Push Back Against FDA Growing

Bernie LaForest and Michael Boldin
Tenth Amendment Center

A county assembly in Washington State has just passed a food freedom ordinance which would punish federal agents with up to ten years in prison and $20,000 fines.

On July 20th, the Stevens County Assembly finalized the ordinance. They are now in the process of collecting signatures from the residents of Stevens County – urging them to to claim his/her natural right to grow, produce, purchase, and consume the foods of their choice.

Beyond that, the passed ordinance would make it unlawful for agents of either the State or Federal government to execute laws that interfere with the ordinance.

Already four towns in Maine have passed similar measures, and others around the country have indicated they’re looking at the same.

REGULATIONS, REGULATIONS, AND MORE REGULATIONS

Last year, Congress introduced the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) which opponents say will lead to crushing regulations on local food production – at the benefit of the big corporate farming interests that backed passage of the law. Local food ordinances appear to be a direct response to the new regulations. The Stevens County Ordinance states, in part, that:

“WHEREAS, We find the history of government regulators, even with hundreds of food regulations on the books, shows they are incapable of protecting citizens from exposure to food poisoning events from foods produced by corporate farming.”

What exactly have all of these regulations given you? For example:

–The year-long raw milk sting operation that resulted in a raid consisting of two US Marshals, two State Troopers and two FDA officials on a SWAT like assault on an Amish farm in Pennsylvania at 5 a.m.

–In the first half of 2008, there was an epidemic of human salmonella poisoning that afflicted 1,294 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The FDA immediately sprang into action and after a hasty investigation they proclaimed that tainted tomatoes may be the source of the epidemic. Several varieties of tomatoes were withdrawn from markets and restaurants across the country. Several weeks later, the FDA proclaimed that it may indeed be jalapeno peppers and cilantro that could be contributing to the outbreak. All of these ingredients are commonly used to make salsa which is a staple when eating Mexican food. Surprise! Finally the FDA pinpointed the peppers and cilantro that were imported from Mexico because it had traced contaminated irrigation water. The American tomato industry lost millions of dollars because of these errant recalls.

–Last year, FDA “Investigators” entered an organic grocery store in Venice, California – warrant and guns in hand. As reported by the LA Times, they “ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts. Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid’s target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk.

These are but a few of the seemingly endless examples of how the FDA and its increasing regulatory and police power have been keeping you “safe.” Some people, as shown by the five towns taking matters into their own hands, have decided that “enough is enough.”

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