Food Safety and GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)

Vatic Note:  We are introducing a new contributor to our blog today and his name is Andrew Hall who is a blogger for "My Dog Ate My Blog".   We welcome him and his contribution on the subject SB 510 and GMOs which are as you know key factors in control of our food, our health and our freedoms.  Please read his offering and enjoy the ride.  We hope to have more from him and the "My Dog Ate My Blog" site. Welcome Andrew.  

Food Safety and GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)
by Andrew Hall,  Commentator
November 29, 2010

Andrew Hall is a blogger for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on Online Schooling for Guide to Online Schools.

People are up in arms about Senate bill 510, and with good reason. The "Food Safety Modernization Act," which will need to be voted on within 60 days as a consequence of a 75-25 cloture vote, will require substantial amounts of paperwork and details to ensure accountability for almost all of the food being grown in America. While this is hypothetically in the name of reducing the risk of bacterial contamination in the American food supply, many people are expressing concern over the fact that the bill may cripple local and regional food producers to the benefit of big agricultural producers and those who choose to use genetically modified organisms.

There's even been some fear expressed that the government will now be able to arrest individuals for supplying their own seeds, making raw milk, and distributing vegetables to friends and neighbors (even if not selling them at local markets or anything of the sort). Under S510, the FDA will force producers of foods and medicines to register and pay fees for new inspections; the FDA will even have the authority to shut down farms that they believe produce food capable of causing "serious adverse health consequences or death," a definition that's at least somewhat vague; this would, hypothetically, include very small producers.

Many are holding out hope for Montana Democrat senator Jon Tester's amendment, which exempts family farms and small restaurants from regulation, but whether or not the Tester amendment will be reconciled with the House version of the bill and subsequently passed has yet to be seen. It seems especially hypocritical given that at present, the bill may even allow processing facilities in Mexico to supply to Los Angeles with no regulation whatsoever provided they claim to make less than $500,000 yearly and are "in compliance with applicable Mexican law," likely meaning "largely unregulated." It's a double standard that once again hurts American entrepreneurs and individuals looking to improve the state of food in America by... making it in America.

There's also concern that the language of the Tester amendment will allow much larger producers in America to be defined as small farms, family farms, or small restaurants, sidestepping the restrictions through a loophole.

The growing number of GMO-heavy products is increasingly distressing, and S510 will only bring that number up if used to cripple small farms (though minimizing paperwork and regulatory work for family farms is currently under consideration). Given the scope of the bill and the fact that we have less than two months before it must be put to a vote, this is worth watching and expressing concern over, lest we end up in more situations like the current plan for West Africa.

Mars Inc. is in the process of developing a supposedly sustainable, stronger cocoa tree through genetic modification, with plans of never patenting it, towards a vaguely defined goal of benefiting farmers and communities. While this may sound benign, the plan will in the process transform upwards of 70% of the world's raw chocolate into a product that comes from a single genetically modified cocoa tree. If that's not distressing on principle alone, I don't know what is.

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