David Gumpert on preparing to deal with the fallout from Senate bill S-510

From David’s The Complete Patient blog:

“The U.S. Senate passed S510 by a large majority, including the provisions of the Tester-Hagan amendment exempting small food producers. It’s looking ever more likely that the U.S. House will approve the Senate’s version and, presto, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will have powers approximating those of the airport screeners (part of Homeland Security), which is absolute power, as anyone who travels well knows (and in point of fact, the legislation requires FDA to work together with the Department of Homeland Security in implementation).

Senate “food safety” bill S-510 passed

From the story on Natural News.com:

Picture: Natural News.com

“(NaturalNews) Senate Bill S 510 – the “Food Safety Modernization Act” – was passed by the U.S. Senate today (http://www.naturalnews.com/030576_F…). If signed into law, it would unleash a new era of FDA tyranny over farmers, food producers and even small family farms, many of which already exceed the “small farms exclusion” written into the bill…”

“….Notably, there was not a single Democrat who opposed the bill. This bill was also supported by Food, Inc. authors Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, who have become the favored food commentators of the left. It’s now clear why: In supporting this bill, they have aligned themselves against Constitutional freedoms and in favor of increased Big Government (FDA) authority over food, seeds and farmers.

Markham high schoolers milk cows by hand at Michael Schmidt’s dairy farm

About 100 Markham high school students were able to have the experience of milking a cow by hand recently at Glencolton Farms near Durham Ontario.

Michael Schmidt's children watch expectantly as 100 high schoolers descend from their motherships.

Glencolton Farms is run by Michael Schmidt who has long been a staunch advocate of raw milk and people’s right to make their own food choices.

World of Warcraft bloggers take note of new challenges to food rights in the U.S.

From a recent post on wowgoldblogger.org:

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We’ve seen this story before. But what’s notable is that it’s being posted on a type of blog that otherwise isn’t about food or food rights issues, or even politics.

“Food Terrorism and Sedition Act” — David Gumpert calls a spade a spade

David’s latest thoughts on bill S-510, from his “The Complete Patient” blog:

“I’ve been referring to S 510 as the so-called food safety bill. I’ve done that because, while some of it has to do with food safety, much more of it has to do with repression. So in looking over the comments over the last week, I was inspired to come up with a name that seems more accurate in describing the legislation: The Food Terrorism and Sedition Act….”

“….Bigger picture, S 510 has been used to pile a bunch of repressive measures affecting control of our food, and eventually, control of our health–authority to quarantine parts of the country, do warrantless searches of food producers, establish “Good Agricultural Practices”, implement “scientific standards” of its choice, and gain more control of intrastate food commerce. Amazingly, some high-profile foodies trust the FDA with all this added authority, even writers Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, as they state in a new op-ed….”

Senate bill S-510, Codex, and the choice between corporate food and earth food

From a guest post on Kimberly Hartke’s blog by Kimberly Usher:

Food monopolies are poisoning our Good Earth food by over-spraying pesticides, which contaminates our food, and our bodies. Pesticides can be absorbed through the skin. Encounters with pesticides, and their effects have oversight from people in government positions who have worked for the corporate food entities. The bottom line for corporate food is profit, and the bottom line for Good Earth food is health.

The facts are all there; the Good Earth food for health has more nutrition, while the Corporate food has none, or very little…this is why the Codex Alimentarius Treaty, with the WTO, is important to the corporate food groups…in the Codex Alimentarius Treaty, which will be ratified by Congress with the passing of the Food Safety Modernization Laws (S510, HR2749), the legal standard for the amount of nutrition in foods will go down, and the legal standard for poisons in our food go up…It is that simple.

Giving thanks for still having access to nutrient-dense food while waiting for Senate bill S-510 to be defeated, or not

From David E. Gumpert’s The Complete Patient blog:

“I didn’t realize it till Thanksgiving was over, but one of the things I am thankful for is that I still have access to locally produced nutrient-dense foods.

The New Feudalism — does corporate buyout of farmland help to transform independent farmers into mere serfs?

In anticipation of Michael Schmidt’s visit to Saskatchewan early next month to talk about raw milk, here is some background on what’s happening with agriculture on the prairies. The story below is from The Globe and Mail where it’s titled “Do corporate buyouts signal the end of the family farm?“. The video below is not directly related. Thanks to Karen Selick for posting it first:

“Larry Spratt was combining with his father on their grain farm near Melfort, Sask., last November when a car pulled up along a nearby highway.

Human breast milk sharing — Toronto Star lead story says “A Toronto study will… look at ways to pasteurize human breast milk without losing nutrients.”

Now if that isn’t an acknowledgement that you usually DO lose nutrients when pasteurizing, I don’t know what is. From the front page of today’s Toronto Star, from a story titled “Donor breast milk is greatest gift for sick babies“, or, in the print edition “I am forever grateful”:

Toronto Star photo via parentcentral.ca

“When Melissa Amer dreamed of motherhood, she always pictured herself breastfeeding.

But after daughters Billie and Isabella were born at 30 weeks, doctors at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre whisked the tiny babies away and hooked them up to tubes and machines. Their first food, a bag of liquid nutrients, was delivered by IV.

CBC News on Mark Tijssen asking for a judge instead of a justice of the peace, so he can cite Charter in pig sharing case

CBC News covers the Mark Tijssen case in a story titled “Pig slaughter case sees Ottawa man cite charter”:

Mark Tijssen, the man at the centre of the controversy, outside his Ottawa-area home. Photo courtesy of Michael Schmidt

An Ottawa man who faces charges after slaughtering a pig and sharing the meat with a friend wants an Ontario court judge to hear his case so he can mount a defence based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Mark Tijssen was charged under the Ontario Food Safety and Quality Act last November after a friend left his home in the eastern Ottawa community of Carlsbad Springs with 40 pounds of pork from a pig they had slaughtered.