A topic that is more relevant to and best discussed on the Hot Topics forum or even the Organic Gardening forum rather than here. However, have you read the actual bill or just bought into the hype?

Bill HR875

You might want to note that there is no mention whatsoever of the word "organic" nor of "backyard gardens".

It is a House Resolution Bill (that's what the H.R. stands for) which means it would have to go through committee, then to the floor to be voted on, then to the Senate, another committee, back for debate and compromise, another vote, and then if it should get through all that, signed by the President before it could become law. All that does not happen in 2 weeks.

It was introduced in Feb. 2009 (11 months ago) and is currently still awaiting committee assignment. So, panic seems a bit out of place at this time. Not to mention there are far more reputable sources for information than Facebook and Youtube. ;)

Dave

This act, the Food Safety and Modernization Act, is long overdue. Right now, our food safety laws are 70 years old, written back when it wasn't feasible to ship food long distances or import it as is commonly done with much of our food today. Therefore, the laws don't address things such as melamine in imported baby formula. The laws DO address nasties in domestically produced baby formula, but not imports. Obviously, this puts foreign producers at an unfair advantage over domestic producers, not to mention the more important and very real proposition of consumers dying from simply eating an imported food product.

The way the laws are written today, someone in Mexico could make pickles in their toilet and ship them across the US border for sale. Foreign food producers can add chemicals or other untested and/or toxic substances domestic producers can't (and we've got enough crap in our food already), yet still sell their products here. Growers in another country can use growing techniques outlawed in the US and still sell their produce here, putting them at an unfair advantage over our own farmers. This sort of thing is what this act is aiming to stop, so not only will it protect consumers from adulterated imported food, but it would actually be good for our own farmers and food producers, including organic farmers. It would level the playing field, allowing our organic farmers to charge enough to actually make a living wage without fear of being badly undercut by cheap produce shipped in from Mexico, produce that's so cheap because it doesn't have to follow the same regulations.

Furthermore, the enforcement of the inadequate laws we do have is spread across a fragmented web of multiple governmental agencies. NOAA is one (What they have to do with food safety completely escapes me.). There is NO central person ultimately responsible for enforcement of the laws, so it's oh-so-easy for things to get shuffled off someone's desk ~ "Oh, that's the other agency's responsibility." ~ so that nothing ever gets enforced. This is another thing this act will change. It will put in place a Food Safety Administration that will be a central place with authority to regulate all food sold in the US, imports included (and focused on). The buck will stop there. It's important to note here that it will only have jurisdiction over food for sale ~ obviously that does NOT include backyard gardens.

This will also be good for our own farmers since things like the "tomato scare" a couple years ago will be investigated and solved in a much more timely manner. Remember that one? The one that, after many of our own tomato farmers lost untold amounts of money through no fault of their own, authorities finally figured out was imported jalapeños? If there was one agency doing the investigating, I'll bet it would have been solved a lot sooner, lessening the damage to innocent farmers.

Also please note that I'm very much an organic gardener. I even work at an organic-only nursery. And I'm not alarmed about this bill. Concerned and wanting to watch it as I have been these past months, yes ~ but not alarmed.

Good response knittlin. I must admit to chuckling a little bit about making pickles in the toilet. That would in fact solve my problem of never being able to find a ceramic crock large enough to make a big batch of fermented deli pickles. ;-)

-Diggity

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/organic.asp

Just a thought...I don't believe the president would sign such a bill that would ban backyard gardening organic or not. What would Mrs. Obama think about it? They would have take out their own garden. It won't happen, Are they going to have garden police?, lol

Ha, Diggity!! You could make two batches at the same time ~ one in the tank and one in the bowl. *snicker*

Excellent link, Greenacresgirl. Now I can just post that link instead of working as hard as I just did to post the above.

Very good point, Ancfan.

The people at snopes must be working day and night debunking all the nonsense, masquerading as fact, that gets posted on the web.

I studied (not just read) H.R. 875 many months ago when somebody had their undies in a bunch about it, they were very much misinformed. Please, before you post such hysteria, study the bill first. If you are still upset by it, by all means, post away. Let the debates begin.

Michael

In Soviet H.R. 875 organic gardening stops Congress.

Now THERE'S a bill I can really get behind, NC! *Giggle ~ snicker*

Not to burst your bubble Ancfan but in the town I grew up in in Maine we had garbage police! A single woman who worked in the food industry from noon to closing answered her door to find a cop and a recycling comity member who wanted to know why she didn't put out a recycling bucket for pick-up. This explained why my rubbish had disappeared from my doorstep about the same time. Hope they liked the diapers and cat s**t! Your government is run by a bunch of Nazi bureaucrat lawyers with WAY too much time on their hands!!! Wake up and question EVERYTHING!

nc-crn

{{gwi:134883}}

Hey gargwarb: who's the dude with the painfully white teeth and 60's hippy shirt?

It's Yakov Smirnoff, a Russian comedian. Has a show in Branson. Spoofs Russian government a lot on TV.

Dave

Yeah, what digdirt said. And nc-crn's was following his joke format, ie:
"In America you watch television. In Soviet Russia, television watches you."

Thanks Ya'll: I recognize him now. How did he get younger, graft on a new head?

Using the term "Nazi" to characterize the U.S. government is an appalling insult to every person in the U.S.A. People use the term "Nazi" far too freely. Were this government truly run by "Nazis" many of us would be in prison camps or worse yet, in ovens. We should thank our lucky stars that there is no "Nazi" government here. Who do you think the government is? If you're here in the U.S. it's all of us, like it or not. Those of us who vote, have sent the representatives that are in Congress, elected the President, etc. I wish people would refrain from characterizing others as "Nazis" because the users obviously have no clue of how horrific Nazism really is. Additionally, (and I'll just speak to Americans on this...) we are our government whether we choose to admit it or not. We can point fingers at "them" all we want but we put "them"there and "they" pretty much stay at "our" pleasure. I do understand the frustration that is rampant amongst people in the U.S. I get frustrated with the government for sure but...it is not run by Nazis and to characterize the government that way is just plain wrong. Additionally, if someone has a beef with the government, tell the government don't tell me. Do something about it. Nothing changes when all one does is run one's mouth with invective at the problem. It solves nothing and one becomes part of the problem.

Amen, teauteau! I really get weary of all this teabagger baloney, like "Congress is gonna put Grandma to sleep, snuff out your wholesome garden, and the like." Such talk is ignorant and xenophobic. Misterbaby.

Mr.Baby: "Such talk is ignorant and xenophobic." I'd guess it the product of weak minds. Studying a bill takes some effort, railing against something one has made little effort to understand just takes a lot of hot air.

SO SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Knittlin, is there something about Mexican pickle-makers that makes them likely to use a toilet rather than a easier-to-use container?

And since vinegar or fermentation would kill any human-borne pathogens, why would it matter? Methinks I sniff a thinly-veiled ethnic slur. Not to mention that I don't believe northern Mexico is rife with pickle-making and smuggling of same. The region has discovered commerce of a rather higher profit.....

This bill puts requirements on foreign countries with inspections that keeps people from "using a toilet."

The hugest hit to anyone in this bill is a farmer who wants to send his/her produce over state lines. Small farmers on borders of states are probably going to be caught up in the negative side of the bill, but most of us will benefit if safety rather than saving a few pennies is seen as a good tradeoff.

As far as Mexican goods go...I love Mexican sodas. Almost all of them are made of real sugar rather than corn syrup and are flavored like real fruits we've heard of rather than Dr. Pepper, Mellow Yellow, Pepsi, etc.

Pnbrown, why do you automatically decide it's racism when other things could surely be the cause? Could it be that when I engaged in a bit of hyperbole, I simply used the first foreign country that popped into my head, and it was Mexico probably because it's my close neighbor, only a few hours away? And could it be that later, when I was speaking of a factual occurrence, I used a country where I know that factual thing happens, instead of a country where I'm not sure?

I'm going to stop here so I'm not accused of "protesting too much."

knittlin: me dost think thou dust not protestith too much.