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Top ten lies about Senate Bill 510

admin — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:39:12 +0000

Natural News has provided a list of issues about S.510. Yopu can read it at the link below:

for those of you that don’t want to jump from site to site, I am republishing it here in its entirety:

Here are the ten biggest lies that have been promoted about S.510 by the U.S. Congress, the food industry giants and the mainstream media:
Lie #1 – Most deaths from food poisoning are caused by fresh produce
Here’s a whopper the mainstream media won’t dare report: Out of the 1,809 people who die in America every year from food-borne pathogens (CDC estimate), only a fraction die from the manufacturer’s contamination of fresh produce. By far the majority of food poisoning is caused by the consumption of spoiled processed foods, dead foods and animal-human transmission of pathogens.

For example, one of the largest food-borne killers according to the CDC is Toxoplasma gondii, a disease that people acquire from cat feces coming into contact with their food, which can happen right in their own homes (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/Vol5n…). Salmonella poisoning accounts for 553 deaths a year. As a reference for relative risk, over 42,000 people die each year from road accidents in the USA, meaning driving a car has a roughly 7600% higher chance of killing you than eating fresh produce. (http://www.driveandstayalive.com/in…)

In terms of food-borne illness, many of the deaths come from things like spoiled tomato sauce, spoiled canned foods and spoiled pasteurized milk. S 510, of course, does absolutely nothing to address these food contamination deaths, since those foods are considered “sterilized” at the time of sale.
Lie #2 – Under S.510, the FDA would only recall products it knows to be contaminated
Not true. S.510 merely requires the FDA to have “reason to believe” a food is contaminated. So right there, that means all raw milk will be targeted by the FDA because even without conducting any scientific tests at all, the FDA can say it has “reason to believe” the milk is contaminated merely because it is raw.

In other words, the FDA no longer needs science to outlaw a food product. It merely needs an opinion.

Is this “reason to believe” section really true? Yep, and here’s how it was amended:

SEC. 208. ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION OF FOOD.
23 (a) IN GENERAL. – Section 304(h)(1)(A) (21 U.S.C.24 334(h)(1)(A)) is amended by
(1) striking ”credible evidence or information indicating” and inserting ”reason to believe”;
(http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi…)

In other words, in negotiating this bill, the U.S. Senate removed the requirement that the FDA needed “credible evidence” in order to recall a product and, instead, replaced that with the FDA only needing “reason to believe.”

It is utterly amazing that the U.S. Congress would give the FDA to conduct large-scale product recalls and even imprison people based entirely on what the agency “has reason to believe.”

Last time I checked, the FDA held some pretty bizarre (if not downright moronic) beliefs, including this jaw-dropping whopper: The FDA literally believes that there is no food, no herb, no vitamin or supplement that has any ability to prevent disease of any kind. They don’t even believe limes can prevent scurvy, and you’d have to nutritionally illiterate to believe that.

The FDA believes foods are inert and that all the amazing phytonutrients in those foods (carotenoids, antioxidants, therapeutic fats like omega-3 and so on) are utterly useless for human biology.

This belief, held by the FDA that has now been put in charge of the food supply, is the belief system of an insane government agency that has completely lost touch with reality while abandoning nutritional science.

Lie #3 – They didn’t tell you that nearly 70% of grocery store chickens are contaminated with salmonella every day

Yep, it’s true: Amid all the fear-mongering over salmonella, everybody forgot to notice that the vast majority of fresh chickens sold at grocery stores every single day are widely contaminated with salmonella (http://www.naturalnews.com/028661_c…). Yet S 510 does absolutely nothing to address this. It’s not even mentioned in the bill.

In fact, it is these contaminated chickens that end up cross-contaminating the fresh produce in many kitchens across America. So the so-called “food poisoning” that’s often blamed on spinach or onions often originates with the contaminated chicken meat people bring home and slice on their kitchen cutting boards.

Lie #4 – S.510 will exclude and protect small farmers

The Tester Amendment, which was finally included in S.510, excludes farmers who sell less than $500,000 worth of food each year from the more onerous paperwork and compliance burdens described in the bill. But this dollar amount is not indexed to inflation, meaning that as the U.S. dollar continues to lose value due to the Federal Reserve counterfeiting machine running at full speed (more “quantitative easing,” anyone?), food prices will continue to skyrocket — and this will shift even small family farms into the $500,000 sales range within just a few years.

In fact, a single-family farm with just four people could easily sell $500,000 worth of fresh produce a year right now, even before inflation. Remember, $500,000 is not their profit, but rather the gross sales amount. The profits on that might be only $50,000 or even less.

Furthermore, this $500,000 threshold means that small, successful farms that are doing well and would like to expand will refuse to hire more people or expand their operations. To avoid the tyranny of S 510, small farms will try to stay small, and that means avoiding the kind of business expansion that would create new jobs.

Lie #5 – The FDA needs more power to enforce food safety

The FDA already has the power to effectively recall foods by publicly announcing a product has been found to be contaminated. The FDA already has the power to confiscate “misbranded” products, too, and it could easily use this power to halt the sale of contaminated food items.

But the FDA simply refuses to enforce the laws already on the books and, instead, has sought to expand its power by hyping up the e.coli food scares. The ploy apparently worked: Now in a reaction to the food scare-mongering, the FDA is being handed not just new powers, but more funding, too! And you can bet it will find creative new ways to put this power to work suppressing the health freedoms and food freedoms of the American people.

Lie #6 – Fresh produce is contaminated because of a lack of paperwork

There is no evidence that requiring farms to fill out more paperwork will make their food safer. The real cause of produce contamination is the existence of factory animal farms whose effluent output (huge rivers of cow feces, basically), end up in the water supply, soils and equipment that comes into contact with fresh produce.

The food contamination problem is an UPSTREAM problem where you’ve got to reform the factory animal operations that now dominate the American meat industry. S.510, however, does absolutely nothing to address this. Factory animal farms aren’t even addressed in the bill!

Lie #7 – The American people are dying in droves from unsafe fresh food

The truth is that Americans are dying from processed food laced with toxic chemical additives, not from fresh, raw produce. Partially-hydrogenated oils, white sugar, aspartame, MSG and artificial food colors almost certainly kill far more people than bacterial contaminations.

The American public is also dying from pharmaceuticals — anywhere from 100,000 to 240,000 people a year are killed by FDA-approved drugs (http://www.naturalnews.com/001894.html), most of which have been approved under the guise of blatantly fraudulent science and drug company trickery. The FDA doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, it has been a willful co-conspirator in the scientific fraud carried out by Big Pharma in the name of “medicine.” (http://www.naturalnews.com/027851_h…)

To think that the FDA — the very same agency responsible for the Big Pharma death machine — is now going to “save us” by controlling food safety is highly irrational.

Lie #8 – The FDA just wants to make food “safer”

Actually, the FDA wants to make the food more DEAD. Both the FDA and the USDA are vocal opponents of live food. They think that the only safe food is sterilized food, which is why they’ve supported the fumigation, pasteurization and irradiation efforts that have been pushed over the last few years.

California almond growers, for example, must now either chemically fumigate or pasteurize their almonds before selling them (http://www.naturalnews.com/021776.html). This has destroyed the incomes of U.S. almond farmers and forced U.S. food companies to buy raw almonds from Spain and other countries.

Lie #9 – Food smuggling is a huge problem in America

One of the main sections of S.510 addresses “food smuggling.” Yep — people smuggling food across the country. If you’ve never heard of this problem that’s because it’s not actually a problem.

Not yet anyway.

But there’s a reason why they put this into the bill: Because they’re probably planning on criminalizing fresh produce and then arresting people for transporting broccoli with the “intent to distribute.”

Yep, farmers bringing fresh produce to sell at the weekend farmer’s market could soon be arrested and imprisoned as if they were drug smugglers. Hence the need for the “food smuggling” provisions of S.510.

Soon, we will all have to meet in secret locations just to trade carrots for cash.

Lie #10 – S.510 will make America’s food supply the safest in the world

Actually, even with S.510 in place, America’s food supply is among the most chemically contaminated in the world, second only to China. You can find mercury in the seafood, BPA in the canned soup, yeast extract (MSG) in the “natural” potato chips, and artificial petrochemical coloring agents in children’s foods.

Eating the “Standard American Diet” is probably the single most harmful thing a person can do for their health. It’s the fastest way to get cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Every nation in the world that begins to consume the American diet starts to show record rates of degenerative disease within one generation. This is the “safe food” that the U.S. Senate is now pushing on everyone.

Remember, with S.510, SAFE = DEAD. And the FDA says it wants to keep everybody safe.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030587_Senate_Bill_510_Food_Safety.html#ixzz173VuSL2D

USDA recalls 800,000 pounds of beef

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:12:33 +0000

Beef that is contaminated with the Salmonella bacteria has been found in Newport, Colorado, and traced back to the Beef Packers Incorporated, in California.

Read the story here:

www.healthnews.com/alerts-outbreaks/usda-announces-ground-beef-product-recall-california-company-3541.html

Once again, why do American consumers trust the USDA or the food industry?

–Pat

Documentary Film – Must See!!!

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:44:23 +0000

If any of you have been following my blog, you know that I write about the USDA and FDA, corporate “Big Ag” companies, and how they are not our allies or great protectors of the food chain..

I subscribe to different feeds that bring food safety and nutritional news to my inbox, so that I can keep all of you updated. One of those (and I am sure I have told some of you about this) is called The Center for Food Safety. They have teamed up with a film maker, and together have produced a film that should be seen by anyone that eats food – It is called “Food, Inc.”

“Food Inc.” premiers today, June 12th in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, followed by the nationwide release on June 19th.

The film reports the abusive persecution and, in other cases, prosecution of farmers by Monsanto as it tries to force its genetically altered food products into the mainstream food industry.
It has interviews with such innovative farmers as Joe Salatin (Polyface Farm) and Gary Hershberg of Storyfields. There are also interviews with Journalist and author, Michael Pollan (“In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivores Dilemma”) and Eric Schlosser (Author of “Fast Food Nation”).

It also exposes the role that the FDA and USDA play in promoting a Corporate-run Industrialized Agriculture model – A failing model that has caused a new strain of E. Coli that affects over 73,000 people per year, an unprecedented escalation of heart disease, type-2 diabetes, and childhood obesity – reaching epidemic proportions in our society.
I have affectionately called this “Poison for Profits” for a couple of years now…

This is a MUST SEE film!

For more information go to this link:

http://www.foodincmovie.com/index.php

To your health,

–Pat

Drug Roulette – The new game for aging Americans

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:54:04 +0000

It seems that over 2 million elderly Americans are taking potentially dangerous combinations of drugs, according to this article.

The most alarming statistic is One in ten Older men are taking risky combinations of drugs – from blood thinners and cholesterol medicine to Aspirin and Ginkgo pills.

The American diet, the AMA (American Medical Association) and pharmaceutical companies are to blame, along with our sweet tooth and the companies making the processed food items which we crave (the cravings, in large part coming from the added hydrolyzed protein, AKA, MSG). Of course, the only medicines we would need could be, have been, and are, found in the very foods we (should) eat.

Eating a “raw”, unprocessed diet could alleviate many of the modern maladies affecting our society. The FDA ad USDA turn a blind eye to many harmful items found in the food chain, and have decided to regulate based on the monetary contributions to “pet projects”, grants and, of course, age old graft. – A term I have affectionately termed “Poison for Profits”.

If we were to spend more money on good, healthful, nutritious foods and less on electronic toys, we would be a far healthier society. But mainstream media, and their bombardment of the American populous with advertisement and marketing that insists that we are not complete without a GPS in our cell phone that we can use while driving down the interstate and while watching a DVD in the automobile console and drinking a diet beverage, brainwashes us into believing all of the consumerism hype. We have to have it or we won’t be cool!

So, why don’t we start the New Year with a new resolution? A resolution to take back control and to live healthier by:

Reading labels on everything we buy
Eating more fruits and vegetables
Eating less processed food items
Choosing organic when possible
helping someone else to eat better

And most of all, let’s remember that the food we eat is our medicine. The pharmaceutical companies don’t want you healthy, they want your money…

To your health,

Pat

Pass (on) the MSG, Please…

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:53:27 +0000

Went to the store the other night.
Now that winter is here, I thought I’d pick up some “Progresso” soups for my lunches at work. You would think “Progresso” would be a healthy choice for lunch, right?

I picked up a can of the beef, barley and vegetable soup and started “analyzing” it – “analyzing = “reading the label”.
As I scanner the ingredients, I came across that familiar bad sign… “hydrolyzed vegetable protein”.
So, what is hydrolyzed vegetable protein? MSG.

Look at some of the soy sauces, salad dressings and anything else that says “No added MSG” or “No MSG” or No MSG added”. If it says hydrolyzed protein (soy protein or vegetable protein), it has MSG in it.

According to the truth in labeling website, this is illegal, but the FDA has “looked away”, and the USDA actaully promotes this illegal labeling and lying to the consumer… Here is an excerpt from the article on their website:

Placing “No MSG,” “No MSG Added,” or “No Added MSG” on food labels has been deemed by the FDA to be false and misleading under section (403)(a)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act when the label also lists any hydrolyzed protein as an ingredient since it contains MSG.”(3) Thus, to advertise “No MSG,” “No MSG Added,” or “No Added MSG” when there is MSG in a product is illegal.

At one time, the FDA responded to the illegal use of the term “No MSG Added,” with both a Regulatory Letter and threat of seizure and injunction in case of non-compliance.(4) At one time, State Attorneys General sued manufacturers that made such claims, and won consent decrees from them, and sometimes imposed fines.(5-6) But when the FDA began to look the other way, and the State Attorneys General turned their attention to other matters, the deceptive and misleading use of “No MSG” and No Added MSG” once more began proliferating.

Following the FDA’s announcement in 1995 that “…FDA considers foods whose labels say “No MSG” or “No Added MSG” to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamates, such as hydrolyzed protein,”(7) the incidence of such misleading and deceptive labels regulated by the FDA began to decline. At the same time, similar labels regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) continued proliferating. At the USDA they don’t simply fail to enforce the regulation. The USDA actually approves labels of meat and poultry products that claim “No MSG,” “No MSG Added,” or “No Added MSG” when they contain free glutamic acid.

To read the entire article, go Here

Anyway, back to my soup encounter at the store …
I put the can back on the shelf and looked at Marilyn. She said “I have barley, vegetables and such at home, let’s go home and make a big pot of it.”
We went home and she filled the crockpot full of all those yummy, healthful ingredients (BTW, barley is a great source of protein). I had a great dinner the next night – beef, barley and vegetables. And I had it for lunch the next day at work. And you know what they say –
Soup tastes better the next day…

So the next time you go to the store, read the label…
And pass on the MSG…

To your health,

Pat

Cancer soon to become #1 killer

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:01:33 +0000

In the news yesterday, the headlines read “Cancer to Surpass Heart Disease as World’s Leading Killer”
Read article here

Based on the direction of the USDA and FDA, I believe it.

Just this last year, the FDA increased the allowable amount of glyphosate ( the active ingredient in RoundUp weed killer) by 6000% for sugar beets – just as Mansanto released its genetically altered “RoundUp ready” sugar beet for introduction to the BigAg corporations for planting and distribution. All with the approval nod from the USDA. And did you know that 50% of the refined sugar in the US omes from the sugar beet?

Coincidence? I think not. The FDA and USDA, instead of protecting the American public by closely monitoring the food chain, and stopping bio-engineering of foods, has welcomed these technologies and the chemical defoliants and fertilizers that are most likely to blame for muich of the cancer spreading through the Amarican people. I have termed this phenomena “Poison for Profits”.

At the same time, the FDA has gone on a “witch hunt” to close down all of the herbal rememdy companies out there – “snake oil salesmen” they call them, out to defraud the public. While this is true to some degree, the real reason the FDA wants to shut them down is because if people saw the real benefit in homeopathic and other natural methods of healing, the grants and funding that come from the Lilly, Mansanto and other big pharmaceutical and chemical companies would dry up.

It isn’t about our health – it’s about money.

Did you know that even if our customers write reviews on our website saying that a product heals, or softens their skin, we can’t print it because then we are making claims (indirectly) and can be sued by the FDA?

So, if you try our lotion, lotion bars, dinosaur balm, lip balms or body butters, and they do any of those things, we can’t say that they did. We would have to spend over $1 million to prove it by doing the research and testing, and then it would be classed as a drug, and we would have to change everything we do.

But, according to another article today, 38% of adults are now seeking alternative medical help -
Read article Here
why? Because the American public isn’t as stupid as the FDA ad USDA think – and we have had enough of spending thousands of dollars for “health care” that leaves us wanting, and usually with worse symptoms than those we came into the doctor’s office with!

TO your health,

Pat

For safer food… – 12/18/2007

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:25:45 +0000

There is an organization — “The Center for Food Safety” – that has done some great work on the behalf of all those that want natural, wholesome foods to eat.
In the past year alone, they have:

Won a major federal court victory that stopped the planting of a new genetically engineered crop – Roundup Ready alfalfa – for the first time in history;

Halted risky field tests growing experimental drug crops (pharmacrops) in open fields through other federal court victories;

Defended the organic standards from numerous threats by agribusiness to weaken them;

Generated over 145,000 comments to FDA from people opposing milk and meat from cloned animals in our food supply;

Won the passage of the Mikulski-Specter amendment in the Senate version of the Farm Bill demanding further testing of food from cloned animals before FDA allows such products on the market;

Fought for and won a ban on animal cloning in organic production;

Successfully pressured Congress to remove language in the Farm Bill that would have eliminated the rights of states and local governments to regulate genetically engineered crops;

Pressured FDA to maintain strong and accurate labels on irradiated foods.

You can keep abreast of all food safety issues, or support this great organization by going to their website:

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/index.cfm

New South Wales lifts GM ban in landmark decision

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:14:22 +0000

The Victorian and New South Wales governments have become the first in Australia to allow farmers to grow genetically-modified (GM) food crops.

It seems that Australia wants to push genetically altered foods faster and further than the USDA! Incredible that they would promote GMO without testing for issues with human consumption of the genetically altered foods – once they are altered, what are they, really???

Read more here:<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/27/2102585.htm"></a>