[Vision2020] Illegal Gardening -- Not!

[Saundra Lund]

Yes:  some people are going totally bonkers.  I've been working among people
I know to dispel the fear mongering tactics that have been used to target HR
875 & more recently S 510 for over a year, and some people seemingly are
more willing to trust huge agribusinesses to give us safe food - something
they've failed at miserably - than update our antiquated food safety laws &
enforcement because that's "evil government."  You know, it's really just
the same kind of illogical thinking of those who scream for small government
all the while wanting the kind of things only government can adequately
provide like national defense and getting tough on "illegal aliens."
<shaking my head>  And food safety.

 

Even though the Senate recently passed S 510, desperately needed meaningful
food safety reform isn't a done deal yet:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/health/policy/01food.html

 

For those interested in reading a little more, I recommend checking out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/opinion/25schlosser.html

It's written by the guy who did "Food, Inc." so he's a hero of mine.

"EVERY day, about 200,000 Americans are sickened by contaminated food. Every
year, about 325,000 are hospitalized by a food-borne illness. And the number
who are killed annually by something they ate is roughly the same as the
number of Americans who've been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003."

 

Also check out:

http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/notinmyfood/newsroom.html

http://sustainableagriculture.net/category/food-safety/

(I don't agree with all of the NSAC's comments on this, but they do have
some good discussion nonetheless).

 

 

HTH,

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.

~ Edmund Burke

 

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2010 through life plus
70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
author.*****

 

 

 

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Robert Dickow
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 2:50 AM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Illegal Gardening -- Not!

 

Someone told me today that Congress is about to pass a bill that would make
backyard gardening illegal, and organic gardening would be prohibited,
slapped with 500,000 dollar fines, etc. I laughed a good one. But I peeked
around the web and the notion seems to have taken some root in some corners.
So, I read the Bill HR 875 which one forum site cited as the source of these
perceived threats to our favorite heirloom tomatoes and string beans. Lo and
behold, there is not ONE snip of anything in this particular bill which
could be skewed to mean that backyard gardens are in any way threatened, nor
are organic farms under attack by a nefarious plot to eliminate the
practice. The whole notion is utterly hilarious. One of the sites that
mentioned this legislation (which is dated Feb 2009, but who reads bills
these days?) was aligned somehow with Rand Paul, but I've lost the URL now.
Are some folks going totally bonkers?

 

Bob Dickow, troublemaker

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