Originally published December 9 2010
S 510 Food Safety bill is still alive and may unleash a new army of FDA agents
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) The U.S. government wants to know where your greenhouse is. Under Senate Bill 510 -- which is now back in the hands of the U.S. Senate after the House hid an amendment in an appropriations bill and passed it last night -- American food producers would be required to register their facilities with the U.S. government. The feds, it seems, want a database of food growers so they know who to target for surprise inspections (show me your papers!).
As stated in the bill itself: (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getd...)
SEC. 102. REGISTRATION OF FOOD FACILITIES. 18 (a) UPDATING OF FOOD CATEGORY REGULATIONS; BIENNIAL REGISTRATION RENEWAL. Section 415(a) (2120 U.S.C. 350d(a))
"The registration shall contain an assurance that the Secretary will be permitted to inspect such facility at the times and in the manner permitted by this Act."
What this language shows is that the point of registration is so that government agents can conduct surprise inspections of food facilities. At least 4,000 new FDA agents will need to be hired if this bill becomes law, greatly expanding the FDA's agent presence in much the same way the TSA expanded over the last few years.
Kangaroo courts for violators
Once an FDA inspection occurs, if the government believes the food grower is producing anything that might pose a risk to the public (and note carefully that "belief" is the only thing required, not actual scientific evidence of harm), that food grower is then "suspended" from producing food.
After that, they get dragged into a kangaroo FDA court where a panel of FDA officials then decides their fate. This takes place with no due process, no attorney, no Constitutional protections and no rights whatsoever. This is, in every sense, a "King's court" where the King can simply decide that you're guilty and put you out of business.
Here's the language in the S.510 legislation:
"(2) HEARING ON SUSPENSION. - The Secretary shall provide the registrant subject to an order under paragraph (1) with an opportunity for an informal hearing, to be held as soon as possible but not later than 2 business days after the issuance of the order or such other time period, as agreed upon by the Secretary and the registrant, on the actions required for reinstatement of registration and why the registration that is subject to suspension should be reinstated. The Secretary shall reinstate a registration if the Secretary determines, based on evidence presented, that adequate grounds do not exist to continue the suspension of the registration."
Did you read this carefully? It means the Secretary (a bureaucrat) gets to decide who can grow food and who can't. This is the FDA's kangaroo court, much like the FTC's kangaroo court that's currently being used to destroy companies offering nutritional supplements and natural cancer cures.
Remember, too, the bill abandoned actual science and now relies entirely on the FDA's "belief" to determine which foods to recall:
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'';
FDA tyranny is on the rise
So essentially what we have here is a food tyranny bill that would hand a group of un-elected bureaucrats who answer to no one the power to control virtually the entire U.S. food supply. This is an agency, by the way, that is already responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans (http://www.naturalnews.com/030461_Senate_Bil...).
This is an agency that has participated in armed raids against natural product companies (http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html).
To all those who say "S. 510 is no big deal, the FDA won't abuse its power, this is just about safety" -- I say you have no grasp of the history of tyranny. The FDA has virtually never taken action to protect the People. Its actions have consistently been shaped to maximize the profits of the powerful corporations even at the expense of human lives.
Just read the history of Vioxx if you need a refresher on that point (http://www.naturalnews.com/009693.html).
That the U.S. Congress would now seek to hand over control of our food supply to this dangerous, rogue government agency is an obscene betrayal of the American people. This is precisely why we must stand up and fight S.510 once again to defeat it in the Senate where it is now schedule for yet another vote. (Like a bad case of herpes, this bill just won't die, it seems...)
Sign the petition at: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/d...
Once again, CALL your representatives in the House and the Senate. You can reach the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your representatives by name.
By the way, just for the record, I am appalled at the lack of action on this item by some so-called "health freedom" organizations which appear to be doing absolutely nothing to rally opposition to this bill. A few groups are fighting hard to oppose it (NaturalNews, ANH-USA.com, Natural Solutions Foundation, etc.) but there are several which appear to be sitting on the sidelines, doing nothing. I'm not sure why. This is precisely the kind of issue that should have the entire health freedom community up in arms to protect our food freedoms.
Robert Scott Bell gets it, by the way. So do the Vitamin Lawyer (Ralph Fucetola) and health freedom attorneys like James Turner and Jonathan Emord. All the freedom-oriented people seem to understand how crucial this is to maintain our food freedoms and keep the FDA out of our farms as much as possible. If you think the FDA is bad now, just wait until they are granted yet more powers (and funding) to unleash an army of thousands of new agents who sweep across America, raiding small family farms (no, they're not all exempted from this bill) and imprisoning raw milk producers.
The FDA is about to become the SS of food fascism. This is not an exaggeration. Who would have thought, five years ago, that the TSA would be reaching down your pants and feeling your genitals? Just imagine now what the FDA will do with similar powers over your food and farms. Crudely put, the TSA may be feeling your junk, but the FDA will have us all by the balls.
Take action now to protect your food freedoms (or you will forever lose them).
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