Tag Archives: Food Freedom

FDA won’t allow food to be labeled free of genetic modification: report

Again and again and again, it is evident that government regulation is designed by corporations to destroy competition. My many well-intentioned socialist friends would do well to study these myriad examples and stop advocating additional laws as a means of restraining corporate power. Instead, look to create additional freedoms. Legalize competition.

open quote‘Extra labeling only confuses the consumer,’ biotech spokesman says

That the Food and Drug Administration is opposed to labeling foods that are genetically modified is no surprise anymore, but a report in the Washington Post indicates the FDA won’t even allow food producers to label their foods as being free of genetic modification.

In reporting that the FDA will likely not require the labeling of genetically modified salmon if it approves the food product for consumption, the Post’s Lyndsey Layton notes that the federal agency “won’t let conventional food makers trumpet the fact that their products don’t contain genetically modified ingredients.”close quote (Read more from rawstory.com)

“the ‘substitution of political for economic power’ now so often demanded means necessarily the substitution of power from which there is no escape for a power which is always limited.” ~ F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom

The little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences.

Frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned, federal officials had decided to try a different kind of enforcement. They ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States, products regularly stolen by bootleggers and resold as drinkable spirits. The idea was to scare people into giving up illicit drinking. Instead, by the time Prohibition ended in 1933, the federal poisoning program, by some estimates, had killed at least 10,000 people.

. . . .

By mid-1927, the new denaturing formulas included some notable poisons—kerosene and brucine (a plant alkaloid closely related to strychnine), gasoline, benzene, cadmium, iodine, zinc, mercury salts, nicotine, ether, formaldehyde, chloroform, camphor, carbolic acid, quinine, and acetone. The Treasury Department also demanded more methyl alcohol be added—up to 10 percent of total product. It was the last that proved most deadly.

(Read more from slate.com)

Observation from Dr. Yuri Maltsev: Keep in mind that it was a “Great Humanitarian” Herbert Hoover under whose watch this was done.

No more toys in happy meals!

Happy Meal toys and other promotions that come with high-calorie children’s meals will soon be banned in parts of Santa Clara County unless the restaurants meet nutritional guidelines approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors.

Because parents should not raise children. The state should. The types of people attracted to politics tend to by pathological busy bodies who want a say in everything you do.

Congressman Waxman (D – CA) sneaks anti-vitamin amendment into Wall Street reform bill

I think this illustrates the advantages of the libertarian (vs. socialist) solution to the problem we generally agree on, that food is often dangerous and unhealthy.

This article demonstrates how the government contributes to the problem. Yes many of my socialist-leaning friends call for increased government involvement to help solve it.

Of all the sneaky tactics practiced in Washington D.C., this recent action by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is one of the most insidious: While no one was looking, he injected amendment language into the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) that would expand the powers of the FTC (not the FDA, but the FTC) to terrorize nutritional supplement companies by greatly expanding the power of the FTC to make its own laws that target dietary supplement companies.

This is a little-known secret about the FTC and the nutritional supplements business: The FTC routinely targets nutritional supplement companies that are merely telling the truth about their products. Some companies are threatened by merely linking to published scientific studies about their products.

For example, here’s an important article that describes how to FDA criminally extorts money out of supplement companies: www.naturalnews.com/024567_health_the_FDA_websites.html

The FTC does much the same thing. They target a particular company that’s having success in the natural products marketplace, then they accuse that company of “inferring” that their products have some health benefit. From there, the FTC demands that the company engage in paying a massive fine to the FTC, which the FTC calls “consumer redress” even though none of the money actually goes to the consumers.
(Read more from naturalnews.com)

NY Assembly Bill seeks to outlaw salt

BILL NUMBER:A10129

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the general business law, in relation to
prohibiting the use of salt in the preparation of food by restaurants

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To prohibit restaurants from using
salt when preparing customers’ meals. Customers will have the discretion
to add salt to their own meal after it has been prepared.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: The general business law is amended by
adding a new section 399-bbb, which would prohibit the use of salt by
owner or operators of a restaurant when preparing food for consumption
by customers.

JUSTIFICATION: This legislation will give customers the option to add
salt after the meal has been prepared for them. In this way, consumers
have more control over the amount of sodium they intake, and are given
the option to exercise healthier diets and healthier lifestyles. (Read more from assembly.state.ny.us)

Obesity Terrorists

At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security.

“A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.” (Read more from cnsnews.com)

There is no idea more un-American than the idea of a draft — the notion that my life is a tool for the ambitions of government. The first lady’s comment smacks of the same tyrannical idea.

Monsanto’s GMO Corn Linked To Organ Failure, Study Reveals

In a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto’s GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats.

. . . .

Monsanto gathered its own crude statistical data after conducting a 90-day study, even though chronic problems can rarely be found after 90 days, and concluded that the corn was safe for consumption. The stamp of approval may have been premature, however. (Read more from huffingtonpost.com)

This story is interesting because of how different political ideologies interpret it. The socialists call ‘corruption’ and say we need stricter enforcement, righteous people working at the FDA, severe punishments, and in general, more government.

Libertarians like me agree that this is corruption, but point out that corruption is inevitable when government has a monopoly on approving foods. More liberty is the answer. Here are some suggestions:

· Make it legal for milk producers to label their milk rBGH-free, or artificial-hormone free, etc. The consumers will ultimately decide.

· Do NOT pass the “food safety” legislation for which Monsanto is so vigorously lobbying. All it will do is cut down on competition.

· Legalize competition with the FDA. Dozens of private food approval organizations will arise. For example the Organic Foods Consumer Association, would resume certifying food as organic. Food producers will strive to get approval of the most trusted ones. The consumer will ultimately decide.

The righteousness of government bureaucrats will fail us every time. Freedom works best.

Raw Milk (that illegal contraband substance)

Shana Milkie and her husband Pete Crusbach pay a little extra for a gallon of milk.

“It works out to the equivalent of $7 a gallon for the milk,” says Milkie.

Shana and Pete and their three children all drink unpasteurized milk, often called raw milk. That means it’s unprocessed. The milk goes from cow to cup.

“From about here up is cream so we shake it up before we drink it to mix up the cream and the skim milk,” says Milkie.

Since they started drinking raw milk 6 years ago they’ve seen an improvement in their overall health. Not enough to pin entirely on milk, but Pete says it’s definitely a factor. He says it tastes better too.

“Once you’re used to the taste of raw milk, you taste pasteurized milk, it will taste burnt. It tastes horrible,” says Crusbach.

Ted Beals is a pathologist trained at the University of Michigan and an advocate for raw milk. He says pasteurizing milk might make it safer to drink, but it also kills all the good stuff.

“This milk actually has beneficial bacteria in it,” says Beals, “Fairly large numbers of them and those are essentially all killed off by pasteurization.”

In 1948, Michigan became the first state to require that milk be pasteurized before it can be sold in stores. Pasteurization heats milk to about 140 degrees, which kills off harmful bacteria. The process is backed up by government health organizations.

Casey Barton Behravesh is with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Chances of raw milk being contaminated are much higher than for pasteurized milk so avoiding raw milk is your best option,” says Behravesh.

The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture all say raw milk is unsafe for human consumption. The only legal way to buy raw milk in Michigan is through what’s called a cow share program. Customers pay for a portion of a herd and can then buy the milk. Richard Hebron runs a cow share program with the Family Farms co-op in Vandalia, MI.

In October of 2006, Hebron was stopped by the state police while delivering raw milk.

“Pulled over by a state police officer. And was accompanied by the MDA. And then we were escorted to a rest stop where they searched the truck and took all the contents,” says Hebron.

Hebron was never charged with a crime, but he was fined 1,000 dollars for transporting raw dairy across state lines. Ted Beals admits there are risks to drinking raw milk.

. . . .

“You can’t belittle the fact that there are people that might get sick from unpasteurized milk,” says Ted Beals, “But from a public health point of view the relative risk doesn’t make any sense at all.”

It’s impossible to study possible health benefits of raw milk because the FDA considers it a dangerous food. Most raw milk drinkers believe that buying unprocessed milk is the right of an informed consumer. And they believe the benefits are worth the risk. (Read more from publicbroadcasting.net)

The Language of Central Planning in Agriculture

The administration has not produced a full-fledged plan to meet that objective, but White House and Agriculture officials said in recent interviews that they are developing policies. Among the first is a decision to use $85 million freed up by Congress as part of a recent appropriations bill to experiment with ways to get food to more children during the summer, when subsidzed school breakfasts and lunches are unavailable. The government’s next significant forum for debating how to improve access to food is scheduled for the coming year, when Congress is to renew the country’s main law covering food and nutrition for children. Meantime, the White House has been convening frequent meetings with officials from several federal departments — including Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, in addition to Agriculture — that deal with youngsters’ well-being. (Read more from washingtonpost.com)

Here’s a crazy fucking idea: How about stop arresting people who want to grow and sell their own food???

–A state agent from the Ohio Department of Agriculture pressured the Stowerses to “sell” him a dozen eggs, then returned with a SWAT team to detain the family’s children and confiscate food supplies.

–The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund

The CRIME of selling fresh milk

The word for this is protectionism:

Late last week, Maryland’s Dairy Industry Oversight and Advisory Council sent three recommendations to Governor Martin O’Malley. The council is charged with developing recommendations for the Governor on ways to improve the economic viability of Maryland’s struggling dairy sector.

The recommendations are:

* Fully fund the Maryland Dairy Farmer Emergency Trust Fund as soon as it’s fiscally possible;
* Establish uniform gross weight limit rules for raw milk haulers on state and federal highways;
* Not allow the sale of raw milk in the state.
(Read more from americanagriculturist.com)

SWAT raid on food storehouse heading to trial

A lawsuit brought by an Ohio family whose children were held at SWAT-team gunpoint while their food supplies were confiscated is scheduled to go to trial this week.

John and Jackie Stowers are suing the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County General Health District over the raid on their “Manna Storehouse,” an organic food co-op that operated in LaGrange.

The Stowerses and their 10 children and grandchildren were detained in one room of their home for six hours while sheriff’s officers confiscated 60 boxes of fresh farm food, computers, phones and records, including USDA-certified meat from the children’s mini-farm, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The state and county are accused of 119 counts, including unlawful search and seizure, illegal use of state police power, taking of private property without compensation, failure to provide due process and equal protection and a multitude of constitutional rights violations, including the right to grow and eat one’s own food and offer it to others.

. . . .

At that time, a state agent from the Ohio Department of Agriculture pressured the Stowerses to “sell” him a dozen eggs, then returned with a SWAT team to detain the family’s children and confiscate food supplies. (Read more from www.wnd.com)