This is a must read for all who care about health foods and health food stores! If Monsanto gets away with this and it is passed, no longer will you be able to buy or carry health foods!! Imagine that!
There is a corresponding bill in Canada as well. It is Bill C-51 reworked as Bill C-6. I will blog this for you too. VERY SCARY!!!! Tell your friends!
To stop this bill, sign the petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Food-farms-seeds-HR875
Monsanto's Dream Bill -- HR 875
There is a corresponding bill in Canada as well. It is Bill C-51 reworked as Bill C-6. I will blog this for you too. VERY SCARY!!!! Tell your friends!
To stop this bill, sign the petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Food-farms-seeds-HR875
Monsanto's Dream Bill -- HR 875
It is quite possible, perhaps even most probable, that the bill entitled H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 is designed to halt the growing trend of small organic farms – not through a direct, frontal assault on organic farming, but rather by insidiously creating rules and laws that make it extremely difficult, and incredibly expensive, for small farms to comply.Technorati Tags: Bill HR 875, Bill C-6,
Cathy:
ReplyDeleteActually, Bill C-6 in Canada is a re-introduction in this Parliamentary session of last session's Bill C-52, not C-51. C-6/C-52 concerns general consumer products but explicitly not those covered by the Food and Drugs Act (F&DA).
C-51, which will likely be re-introduced later in the session, focused on F&DA products - food, drugs, natural health products (NHPs), cosmetics and medical devices.
In both cases, C-6/C-52 and C-?/C-51 are/were written to strengthen the enforcement measures to protect the safety and quality of their applicable products. In Canada, the maximum fines for manufacturing or selling unsafe or tainted products is only on the order of five thousand dollars, hardly a deterrent these days, and there is no ability to order product recalls. These Bills increase maximum fines to an adequate deterrent level and provide for mandatory recalls.
Neither of these Bills affect or amend the Regulations for their applicable products. Any products that were for sale prior to the Bills will continue to be available after they are passed.
There is a viral propaganda campaign against Bill C-51 being spread by a Canadian supplement company, presumably seeking to deregulate NHPs in Canada. I am mystified why NHP consumers would support such a move. I doubt that supplement companies are so saintly that they would not cut safety and quality corners in order to improve their bottom line. Canadian NHP consumers should have assurance that the products they put in their mouths contain the ingredients listed on the label and only those ingredients, that they are manufactured to high standards, and that they achieve the health claims made for them.
Barry Green
Ottawa Skeptics
http://informedvote.ca/2009/03/bill-c-6-legislating-our-sovereignty-and-scientific-standards-away-in-the-guise-of-consumer-safety/
ReplyDelete