For US members- FDA Bill of concern

[Guest guest]

I received this information in an email and thought I would pass it along to you

because we ALL want healthy foods. Please know that I am still learning about

this myself, but red flags certainly come up when a big company like " Monsanto "

will benefit if the bill is passed.

Carolyn

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Letter From Seagate products:

Big government is still trying to reduce your access to health foods in Senate

Bill 510 - McCain is not finished

On February 24, we sent you an email requesting your help to defeat McCain's

senate bill S. 3002 that would have amended the Federal Food and Drug and

Cosmetic Act, essentially attacking the health food industry and reducing your

access to health food supplements and vitamins. Thanks to strong public protest,

McCain withdrew his support for his own bill one month later.

However, McCain did not give up. Instead he took the key provisions from his own

bill and added them into Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's new bill S. 510 called the

" FDA Food Safety and Modernization Bill " . This bill would give the FDA the same

powers as McCain's bill, but hidden under the banner of " food safety " and

" modernization " . Who doesn't want safer food?

But the problem is that this bill, just like S. 3002, gives the FDA almost

unlimited power to allow or disallow such common health foods as vitamins and

extracts. Small farmers would be subjected to high fees that could force many

out of business. Big food companies generally support the bill. Small farmers

and health food companies generally oppose it.

If you wonder where Pres. Obama stands, keep in mind that interim Commissioner

of the FDA Margaret Hamburg last year appointed Mike , former V.P. and

attorney of Monsanto, as her advisor on food safety. You may remember Monsanto

created rBGH (the bovine growth hormone), and other GMO's. Monsanto's production

history includes the notoriously dangerous Agent Orange, PCB's, Terminator seed:

a sterile seed forcing farmers to purchase additional seed each year, Roundup:

one of the most commonly used pesticides worldwide, and the pesticide DDT.

Studies indicate milk from cows treated with rBGH may contain elevated levels of

insulin-like growth factor-1 (IFG-1), which can increase the risk of breast

cancer and other types of cancer. Monsanto was able to force through regulations

to have rBGH omitted from dairy labeling as an ingredient in milk and other

dairy products. That occurred during Mr. 's first term working for the

FDA during the 1990's. Mike was named Deputy Commissioner of Foods at

FDA in January, 2010 and his specific job description now includes " plan for new

food safety legistlation " . Mike and big agro business are behind S. 510.

This will be the future of food safety … if it passes.

You can read S.510 by clicking here. S. 510 would have serious negative

consequences on our producers of real food. In brief, the legislation focuses on

procedures that would be cost-prohibitive to our small-scale producers of real

food without seriously addressing the causes of food-borne illness. S.510 will

likely be voted on in the Senate next week. This bill will hurt the small

manufacturers producing most of the health foods in this country. There will be

no direct, frontal assault on organic farming and dietary supplements, but an

insidious process of " infecting " organic farming and nutrient products with

regulations, " traceability " requirements, required practices and prohibitions

enforced by truly draconian fines and prison terms for even minor offenses

running to hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars and years in prison

for minor offenses... all under the guise of fake " food safety. "

Unfortunately, this present bill appears to have very wide bipartisan support.

It has a very pleasant-sounding name -- " FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act " .

Don't be fooled, it will have very dire effects by limiting your access to

health food products based upon the whims of the FDA -- because they would now

essentially have unlimited powers. If passed by the Senate in any form, S.510

will guarantee the loss of clean, healthy food, high potency dietary supplements

and independent farming in the US -- and the complete industrialization of the

US food supply. For those of you who still have the energy, click here to

contact your Senators and tell them to oppose S.510.

Had S.510 passed Congress and become law last year, Seagate would not have been

able to sue the FDA in Federal Court for violations of their own regulations and

illegally stopping our shipments of olive leaf extract because FDA would have

had unlimited powers. That is the future we may all be facing -- a government

regulatory agency essentially controlled by big agro-business having unlimited

powers to run small farmers and health food companies out of business..

Thank you for your support against S.3002 and against S.510.

Lentz

SEAGATE