Local agriculture is under attack. This summer the FDA, in cooperation with state health officials, orchestrated raids on CSAs and private food markets in California and Wisconsin. Security footage revealed California police busting Rawesome Foods in Venice at gunpoint for their raw milk. With the demand for local food options rising, the progressive community is rightly shocked and appalled.
The FDA has enforced its ban on the interstate sale of raw milk products for more than twenty years. Now, they are using federal funds to investigate and prosecute local farmers and food sellers for giving health-conscious citizens the right to choose chemical-free food. Why? Who are they protecting? Citizens fight back.The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the FDA for its ban on the interstate sale of raw milk products. They are leading a campaign to "defend the rights and broadening the freedoms of family farms and protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient dense foods." Led and backed by members of the legal, scientific and medical community, the FCLDF lawsuit claims that federal regulations banning interstate sale are unconstitutional and outside the FDA's authority. What's emerging from this lawsuit is the FDA's willingness to bend over for Big Ag and bleed small family farms dry, putting the entire country's health in jeopardy. Antibiotics and Micro-organisms: Regulatory HypocrisyTwo things. First, and most shocking, is the FDA's response to the FCLDF lawsuit. In their motion for dismissal, the FDA made public its opinion on the issue of freedom of food choice: "There is absolutely no right to consume or feed children any particular food. "There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to food of all kinds" (25-26). Directly from Uncle Sam's mouth. Food choice is not a freedom protected by the Constitution. Second. Antibiotics and animals. For years, the international scientific community has published findings warning of the dangers of consuming animals that have been given antibiotics. If you've eaten factory animals, then you've also ingested all the antibiotics given to cows, pigs, chicken, and seafood to keep them alive in the horrific conditions of Big Ag factories. These animals are not raised; they are grown by machines with drugs, devoid of humanity, sanity, and basic common sense. Yet, the FDA has done nothing. For decades, our government has subsidized factory farms, demanding bigger yields and main-streamed production, gambling the health of our citizens for the profits of Big Ag and its puppeteers. Only this year has the FDA published a report citing the potential risk of the antibiotic food chain. This report dated June 28, 2010 states that the FDA is concerned about the antibiotic resistance developing in agriculture animals, specifically affecting their micro-organisms. The risk is significant enough that they developed a guidance document to inform farmers of the dangers of antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals. But, these guidelines are not enforceable because the FDA says that they have no jurisdiction to regulate micro-organisms--leaving them incapable to do anything to protect consumers from a danger widely known to be a direct result of the horrendous standards for factory farm operations. The very same micro-organisms that the CDC--another agency of the Dept. of Health and Human Services--claims make raw milk products dangerous. The scientific "evidence" the FDA uses to ban interstate sales. All this crying over spoiled milk? Is this a mountain or a molehill? Does this regulatory hypocrisy undermine the FDA's entire credibility? Who is being protected when the freedom of food choices is not? Can you trust the FDA? I don't.
Last update: August 16, 2010
08:28 am
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