A Patriot Act for Food?

A Patriot Act for Food?
Mark Nestmann (December 1, 2010)
“Control food and you control people.”
–Henry Kissinger, Former Secretary of State

http://nestmann.sovereignsociety.com/2010/12/01/a-patriot-act-for-food/

Leave it to Congress to make criminals out of organic farmers and anyone else having anything to do with the production, distribution, or sale of food. Yesterday, the U.S. Senate enacted S-510, the “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.”

It’s the equivalent of a USA PATRIOT Act…for food. Yes, for food. And since a companion act in the House of Representatives has already been enacted, the bill will become effective as soon as President Obama signs it.

S. 510 empowers the FDA to regulate every aspect of food production and processing. Nothing is to be exempted…your grandchild’s lemonade stand is probably a “food distribution facility.” So is your back yard organic garden.
....


This portion of the article I had some doubts about regarding raw milk...

Organic farmers, though, are the most likely target of this bill. For instance, a growing number of consumers purchase raw, unpasteurized milk from dairy farmers. It’s true that this poses a potential health risk. The farmer must apply scrupulous hygienic standards, and also insure cows don’t eat poisonous plants that could contaminate the milk. Pasteurization eliminates most of this risk.

Because of the risks of raw milk, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and many other organizations have recommended banning its production. And under the authority of this bill, the FDA could issue regulations to do exactly that.

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act is billed as a way to safeguard our food supply. But what it actually does is protect the interests of agribusiness against organic farmers, lemonade-toting toddlers, and Vitamin C-guzzling seniors. I don’t have anything against agribusiness or any other business. But, I do object when powerful corporate interests lobby Congress to enact legislation that enriches those interests at the expense of everyone else. And that’s exactly what the act does.
I came across this article yesterday and found that it had little chance to pass before the Congressional break due to filibuster.

Food safety bill looks dead, though Democrats say they haven't given up
By Jason Millman - 12/17/10 10:29 AM ET

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/food-safety/134201-democrats-havent-given-up-on-food-safety

Democrats say they haven't given up on legislation that would overhaul the nation's food safety system, but a Republican Senate aide said the bill is dead after the omnibus spending bill it was tacked on to was defeated Thursday night.

Here's another writeup regarding The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

S 510 is hissing in the grass


S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act*, may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US. It is to our food what the bailout was to our economy, only we can live without money.

“If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes. It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God.” ~Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower
...

Monsanto says it has no interest in the bill and would not benefit from it, but Monsanto’s Michael Taylor who gave us rBGH and unregulated genetically modified (GM) organisms, appears to have designed it and is waiting as an appointed Food Czar to the FDA (a position unapproved by Congress) to administer the agency it would create — without judicial review — if it passes. S 510 would give Monsanto unlimited power over all US seed, food supplements, food and farming.

....

S 510 fails on moral, social, economic, political, constitutional, and human survival grounds.

1. It puts all US food and all US farms under Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, in the event of contamination or an ill-defined emergency. It resembles the Kissinger Plan.

2. It would end US sovereignty over its own food supply by insisting on compliance with the WTO, thus threatening national security. It would end the Uruguay Round Agreement Act of 1994, which put US sovereignty and US law under perfect protection. Instead, S 510 says:

COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

Nothing in this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be construed in a manner inconsistent with the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization or any other treaty or international agreement to which the United States is a party.

3. It would allow the government, under Maritime Law, to define the introduction of any food into commerce (even direct sales between individuals) as smuggling into “the United States.” Since under that law, the US is a corporate entity and not a location, “entry of food into the US” covers food produced anywhere within the land mass of this country and “entering into” it by virtue of being produced.

4. It imposes Codex Alimentarius on the US, a global system of control over food. It allows the United Nations (UN), World Health Organization (WHO), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the WTO to take control of every food on earth and remove access to natural food supplements. Its bizarre history and its expected impact in limiting access to adequate nutrition (while mandating GM food, GM animals, pesticides, hormones, irradiation of food, etc.) threatens all safe and organic food and health itself, since the world knows now it needs vitamins to survive, not just to treat illnesses.

5. It would remove the right to clean, store and thus own seed in the US, putting control of seeds in the hands of Monsanto and other multinationals, threatening US security. See Seeds – How to criminalize them, for more details.

6. It includes NAIS, an animal traceability program that threatens all small farmers and ranchers raising animals. The UN is participating through the WHO, FAO, WTO, and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in allowing mass slaughter of even heritage breeds of animals and without proof of disease. Biodiversity in farm animals is being wiped out to substitute genetically engineered animals on which corporations hold patents. Animal diseases can be falsely declared. S 510 includes the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite its corrupt involvement in the H1N1 scandal, which is now said to have been concocted by the corporations.

7. It extends a failed and destructive HACCP to all food, thus threatening to do to all local food production and farming what HACCP did to meat production – put it in corporate hands and worsen food safety.

8. It deconstructs what is left of the American economy. It takes agriculture and food, which are the cornerstone of all economies, out of the hands of the citizenry, and puts them under the total control of multinational corporations influencing the UN, WHO, FAO and WTO, with HHS, and CDC, acting as agents, with Homeland Security as the enforcer. The chance to rebuild the economy based on farming, ranching, gardens, food production, natural health, and all the jobs, tools and connected occupations would be eliminated.

9. It would allow the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs. This would industrialize every farm in the US, eliminate local organic farming, greatly increase global warming from increased use of oil-based products and long-distance delivery of foods, and make food even more unsafe. The five items listed — the Five Pillars of Food Safety — are precisely the items in the food supply which are the primary source of its danger.

10. It uses food crimes as the entry into police state power and control. The bill postpones defining all the regulations to be imposed; postpones defining crimes to be punished, postpones defining penalties to be applied. It removes fundamental constitutional protections from all citizens in the country, making them subject to a corporate tribunal with unlimited power and penalties, and without judicial review. It is (similar to C-6 in Canada) the end of Rule of Law in the US.


http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/s-510-is-hissing-in-the-grass/

Mainstream media, however, is continuing to promote the bill, using Smithfield Foods as a hammer, touting the company's mistreatment of farm animals, with the Humane Society chiming in...

Female breeding pigs were crammed inside "gestation crates" so small the animals could barely move for virtually their entire lives. The animals engaged in stereotypic behaviors such as biting the bars of crates, indicating poor well-being in the extreme confinement conditions. Some had bitten their bars so incessantly that blood from their mouths coated the fronts of their crates. The breeding pigs also suffered injuries from sharp crate protrusions and open pressure sores that developed from their unyielding confinement.

Undercover investigation of Smithfield Foods reveals factory farm horrors
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101217/ts_yblog_thelookout/undercover-investigation-of-smithfield-foods-reveals-factory-farm-horrors


More information on the above mentioned Kissinger Plan here:

http://www.schillerinstitute.org/food_for_peace/kiss_nssm_jb_1995.html


Henry Kissinger's 1974 Plan for
Food Control Genocide


This article appeared as part of a feature in the December 8, 1995 issue of Executive Intelligence Review, and was circuclated extensively by the Schiller Insitute Food for Peace Movement. It is reprinted here as part of the package: “Who Is Responsible for the World Food Shortage?”

Kissinger’s 1974 Plan for Food Control Genocide

by Joseph Brewda
Dec. 8, 1995

On Dec. 10, 1974, the U.S. National Security Council under Henry Kissinger completed a classified 200-page study, “National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” The study falsely claimed that population growth in the so-called Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs) was a grave threat to U.S. national security. Adopted as official policy in November 1975 by President Gerald Ford, NSSM 200 outlined a covert plan to reduce population growth in those countries through birth control, and also, implicitly, war and famine. Brent Scowcroft, who had by then replaced Kissinger as national security adviser (the same post Scowcroft was to hold in the Bush administration), was put in charge of implementing the plan. CIA Director George Bush was ordered to assist Scowcroft, as were the secretaries of state, treasury, defense, and agriculture.

The bogus arguments that Kissinger advanced were not original. One of his major sources was the Royal Commission on Population, which King George VI had created in 1944 “to consider what measures should be taken in the national interest to influence the future trend of population.” The commission found that Britain was gravely threatened by population growth in its colonies, since “a populous country has decided advantages over a sparsely-populated one for industrial production.” The combined effects of increasing population and industrialization in its colonies, it warned, “might be decisive in its effects on the prestige and influence of the West,” especially effecting “military strength and security.”

NSSM 200 similarly concluded that the United States was threatened by population growth in the former colonial sector. It paid special attention to 13 “key countries” in which the United States had a “special political and strategic interest”: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. It claimed that population growth in those states was especially worrisome, since it would quickly increase their relative political, economic, and military strength.

For example, Nigeria: “Already the most populous country on the continent, with an estimated 55 million people in 1970, Nigeria's population by the end of this century is projected to number 135 million. This suggests a growing political and strategic role for Nigeria, at least in Africa.” Or Brazil: “Brazil clearly dominated the continent demographically.” The study warned of a “growing power status for Brazil in Latin America and on the world scene over the next 25 years.”



Food as a weapon


There were several measures that Kissinger advocated to deal with this alleged threat, most prominently, birth control and related population-reduction programs. He also warned that “population growth rates are likely to increase appreciably before they begin to decline,” even if such measures were adopted.

A second measure was curtailing food supplies to targetted states, in part to force compliance with birth control policies: “There is also some established precedent for taking account of family planning performance in appraisal of assistance requirements by AID [U.S. Agency for International Development] and consultative groups. Since population growth is a major determinant of increases in food demand, allocation of scarce PL 480 resources should take account of what steps a country is taking in population control as well as food production. In these sensitive relations, however, it is important in style as well as substance to avoid the appearance of coercion.”

“Mandatory programs may be needed and we should be considering these possibilities now,” the document continued, adding, “Would food be considered an instrument of national power? ... Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can't/won't control their population growth?”

Kissinger also predicted a return of famines that could make exclusive reliance on birth control programs unnecessary. “Rapid population growth and lagging food production in developing countries, together with the sharp deterioration in the global food situation in 1972 and 1973, have raised serious concerns about the ability of the world to feed itself adequately over the next quarter of century and beyond,” he reported.

The cause of that coming food deficit was not natural, however, but was a result of western financial policy: “Capital investments for irrigation and infrastucture and the organization requirements for continuous improvements in agricultural yields may be beyond the financial and administrative capacity of many LDCs. For some of the areas under heaviest population pressure, there is little or no prospect for foreign exchange earnings to cover constantly increasingly imports of food.”

“It is questionable,” Kissinger gloated, “whether aid donor countries will be prepared to provide the sort of massive food aid called for by the import projections on a long-term continuing basis.” Consequently, “large-scale famine of a kind not experienced for several decades—a kind the world thought had been permanently banished,” was foreseeable—famine, which has indeed come to pass.


:evil:

As a result of this proposed legislation, your neighborhood fruit stand, any herbal or vitamin supplements and even your backyard garden would be subject to criminal prosecution. Similar legislation has already passed in the EU banning nutritional supplements effective April Fools Day, 2011.

Big Pharma Scores Big Win: Medicinal Herbs Will Disappear in EU http://www.sott.net/articles/show/215263-Big-Pharma-Scores-Big-Win-Medicinal-Herbs-Will-Disappear-in-EU

Big Pharma and Agribusiness have almost completed their march to take over every aspect of health, from the food we eat to the way we care for ourselves when we're ill. Have no doubt about it: this takeover will steal what health remains to us.
 
In a surprising turn of events, it seems the Food Safety Bill is to become law after all...


Food Politics
Sunday Surprise: Senate Passes Food Safety Bill
by Dan Flynn | Dec 20, 2010

The food safety bill--S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act--which some had given up for dead, was revived late Sunday attached to a shell bill and passed unanimously just before the Senate adjourned for the day.


The bill, with the Tester/Hagan small farm exemption intact, now goes back to the House. The action will likely put the food safety law on President Obama's desk before Christmas.


"Yes, consumers, there is a Santa Claus!," effused the Consumer Federation of America.


Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA, a lead sponsor of the bill, called the vote "a critical victory" bringing the bill one step closer to completion.


"I look forward to standing with the President as he signs this important measure into law, and in so doing, giving Americans one of the best holiday gifts they can receive this year -- the assurance that the foods they are eating are safer," Harkin said.


Sunday's Senate move came as a surprise, especially because no Republican objected to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's request for his colleagues to pass the food safety bill by unanimous consent.


No one objected, not even Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

...To get the food safety bill back to the House without the constitutional flaw, the Senate used H.R. 2751 as a vehicle, amending it with the language of S. 510. Ironically, H.R. 2751 was originally a House version of the "cash for clunkers" bill, a shell with just enough life in it for the Senate's purpose. Reid predicted the House will take up the measure Monday night or Tuesday.

..."After spending all last week in D.C. meeting with Senate and House leaders, I honestly thought the bill had no chance," said Bill Marler, food safety attorney and publisher of Food Safety News. "I think it says something good about Democrats and Republicans this holiday season. The process was not pretty, but politics was put aside for this and the safety of the U.S. food supply has been enhanced."
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/12/sunday-surprise-senate-passes-food-safety-bill/

So now, the FDA, with the power and backing of the Department of Homeland Security, will have new rights to police and regulate and decide for us which foods are good and which foods are harmful.

Lets take a look at the FDA's track record for keeping us safe from harm:

First, there is the power of the FDA prior to this soon to be new law...

The FDA versus the Life Extension Foundation. LEF is a
The Life Extension Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to radically extend the healthy human lifespan by discovering scientific methods to control aging. _http://www.lef.org/

In 1987, the FDA sent twenty-five armed Federal Drug Administration (FDA) agents & US marshalls smashing through the door in an early morning raid, confiscating practically their entire inventory at their retail shop and their warehouse. The owners faced a possible prison term of 20+ years.

Kent & Faloon retaliated by filing motions attacking the legal & constitutional foundation of the indictment. They charged that the FDA had illegally obtained the search warrant and had illegally seized many items not on the warrant. They also filed a motion charging that they were being selectively prosecuted by the FDA, because AIDS Buyer's Clubs similarly informed their members of the FDA policy of allowing importation of drugs for personal use.

Despite continued threats of more FDA indictments that could put Kent & Faloon in jail for the rest of their lives, LEF became the first company to offer pharmaceutical-grade Melatonin in the United States in 1992. In 1994, LEF established the "FDA Holocaust Museum" to document "the 70-year reign of terror that the FDA had perpetuated against Americans".

In 1995 the FDA began exerting strong pressure to bring its lengthy legal fight against the Life Extension Foundation to trial. The FDA told Kent & Faloon that in exchange for a guilty plea they would not have to go to prison and could continue doing business on a more limited basis. The FDA wanted to censor the contents of LIFE EXTENSION magazine and probably intended to "regulate" LEF by limiting the products they could sell. Instead of pleading guilty, Kent & Faloon filed a new battery of legal motions, escalated their political attacks on the FDA and began extensive preparations for their trial.

In November 1995, the FDA dropped all charges except the charge of "obstruction of justice" against Saul Kent. In February, 1996 even this charge was dropped. It was the first time in the history of the FDA that the agency had given-up on a criminal indictment against a political opponent.

http://www.benbest.com/polecon/fdalef.html

Frem LED's magazine, more FDA raids as follows:

Raid: Traco Labs, Inc. - November, 1988

Address: 205 S Main St. Seymour, IL 61875

Phone: (217) 687-2800 - Sid Tracy , President

Reason: FDA claimed that black currant oil was an unsafe food additive.

Outcome: FDA seized two drums of black currant oil as well as a large quantity of the capsulized product. On Jan. 28, 1993, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against FDA. The judge said that FDA's definition of food additive is too broad that even water added to food would be considered a food additive.

Raid: Pets Smell Free, Inc. - Summer, 1988

Address: 350 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Phone: (801) 322-1221 - Mark Geiger

Reason: Product designed to prevent pets from giving off foul odor (also sold for fishtanks). FDA called it an unsafe, unapproved drug.

Outcome: Seized entire inventory and business records. PSF won in court several times but in July, 1994 FDA won on appeal, FDA wants PSF to sign a consent decree but they have refused.

Raid: The Life Extension Foundation - Feb 26, 1987

Address: PO Box 229120, Hollywood, FL 33022

Phone: (800) 333-2553 - John Hummell, Political Office

Reason: FDA alleged LEF was selling unapproved drugs (vitamins in U.S.) and life extension drugs from overseas companies.

Outcome: FDA seized $500,000 worth of vitamins, computers, files, newsletters, personal belongings. Phones were ripped out of the walls and employees terrorized. The foundation's leaders, Saul Kent and William Faloon, were indicted on 28 criminal counts with maximum prison time of 84 years in November, 1991. Case is still pending.

Raid: Highland Labs - Fall, 1990

Address: Box 199 Mt. Angel, OR 97362

Phone: (800) 547-0273 - Candy Scott

Reason: FDA claimed that product literature (with false claims) was being shipped with products to customers. FDA said these made COQ10 and GeOXY 132 unapproved drugs.

Outcome: After spending $250,000 in legal fees, defendent was forced to plead guilty to selling unapproved new drugs. Six months house arrest. $5,000 fine.

Raid: Hospital Santa Monica - May 12, 1993

Address: 738 Design Ct., Chula Vista, Ca. 91909

Phone: (619) 662-3010 - Kurt Donsbach

Reason: Hospital Santa Monica is an alternative cancer hospital in Mexico that competes with mainstream hospitals in the U.S. They were accused of distributing unapproved drugs. More than 50 federal agents with guns drawn raided the hospital office in San Deigo, seizing a tractor trailor of business records, patient charts, and computers. They also searched employees' homes and seized $80,000 found in the owner's safe. Over $300,000 was taken from the bank accounts of the hospital and two vitamin companies.

Outcome: Friends kept the Hospital afloat with cash gifts. The two vitamin companies were sold at a loss. Donsbach was forced into bankruptcy. No charges have been filed.

Raid: Natures Way - June 30, 1992

Address: 1375 N. Mountain Springs Parkway, Springville, Utah 84663

Phone: (800) 962-8873

Reason: The FDA seized a quantity of evening primrose oil, both encapsulated and in bulk, from this large manufacturer during a routine inspection. They also seized a truckload of primrose oil on the road. The FDA claimed it was an unapproved food additive.

Outcome: Nature's Way filed a lawsuit to get their product back, but was forced to remove the vitamin E from it because the FDA said that Vitamin E has not been approved as a food additive for evening primrose oil.

Raid: Family Acupuncture Clinic - Aug. 14, 1992

Address: 117 Granada, San Clememte, CA 92672

Phone: (714) 361-3976 - Richard Lee, Ph.D., Director

Reason: FDA seized $15,000 worth of Hsaio Yao Tea Pills in an attempt to strike back at acupuncturists who are taking a lot of business away from conventional doctors. FDA ignored California law, under which acupuncturists are licensed to practice medicine. FDA also ignored the fact that many insurance companies honor claims for acupuncture including Aetna, Prudential, and Blue Cross.

Outcome: The seized herbs were shipped back to China by the FDA after they had rotted. Dr. Lee is still in business.

Raid: Bursynski Research Clinic - Jul. 7, 1985

Address: 1200 Richmond Ave. #260 Houston, TX 77082

Phone: (713) 597-0111 - Dean Mouscher

Reason: Interstate shipping of antineoplastins (cancer therapy) NCI. Aetna insurance and others pressured FDA into raiding the Bursynski clinic.

Outcome: FDA seized 200,000 medical and research documents, forcing Burzynski to pay to make copies. No charges were filed.

Raid: Solid Gold Pet Foods - Sept., 1989

Address: 1483 N. Cuyamaca, El Cajon, CA 92020

Phone: (619) 465-9507 - Sissy Harrington McGill, Owner

Reason: FDA had been harassing McGill over labels on her holistic pet food products. In March 1990, an FDA agent seized products from her store without a search warrant and shut down her store. On July 12, 1990, after being indicted, she chose a jury trial. Upon appearing for her trial, she was clapped into leg irons, put into a Maximum Security Federal Prison for 179 days, and fined $10,000. While incarcerated she suffered a near fatal stroke.

Outcome: McGill sued the Department of Justice and won a victory on Feb. 20, 1992. She expects to file a $25,000,000 lawsuit against the FDA.

Raid: H.A. Lyons mailing Service - Oct. 16, 1990

Address: Driven out of business. Formerly in Phoenix, AZ

Reason: Mailing literature on behalf of vitamin companies with no advance warning. Five armed agents backed by an armed policeman raided this home-based business run by a young woman.

Outcome: The owner convinced the agents not to seize her checkbook and cash. They did seize all her business records and literature. No charges were filed.

Raid: Nutricology, Inc. - May 9, 1991

Address: 400 Preda Ave. San Leandro, CA 94577

Phone: (800) 545-9960 - Stephen A. Levine, Ph.D., owner

Reason: FDA raided Nutricology, seized their bank accounts and shut them down for 2 days, charging them with wire fraud, mail fraud, selling unapproved drugs, unsafe food additives, and misbranded drugs. Twelve armed agents conducted an exhaustive search of the company's offices and warehouse.

Outcome: On May 23, 1991 Federal Judge D. Lowell Jensen denied the FDA's request for a Preliminary Injunction. On Sep. 10, 1991, the FDA appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but was again denied. On Sep. 23, 1993, Judge Jensen denied the FDA's motion for summary judgement and granted Nutricology's motion to eliminate the wire and mail fraud charges.

Raid: Scientific Botanicals - Fall 1991

Address: 8003 Roosevelt Ave. NE 98115

Phone: (206) 527-5521

Reason: Alleged labeling violations. FDA seized herbal extract products and literature sent to physicians. FDA forced the company to stop using its patented trade names lest they "mislead the consumer."

Outcome: FDA slowly released all seized products, forcing the company to comply with all demands under threat of being shut down. Company refuses to talk about their case for fear of reprisal.

Raid: Thorne Research - Dec. 12, 1991

Address: 901 Triangle Dr. Sand Point, Idaho 83864

Phone: (208) 263-1337 - Al Czap, Owner

Reason: FDA claimed that vitamin products sold by company were "unapproved drugs." FDA agent and three U.S. Marshalls seized the company's entire stock of $20,000 worth of products and 11,000 pieces of literature intended for physicians.

Outcome: Thorne initially notified District Court that it would fight, but gave up as the expiration date on the seized products was approaching and it became too expensive to continue. The company no longer publishes any literature.

Raid: Tahoma Clinic, Dr. Jonathan Wright - May 6, 1992

Address: 24030 132nd Ave. S.E., Kent, WA 98042

Phone: (206) 631-9681 - Harry Mills, P.R.

Reason: After L-tryptophan was banned, Dr. Jonathan Wright continued to prescribe it. The FDA raided him and seized his supply of tryptophan. Dr. Wright filed suit. The FDA retaliated by storming into Wright's clinic with armed sheriffs who terrorized employees and seized vitamins and other natural therapies, allergy screening equipment, computers, bank records, his mailing list, and medical records.

Outcome: In Oct. 1992, Wright filed suit in district court charging unlawful search and seizure and demanded his property back. In response, the FDA convened a Federal Grand Jury and subpoened Wright's clinic records. No charges have yet been filed.

Raid: Ye Seekers - June 1992

Address: 1221 Blalock, Houston, TX 77055

Phone: (713) 461-0857 -Matt Malick, Vitamin Supervisor

Reason: In Feb. 1992, Texas health authorities acting under the direction of the FDA seized 50 products from several health food stores in Texas including Ye Seekers. Then in June, they seized more than 250 products including aloe vera, zinc, flax seed oil, herb teas, vitamin C and coenzyme Q-10.

Outcome: Although more than 410 products were seized, the stores haven't filed suit for fear of reprisals. Ye Seekers noted that Ginsana was seized from them at the same time it was being advertised on the Larry King TV show.

Raid: Mihai Popescu - June 2, 1992

Address: Out of business - owner in Metro Detention Center in LA.

Phone: (213) 933-6825

Reason: FDA claims that Gerovital (GH-3), which Popescu was selling, is an "unapproved drug." Eight FDA and customs agents raided Popescul's house with guns drawn, holding his 8-month pregnant wife and 83-year-old grandfather at gun point for 10 hours.

Outcome: They seized his computer and business records and $5,000 worth of GH-3. Popescu has been in prison for 8 months and expects to be released in 3 months.

Raid: Natural Vision International (NVI)

Address: Driven out of business - formerly in Manitowoc, WI

Phone: Talked to an administrator at Holiday House at (414) 682-4663

Reason: Opticians and ophthalmologists pressured FDA into an armed raid of NVI with two federal marshals to seize 17,000 pairs of pinhole glasses, which exercise and strengthen the eyes. The charge was that NVI had failed to file a premarket application with FDA. NVI notes that a pinhole is not a lens.

Outcome: Despite the fact that NVI submitted hundreds of testimonials from satisfied customers, the FDA drove them out of business by not returning their stock of over $200,000 worth of pin hole glasses.

Raid: Kirwin Whitnah - May 12, 1993

Address: Driven out of business. Formerly in Middletown, CA

Phone: (707) 928-1915

Reason: Whitnah was promoting the sale of deprenyl. The FDA considered this "selling an unapproved drug." His house was raided at gun point when he wasn't home, terrorizing a woman staying at the house. They found no deprenyl. They seized his computer, business records, mailing list, literature, and $4,500 in money orders.

Outcome: No charges were filed, but Whitnah was driven out of business.

Raid: Waco Natural Foods - May 14, 1993

Address: 1424 Lake Air Dr. Waco TX 76710

Phone: (817) 772-5743 -Tom Wiggins

Reason: The FDA was looking for deprenyl citrate, a nontoxic supplement. They entered the store with a search warrant wearing plain clothes. They searched for 4 hours and seemed most interested in possible links to businesses in the Seattle area.

Outcome: As soon as Mr. Wiggins, the owner, told the FDA that his attorney was a well known defender and prior District Attorney in the WACO area, they apologized for the raid and left with some documents. No charges were filed and the store hasn't been raided since.

Raid: International Nutrition Inc - Jun 24 1993 and Aug. 3, 1993

Address: PO Box 1644 Santa Theresa, NM 88008

Phone: (800) 535-6442 -G.S. Odin

Reason: Alleged "misbranding" of "illegal drugs" led five FDA agents, a Federal Marshall, and a PR specialist to enter with video cameras (instead of guns) in an effort to prevent a public backlash. FDA seized $1,000,000 worth of vitamin raw materials and products formulated by Dr. Hans Nieper of Germany. Also seized were computers and business records.

Outcome: INI has lost 80 percent of its business since the raid and had to lay off 80% of its work force. No court date has been set.

Raid: Zerbo's Health Food Store - May 1993

Address: 34164 Plymouth Rd., Livonia, MI 48150

Reason: Reason for the raid was the alleged distribution by 78-year-old Mr. Zerbo of GH-3 to special customers. Armed U.S. Marshalls and FDA agents cleaned off shelves of coenzyme Q-10, selenium, carnitine, and GH-3. Mr. Zerbo and his daughter Claire, who manages the store, were indicted on charges of "illegal drug trafficking."

Outcome: Claire Zerbo wanted to fight her indictment, but chose not to do so because the FDA threatened her aging, 78-year-old father who has Parkinson's Disease with 7 years in prison. Because of her fear that her father would die in prison, they both pleaded guilty. Claire will likely receive 3 months probation. Her father is unlikely to go to prison for more than 4 months.

In 1993, the FDA announced that your right to purchase coenzyme Q10, selenium, amino acids, herbals and high potency vitamins would be taken away by the end of the year. Twenty-four million Americans (including many of you) responded to the FDA's threat by inundating Congress with letters, faxes and phone calls that caused the FDA to back away completely from its proposed ban on importation of these disease-preventing nutrients.

When you voice your protests to these FDA officials (and Congress), ...you can tell them to obey the law..., the new Dietary Supplement and Education Act requires that the FDA give anyone who they with to take enforcement action against at least 10 days notice and the opportunity to present their views bafore taking action.

http://www.myopia.org/fdaraids.htm

The Vioxx scandal: damning Senate testimony reveals drug company, government complicity

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/viox-n22.shtml

...A study led by Graham that was concluded in the summer of 2004 found that Vioxx was responsible for an estimated 38,000 excess heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths. In his testimony, Graham stated that this was a conservative estimate. He said that “a more realistic and likely range of estimates for the number of excess cases in the US” was between 88,000 and 139,000. “Of these,” he added, “30-40 percent probably died. For the survivors, their lives were changed forever.”
...Instead of carrying out a larger study, the FDA quickly approved the drug for use. This was in spite of the fact that the drug served no pressing necessity. There were already drugs on the market that performed the same function as Vioxx: to relieve inflammation without causing stomach problems. The FDA did not even require a caution on the drug’s label about the increased risk of hear attacks until April 2002.
 
The FDA's own scientists have accused the agency of fraud and corruption:

(NaturalNews) A group of nine FDA scientists has sent letters to top politicians, accusing agency managers of intimidating and coercing scientists into changing or suppressing scientific data. In October, the scientists sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In early January, they sent another to then-president-elect Barack Obama.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/025827_FDA_scientists_corruption_evidence.html#ixzz18lYyxqS1

This of course is nothing new to readers here. But the implications of this new law, coupled with the bill currently in the house designed to give even more power to the FDA means we will have absolutely no say in what goes into our food and will effectively boost food prices to the absolute limits of our tolerance.

House Dems boost drug-safety proposal
By Jason Millman - 12/20/10 02:22 PM ET

House Democratic leaders are trying to drum up support for a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more resources to regulate the global drug marketplace.

More and more drugs are produced overseas, presenting an “alarming” risk to consumer safety, said Reps. John Dingell, (Mich.), Henry Waxman (Calif.), Frank Pallone (N.J.) and Bart Stupak (Mich.), who sponsored the bill.

According to a joint statement, the bill:


•Creates an up-to-date registry of all drug facilities — both foreign and domestic — serving American consumers;
•Generates funding for increased Good Manufacturing Practices inspections for brand and generic drugs;
•Requires parity between foreign and domestic inspections;
•Prohibits entry of drugs coming from domestic and foreign facilities that limit, delay or deny FDA inspections;
•Prohibits the entry of drugs into the U.S. lacking documentation of safety;
•Requires manufacturers to know their supply chain, identify and mitigate risk throughout their supply chain, and to document measures taken to secure their supply chain;
•Prohibits false or misleading reports to FDA;
•Provides strong new enforcement tools, including mandatory recall authority, increased civil and criminal penalties, and new FDA authority to subpoena records related to possible violations;
•Provides protection for whistleblowers that bring attention to important safety information; and
•Requires unique identification numbers for drug establishments and importers to improve the ability of the FDA to more quickly identify parties involved in a crisis situation.http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/food-safety/134535-house-dems-boost-drug-safety-proposal


The FDA has a rather dubious history of keeping dangerous and deadly drugs on the market to keep Big-Pharm's pockets well stuffed. All the while, the agency has been accused of censoring natural remedies as an option to the dangerous drugs being pushed today. These laws, which are on the cusp of being enacted will put an end to our right to good Earth remedies along with eliminating the possibility of obtaining vitamins whose dosages are considered high according to their daily supplement tables.

For those of us who cannot afford to stock up now on what we consider essential for good health of mind and body, the thumb of Homeland Security will be a crushing force preventing our strategies to avoid the dangerous contaniments poisoning us daily and continuing their disinformation campaign teaching us and conditioning us to believe what they tell us as far as what we need to know about the food we eat, the vitamins we take and how much we need to survive.
 
Of all the totally senseless atrocities that happen daily in this Failing Empire (wars of aggression, predatory lending, racism, toxic pharmaceuticals, class war, TV, ect), this is the thing that should be, the "ONE NO BRAINER", wake up issue uniting all of humanity...... When Big Govt, Corporations, Pharma, Oil, and Capital can straight faced lie to the people of Earth that native plants, growing in the wild or cultivated... game animals or privately/naturally fed/raised/slaughtered animals should be criminalized and are a threat to the population and "food supply", compared to GM plants and animals fed chemicals and injected w Petrol-based hormones, drugs and pesticides.... treated during processing and packaging with even more toxic additives???

Where is the WTF moment/response that this should bring to the rest of the sheep?!?!?
 
Obama signs legislation to improve food safety
_http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-04-food-safety_N.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo#chart



Some of the changes it puts into place:

Before Now

Before- Surveillance Under the FDA's original statute from 1938, the focus was on responding to adulterated food once it was discovered. Under the new rules, the FDA's focus shifts to stopping outbreaks before they start, by requiring farmers to address places in production where contamination might occur and to require processors to implement written food-safety plans.

Now- Under the new rules, the FDA's focus shifts to stopping outbreaks before they start, by requiring farmers to address places in production where contamination might occur and to require processors to implement written food-safety plans

Enforcement Before-The FDA couldn't force a company to recall tainted food; it could only seek a voluntary recall. When needed, the FDA can order the recall of tainted food.
Enforcement Now-When needed, the FDA can order the recall of tainted food.

Specific targets Before- The FDA had to treat all foods the same, despite the fact that some are more likely to become contaminated than others. FDA can develop regulations that focus on the highest-risk foods, including fruits, vegetables and imports. Now-FDA can develop regulations that focus on the highest-risk foods, including fruits, vegetables and imports.

Inspections Before-The FDA was able to inspect fewer than 20% of domestic food facilities and 1% of foreign food imports. More than half of food facilities have gone five or more years without a federal inspection, according to a 2010 report from the Health and Human Services inspector general. The FDA will be able to hire 2,500 more field safety inspectors and food-safety experts by 2014 and increase substantially domestic and foreign inspections. The riskiest domestic facilities will be inspected every three years, beginning in 2015. Now-The FDA will be able to hire 2,500 more field safety inspectors and food-safety experts by 2014 and increase substantially domestic and foreign inspections. The riskiest domestic facilities will be inspected every three years, beginning in 2015.

Records checks Before-For most plants, when the FDA conducted an inspection, it could only require a spot check of what was happening that day. The FDA will have access to the food-safety plan, records and test results that are linked to the safety plan. Now-The FDA will have access to the food-safety plan, records and test results that are linked to the safety plan.

Exemptions Before- Big and small farms and producers were treated the same under the statute. Farmers who primarily sell to farmers' markets or to restaurants, and who sell less than $500,000 a year, don't have to follow the new regulations. Now- Farmers who primarily sell to farmers' markets or to restaurants, and who sell less than $500,000 a year, don't have to follow the new regulations.


Sources: Food and Drug Administration, Center for Science in the Public Interest


This bill carries with it a 1.4 Billion $$ price tag.
 
This is unreal.
No competition for corporations by the government.
Crazy.

Is this nation wide?
 
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