Leo]

5. Here's the full text...

.... which has probably been amended a bit since this was published, but you get the basic idea...

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-510

[Lucinda]

6. Thanks much! :)

[Mojorabbit]

9. Are we for sure they excluded the small farmers?

I hope they did.

[frazzled]

10. Yes, I read a month or so ago ...

that they had come to an agreement: they expanded the distance with which a farmer could sell her goods.

I should qualify: it's not the smallness that counts, it's the local nature of their sales. Small farmers can still produce problems in the food chain if they sell their crops to a large distributor. The spinach outbreak was apparently caused by produce from a smaller farm, which sold it to a large packager, which mixed it with other spinach and distributed it nationally. Once it gets into the mix, it can taint everything. Small farmers are exempt only if they are selling directly to consumers within a prescribed area.

[karynnj]

22. Smart solution - and your explanation is great

[CakeGrrl]

4. Rack 'em up! K/R

[truedelphi]

7. These concerns remain:

1) It can easily deconstruct what is left of the American economy. It takes agriculture and food, which are the cornerstone of all economies, out of the hands of the citizenry, and puts them under the total control of multinational corporations influencing the UN, WHO, FAO and WTO, with HHS, and CDC, acting as agents, with Homeland Security as the enforcer. The chance to rebuild the economy based on farming, ranching, gardens, food production, natural health, and all the jobs, tools and connected occupations would be eliminated.

2) It fully allows the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs. This would industrialize every farm in the US, eliminate local organic farming, greatly increase global warming from increased use of oil-based products and long-distance delivery of foods, and make food even more unsafe. The five items listed — the Five Pillars of Food Safety — are precisely the items in the food supply which are the primary source of its danger.

3) It uses food crimes as the entry into police state power and control. The bill postpones defining all the regulations to be imposed; postpones defining crimes to be punished, postpones defining penalties to be applied. It removes fundamental constitutional protections from all citizens in the country, making them subject to a corporate tribunal with unlimited power and penalties, and without judicial review. It is (similar to C-6 in Canada) the end of Rule of Law in the US.

If you think that the Powers On High Over All Of Us aren't happy about this, you aren't paying attention. Monsanto sponsored this bill! And please look into the fact that only in the last few years have food imports become larger than food exports as relates to American food situation.

Our food won't be any safer - as it will be so expensive to buy food produced here in the USA, that big retailers like WalMart and Safeway will continue to bring us, direct from China, all the food that we can no longer produce here.

[Go2Peace]

8. It also hits the local food marketplace, farmers markets and such, hard

Every vendor will need to "certify", but most farmer's markets are already covered by existing laws, but now many vendors may go out of business due to the additional costs.

[lildreamer316]

11. I wish the cheerleaders here for this bill would read your post.

It deserves much further study. Thank you for a succinct & educational post. Bookmarked.

[truedelphi]

16. Thank you, lildreamer316. n/t

[karynnj]

24. Or maybe we should read Cleo's link to the actual bill

The post you aim to study has no link to anything - and proves none of its points.

One clue is to look at who voted for it - and the answer is every Democrat you are likely to trust. Even Bernie Senders voted for it and VT has any number of small farmers and people who make artisan food products (which are yummy.)

YEAs ---73
Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
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)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Coons (D-DE)
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)
Kirk (R-IL)
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)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
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)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)


NAYs ---25
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bunning (R-KY)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
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)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Wicker (R-MS)

Not Voting - 2
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Monsanto sponsored this bill? How exactly did it 'sponsor' the bill?

[mommalegga]

14. The same way Haliburton "sponsered" the Iraq war...NT

[Freddie Stubbs]

26. How exactly did Haliburton sponsor the Iraq war?

[mommalegga]

30. Didnt you know

The war was ginned up by Lil' Dickie Cheney so that his buddies at Haliburton could make a fortune?

Or was it REALLY a "war on terrah"?

[Freddie Stubbs]

31. So, by that logic, Joe Biden is the mastermind behind the new Food Safety bill?

[truedelphi]

15. Look into the lobbyists who came to see the key Senatotrs.

Usually these lobbyists do not announce that they came from Monsanto.

No, in fact, they usually claim to hail from some much more pleasant sounding organization, like "Delicious and Safe Food for Children Coalition."

You need to read John Stauber's "Toxic Sludge is Good For You," if you wanna really understand the hidden components of legislating, and also how things get handled in terms of the media.

[catgirl]

18. Do you have a link?

Or any info. that Monsanto was behind this?

[truedelphi]

19. Ihope to be talking to Lucy Sharrat sometime over the next two weeks.

She seems to know a lot about the Monsanto lobbyists and the passage of this bill

www.digitaljournal.com/article/301394?tp=1
Above URL is a good article to read.

And money meister George Soros understands what this bill is going to do for the food industry - he has increased his Monsanto holdings significantly!

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. Lobbying for the passage of a bill is not the same as 'sponsoring' it

[Kingofalldems]

32. Fail

Lobbyists quite often write bills, or the parts they want inserted.

[Freddie Stubbs]

33. So, where is the proof that labbyist wrote this bill?

:shrug:

[Kingofalldems]

34. I never said it was, I answered your question

[karynnj]

25. The Senate record shows that Dick Dubin sponsored it and ALL the Democrats voted for it

I suspect that what you see is that in addition to the corporatist Republicans, who don't want more regulation, there are some libertarians arguing against it as well - and that is the source of the polemic piece that backs up none of its assertions.

I agree with you skepticism.

[Maat]

37. It likely WROTE it ...

with their cronies.

Oh, I mean, it and its lobbyists made "suggestions," no doubt. Oh, to be able to secure the notes from the meetings Michael Taylor and FDA officials had with their Monsanto, Cargill and Big Agribusiness buddies!

[Freddie Stubbs]

40. "Likely?" Do you have any evidence to back up your assertion that

Democratic member of Congress allowed Monsanto to write this bill?

[Maat]

41. Well, if I could at the meetings between the committee and ..

Big Agribusiness's lobbyists, I guarantee you that I would have that evidence.

Let's just say that they have been advocating for the bill most heartily.

You just go on believing that the sponsors wrote it, and that Big Agribusiness hates it.

It's YOUR food supply.

Meanwhile, I'm busy stocking up heirloom seeds. I'll grow my own organic produce if I have to do so.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120306058.html

Ah, here's an even-better layout:
http://permaculturelist.blogspot.com/2010/12/permaculture-s510-food-safety.html

[Raine]

20. THANK YOU for posting this info

I'm not surprised to see what this really is. It seems like nothing anymore is ever done to help the commom man only to help mult-national corporations. x(

[karynnj]

27. You might think to question why Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats voted for it

before believing a post with absolutely no factual backup. Explain too why all the worst Republicans voted against it.

[jmowreader]

21. Give me a line-by-line breakout of those claims

I'm certain you can point to the exact paragraphs in this bill that do those things. People have been saying a food safety bill is going to do those things ever since they suggested HR 825--the one that was going to split the FDA in two--and I've read every version of those bills to find nothing of the sort in them.

I really think what's happening here is some Republican group that needs these bills to die because they'll raise the production price of tomatoes from one cent per pound to 1.01 cents per pound is feeding these claims into the blogosphere so people who don't read bills will get up in a lather.

[karynnj]

23. Do you have a link for this polemic

The fact is that Dick Durbin was the chief sponsor and the concerns he expressed included the tainted produce from China. Durbin -- not Montsanto -- sponsored this bill.

[Kdillard]

12. You would think food safety is a good thing but apparently it is not.

[Lorien]

17. Not when it's Monsanto's idea of "food safety"; if they didn't patent it

they don't want you to have access to it. This is all about corporate control and profits, and is as accurately named as the "Patriot Act."

[karynnj]

29. So, we just assume that because a good Kucinich supporter posts

that it was "sponsored by Monsanto", we simply believe - on faith that it was. Could it be possible that this information is from Libertarian sites that see no role for ANY government oversight or regulation?

Bernie Sanders, from VT, which has tons of small farmers and lots of artisan food products, voted for this.

[mudplanet]

35. I think we should get rid of the FDA and let the "invisible hand of the market" take care of

food and drug safety, by requiring the families of Republicans be the first consumers to use all food and drugs.

If, after a couple of years, they haven't contracted a nasty cancer, the wider populace could decide for itself whether or not to buy it.

[Maat]

36. Anyone who is happy about this isn't paying attention.

The ignorance about the bill is astounding. This amounts to federalization of our food supply, and it's disgusting. My state and local authorities did a good job, and the last thing I need is some ex-Monsanto-exec, now a government official (a la Michael Taylor, who allowed GMO food on the market in the 90s WITHOUT adequate testing), to harass my local food producers/farmers. Yes, the Tester amendment is, hopefully, still in there; HOWEVER, the exemption is only for small farmers selling food within a certain radius. This limits what local organic farmers can do, otherwise they face backbreaking regulations.

The feds should have stayed OUT of our food supplies. They need to know that, whatever they do, I will not be eating GMO crap.

People need to go over and review this assessment by an attorney who IS a small farmer:
http://farmandranchfreedom.org

I suggest that supporters of this odious act go to YouTube, and watch a talk by Jeffrey Smith (and the Michael-Taylor-Monsanto-FDA-Revolving-Door). That way, the viewer can learn how the majority of their food was replaced with genetically-modified ingredients without adequate study.

[VeryConfused]

38. This is very good news

This bill can save lives

[SpartanDem]

39. I fail to see how

giving the FDA the ability to do more rigorous inspection, the power to issue direct recalls, regulate produce {that's right produce safety was completely voluntary} is bad thing.

As for the idea the it will harm small farmer in addition to the Tester exemption.

Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union agrees that there's no reason for concern. "I don't think it poses any threat to farmers markets, especially with all the provisions that have been added to the legislation," she says. "There are provisions that the FDA must take biological diversity and organic producers into account. I think those kinds of farmers are protected."

Consumers Union also says the bill recognizes the importance of small, sustainable and organic farms by:

•Directing FDA to ensure that its produce regulations do not conflict with and are not duplicative of organic requirements. (This was added by an amendment in Committee)
•Requiring the FDA to consider the impact of any produce regulations on small and diversified farms, as well as on conservation and the environment. (also added in Committee)

http://www.care2.com/causes/real-food/blog/its-national-farmers-market-week-will-the-food-safety-bill-s-510-come-to-a-vote/more/

[Recursion]

42. Regulatory capture

Every single locovore, foodie, and direct-to-consumer farmer I know (and I host a website for direct-to-consumer farmers, so I know a lot of them) hates this bill. The big worry is that it empowers FDA to write additional regulations as it sees fit. These farmers are harrassed by the FDA as it is (rather than go after huge industrial chicken warehouses, these guys prefer to hassle small farmers -- they make less noise).

[Maat]

43. Here, Recursion, is the lobbyist info.

http://permaculturelist.blogspot.com/2010/12/permaculture-s510-food-safety.html