US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas
US Senator John Cornyn, Texas
US Senator Tom Harkin, Senate Committee on Agriculture
US Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senate Committee on Agriculture
US Congressman Henry Cuellar, Texas District 28
US Congressman Collin Peterson, House Committee on Agriculture
US Congressman Frank Lucas, House Committee on Agriculture
Texas Senator Judith Zaffirini, District 21
Texas Senator Craig Estes, Senate Committee on Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Texas Senator Carlos Uresti, Senate Committee on Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Texas Representative Edmund Kuempel, District 44
Texas Representative Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock
Texas Representative Charles Anderson, House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am writing this letter to voice my strong opposition against several pieces of legislation that are making their way around the halls of Congress. There has been much of late in the activities of our United States Federal Government to leave a bad taste in the mouth of every American who works hard, only to see our money spent in such wasteful and irresponsible ways. Specifically, I will now refer to the following: H.R.759, H.R.875, H.R.814, S.425. I list them here in brief, and will name them individually at the end of my letter, for your reference.
I find the content of this current legislation to be an insult of the highest degree to the intelligence, sovereignty and privacy of the citizens of this country. In short, your arrogant desire to control food production on the private land of your citizens would make such activity obscenely expensive and subject to wasteful and unnecessary regulation.
With the broad brush that seems to be used in all of these bills and resolutions, the small local farmer will be painted with the very same regulations as the multi-national processors and corporations. These regulations include such nonsense as minimum required levels of fertilizer to be used on produce, and radio ID microchip tracking of all livestock movement. Furthermore, there are requirements for entire new federal agencies to be created with the purpose of inspecting the private properties of the farmers, as well as the holding them accountable to the same level of scrutiny as commercial plants and facilities.
I want you to know who I am so that you may know who you should be representing as a taxpayer and constituent, rather than the special interests of so many corporations to who seem to have their hands firmly in your pocket. Farmers are not Monsanto, Cargill, and the various corporations that send their representatives to politicians to spin their lies and whisper in their ear for a favor. Farmers are the people who rise and set with the sun to care for their families and their livestock, and to be stewards of the land.
I live in a small town on the rural outskirts of one of the largest cities in the State of Texas. My husband and I work for local individuals, and we raise goats for meat and milk. We also keep chickens for fresh eggs, and a garden for produce. Many other people in the area also have livestock and gardens, and we always enjoy a visit with friends when we go to purchase from their harvest. There are many bustling farmer’s markets and stands in the surrounding areas, and Community Supported Agriculture is certainly on the rise with more and more people looking for raw and whole foods with which to fill their larder. All year round there are festivals and fairs celebrating local foods and harvest.
The proposed regulations will effectively shut out this segment of the community. Friends and neighbors will be required to register their homes in a federal database, to maintain forms and paperwork documenting adherence to safety procedures and personal property, and will be subject to the random search and seizure of the same. Children taking their livestock to local shows and fairs – or even for a pony ride down a country lane – would be required to file federal forms within 24 hours of the animal’s movement. At any given time, these local farmers and communities could be shut down by a federal department thousands of miles away, even fined in hundreds of thousands of dollars. The simple act of buying fresh-picked peaches on a summer day would become a frenzy of paperwork, registration fees and licensing. The very idea of an American Victory Garden would be oppressed.
This is not food safety, this is madness.
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People are not poisoned by tomatoes taken from the vine and sold in a basket at a fresh produce stand.
People are not poisoned by meat and dairy products of animals raised on a healthy natural diet of pastured greens.
Food poisoning comes from uncleanliness in processing facilities and restaurants.
Food poisoning comes from produce being harvested and changing hands several times while being shipped across states and countries.
Food poisoning comes from feeding unnatural diets to animals confined in cages and feedlots.
There are already untold numbers of laws and rules surrounding the processing and transport of food. Outbreaks of food poisoning are the result of processing facilities that fail to meet existing regulations. This is not a failure of the farmer who watered the crops and tended the herds. This is not a failure of the regulation that already addresses sanitation at the facility. This is a failure in the facility management and in the existing public health authority that did not do its job. Only the flawed thinking of a bureaucrat would reason that adding more process, restriction, and federal regulation is an acceptable solution.
Regards,
Tracy J Shiflett
Floresville, Texas
References:
H.R.759
Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve the safety of food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics in the global market, and for other purposes.
H.R.875
Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009
To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.
H.R.814
Tracing and Recalling Agricultural Contamination Everywhere Act of 2009
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act to improve the safety of food, meat, and poultry products through enhanced traceability, and for other purposes.
S.425
A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for the establishment of a traceability system for food, to amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspections Act, the Egg Products Inspection Act, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for improved public health and food safety through enhanced enforcement, and for other purposes.