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nolawitch58Despite the alarms raised by so-called journalists about this bill, there is nothing in it that will prohibit citizens from growing food for their own consumption, nor from saving seeds to plant the next year's crop. The bill applies only to food production facilities which are required to register as such with the government. If you are a backyard gardener, you are not a facility. If you grow food for sale to the public, you are probably a facility.
The misinformation about Homeland Security coming to take your seeds is either a misreading or a deliberate distortion of section 420 regarding intentional adulteration of food. Using Homeland Security for people who are putting unauthorized substances into our food seems like a more worthy application of the agency than strip searching grandmothers at airports. Such action would have given Homeland Security a chance to seize the melamine-laced shipment of food from China that killed a number of pets several years ago.
Section 112 of the bill provides for public schools' managing of food allergies in children. Right now, no schools are required to provide alternative foods or even allow the kids with allergies to administer their own medications. As with aspirin and Midol, such medicines would fall under many schools' Zero Tolerance policy for drug possession. This bill would prevent schools from expelling kids for protecting themselves from an adverse reaction to food
The bill also provides for enhanced testing in Section 422. There are provisions for accrediting testing labs and providing adequate test procedures. Section 423 gives the Federal government recall power. Right now, all recalls of food are voluntary, subject to the the facility's interest in maintaining public goodwill.
There is nothing untoward in this bill. All the furor is over language that does not exist in the bill.
Lazy so-called journalists will be the death of freedom in this country. Several media outlets, even one purporting to allay fears, go off on a seriously delusional path with this bill. Those who take one source's word for something without checking need to have their keyboards confiscated and be forced to make a pilgrimage to Izzy Stone's and Ed Murrow's graves to beg forgiveness.
The misinformation about Homeland Security coming to take your seeds is either a misreading or a deliberate distortion of section 420 regarding intentional adulteration of food. Using Homeland Security for people who are putting unauthorized substances into our food seems like a more worthy application of the agency than strip searching grandmothers at airports. Such action would have given Homeland Security a chance to seize the melamine-laced shipment of food from China that killed a number of pets several years ago.
Section 112 of the bill provides for public schools' managing of food allergies in children. Right now, no schools are required to provide alternative foods or even allow the kids with allergies to administer their own medications. As with aspirin and Midol, such medicines would fall under many schools' Zero Tolerance policy for drug possession. This bill would prevent schools from expelling kids for protecting themselves from an adverse reaction to food
The bill also provides for enhanced testing in Section 422. There are provisions for accrediting testing labs and providing adequate test procedures. Section 423 gives the Federal government recall power. Right now, all recalls of food are voluntary, subject to the the facility's interest in maintaining public goodwill.
There is nothing untoward in this bill. All the furor is over language that does not exist in the bill.
Lazy so-called journalists will be the death of freedom in this country. Several media outlets, even one purporting to allay fears, go off on a seriously delusional path with this bill. Those who take one source's word for something without checking need to have their keyboards confiscated and be forced to make a pilgrimage to Izzy Stone's and Ed Murrow's graves to beg forgiveness.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-21 06:47 pm (UTC)(And probably double that time for a layman, especially one without profound knowledge of US law.)
Given the state of even serious journalism today, I doubt that people get the chance to actually work through something like this. I hope I'm mistaken, of course, but as I said...
Is there any reliable agency who will put the most relevant changes into a bulletin one can trust? Does any trustworthy party/group take the trouble to publish their aim in new legislation and the progress their bill is making through the houses? For journalists, at least?
We get stuff like that during a process. Probably another desirable feature of a direct democracy...
no subject
Date: 2010-11-21 11:15 pm (UTC)Guess it's still all about what's done with it. We can only hope that it isn't twisted into the worst possible meaning of the law.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-22 01:01 pm (UTC)Did you see the Simpsons last night? It started with all the media owners thinking up what made up crisis they can report on to scare everyone.