Tag Archives: FDA

FDA Requests $300 Million To Implement Food Safety Modernization Act

“Apart from a full-fledged revolution initiated by the people against the corrupt federal government, it is highly likely that Congress will grant the FDA its funding increase, which will effectively turn up the heat of police state tyranny against American farmers and food growers. But the people can still make their voices heard by contacting their representatives and demanding that the FDA not receiving funding to implement the onerous provisions of FSMA.”

(NaturalNews) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested nearly $300 million in additional agency funding from Congress in order to implement the oppressive tenets of the so-called Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which will stifle American farmers and commercial food growers and potentially put many of them out of business. The FDA claims it is having to struggle through “tight budget times,” and insists that a roughly 17 percent budget increase over its 2013 budget will be needed for 2014.

If granted by Congress, the requested funding increase will bring the FDA’s overall operating budget to a massive $4.7 billion for the 2014 fiscal year, which is the highest it has ever been. This is in spite of the fact that FSMA is completely despotic, granting the FDA sweeping new authority over the cultivation, transport, and sale of food, particularly at the local level. As we covered many times in the past, FSMA will allow the FDA to preemptively regulate and control farmers and commercial food growers.” Full Story on Natural News

You can contact your Congressmen by visiting:
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Related articles

Food Safety Modernization Act Far More Costly Than Supporters Claimed (openmarket.org)
FDA requests $4.7 billion to implement food safety law (vitals.nbcnews.com)
Obama Administration Seeks FDA Funding Increase for FSMA Implementation (trackmycrop.wordpress.com)
Food Companies Must Prep For FDA & FSMA (drughealth.blogspot.com)
Q&A With Michael Taylor, Part I: The Next FSMA Rules and Imports (trackmycrop.wordpress.com)
White House Guts Food Safety Modernization Act, Testing Nixed (poisonedpets.com)

Alaska’s Resolution To Oppose FrankenFish

Three cheers for Alaska…if this makes it through the Senate, that is..!

From KTOO “The Alaska House of Representatives has come out against genetically engineered salmon, or as critics call it, “Frankenfish.”

Representatives unanimously approved House Joint Resolution 5 on Wednesday. It urges the US Food and Drug Administration to reconsider a preliminary finding that genetically modified fish would not significantly impact the environment. The resolution also urges the agency to require labeling for GM salmon, if the product is ultimately approved.

The legislation was sponsored by Anchorage Democrat Geran Tarr. She says genetically engineered fish has not been proven safe.

“The resolution opposes this move for three reasons,” Tarr said on the House floor. “Threats to wild salmon stocks; threats to human health and consumer confidence in wild Alaska salmon; and potential negative economic impact on our wild seafood industry.”

The House joins the Parnell administration, the state’s Congressional delegation, and thousands of Alaskans represented by seafood industry groups in opposing genetically modified fish.

The resolution now goes to the state Senate.

Massachusetts-based biotech company AquaBounty petitioned the FDA to approve the genetically engineered fish — an Atlantic salmon with genes from a Chinook salmon and an eel-like fish to make it grow faster. The company has spent nearly $70 million dollars since forming in 1991.

The FDA recently extended the public comment period on AquaBounty’s petition through April 26th.

Related articles

Irradiated Food

From Organic Consumers Association – “Irradiated fruits and vegetables benefit the packer and grocer, not the farmer or consumer. The consumer receives an inferior product that appears fresh, but has depleted vitamins and enzymes.

The FDA has proposed a new rule under the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), one aimed at preventing foodborne illnesses. One of the ways for producers of fruits and vegetables to avoid having to comply with the new rule would be to irradiate their products.

The FDA would have us believe that irradiation is perfectly safe. Yet research has revealed a wide range of problems in animals that ate irradiated food, including premature death, a rare form of cancer, reproductive dysfunction, chromosomal abnormalities, liver damage, low weight gain and vitamin deficiencies.”

I am doubtful that the Monsanto managers over at the FDA will much care but if you’d like to let ‘em know how you feel anyways, you can do so by clicking the link below.

Take action today! Tell the FDA: Don’t irradiate my veggies! 

Top 10 Reasons For Opposing Food Irradiation

  • In legalizing food irradiation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not determine a level of radiation to which food can be exposed and still be safe for human consumption, which federal law requires.
  • In legalizing food irradiation, the FDA relied on laboratory research that did not meet modern scientific protocols, which federal law requires.
  • Research dating to the 1950s has revealed a wide range of problems in animals that ate irradiated food, including premature death, a rare form of cancer, reproductive dysfunction, chromosomal abnormalities, liver damage, low weight gain and vitamin deficiencies.
  • Irradiation masks and encourages filthy conditions in slaughterhouses and food processing plants. Irradiation can kill most bacteria in food, but it does nothing to remove the feces, urine, pus and vomit that often contaminate beef, pork, chicken and other meat. Irradiation will not kill the pathogen that causes mad cow disease.
  • Irradiation destroys vitamins, essential fatty acids and other nutrients in food — sometimes significantly. The process destroys 80 percent of vitamin A in eggs, but the FDA nonetheless legalized irradiation of these products.
  • Irradiation can change the flavor, odor and texture of food – sometimes disgustingly so. Pork can turn red; beef can smell like a wet dog; fruit and vegetables can become mushy; and eggs can lose their color, become runny and ruin recipes.
  • Irradiation disrupts the chemical composition of everything in its path — not just harmful bacteria, which the food industry often asserts. Scores of new chemicals called “radiolytic products” are formed by irradiation — chemicals that do not naturally occur in food and that the FDA has never studied for safety.
  • The World Health Organization did not follow its own recommendation to study the toxicity of “radiolytic products” formed in high-dose irradiated food before proposing in November 2000 that the international irradiation dose limit — equal to 330 million chest x-rays — be removed.
  • Soon, some irradiation plants may use cesium-137, a highly radioactive waste material left over from the production of nuclear weapons. This material is dangerous and unstable. In 1988, a cesium-137 leak near Atlanta led to a $30 million, taxpayer-funded cleanup.

  • Because it increases the shelf life of food and is used in large, centralized facilities, irradiation encourages globalization and consolidation of the food production, distribution and retailing industries. These trends have already forced multitudes of family farmers and ranchers out of business, reduced the diversity of products in the marketplace, disrupted local economies in developing nations, and put American farmers and ranchers at a great economic disadvantage.

 

Monsanto; Killing Us Softly

This song is pure genius and so very sadly, true…

When I heard the recent news that the USDA agreed to lift regulations that would restrict the planting of GM crops, and gave the “green light” to Monsanto to now also plant GM alfalfa (a super-pollenator), while the FDA insists, against all evidence to the contrary, that genetically modified foods are “safe”, I was so inspired I just had to express my joy and appreciation, as an American, at being hung out to dry once again!! SusanShann

Related articles