From the Editor: FDA "Food Safety"

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From the Editor

FDA "Food Safety"

By: David Deschesne

Editor/Publisher, Fort Fairfield Journal

August 21, 2013

I recently received notification that the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) conducted an August 19 listening session on the federal government’s proposed food safety rule at the Augusta State Armory. According to the notice, “The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) passed in January 2011 represents the most comprehensive reform of food regulation in more than 70 years. A key component of the FSMA is a mandate to shift food safety efforts from reaction to prevention. The focus of the proposed safety rule is fresh fruit and vegetables.”

What this means is the government is attempting to legislate the risk out of living. This, of course, cannot be done. Even if it could, we wouldn't be able to afford to pay for it.

The notice further stated, “The Act directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish science-based standards for the safe production and harvesting of raw agricultural commodities.”

Science based? You've got to be kidding me. When it comes to government - especially this foreign occupational corporate-controlled cabal masquerading as the U.S. government - the only thing decisions are based on is the almighty dollar which is funneled in from lobbyists and political campaign contributions.

With the muckety mucks on the Food and Drug Administration's staff stacked with stooges from the pharmaceutical and petro-chemical industry, it isn't hard to determine what kind of “regulations” they'll be coming up with - even if our bought-and-paid-for Congress manages to forget a corporate goody or two.

With the Feds involved, our food safety will become worse, not better. These stupid bureaucrats will be telling us, next, how to keep the deer, moose and bear from defecating in our potato fields by using orange flagging tape and scarecrows (that’s a ‘solution’ that was offered to me by a Ph. D. University of Maine professor a few years ago.¹I'm not sure he's ever seen a moose...or stood in the middle of a 100 acre potato field) These “rules” ought to make for good comedy relief, but no good can ever come from them.

The real solution to food borne pathogens is what our mothers taught us when we were kids: to “wash the food before you eat it.” But, that doesn’t require an expensive government program staffed by hundreds of moronic bureaucrats to implement. So, don't expect that pesky factoid to come out of any listening meeting sponsored by any government bureaucracy. For, if it did, it would render their job obsolete.

Now, seriously, how about the real problem with our food supply: Genetically Modified Organisms. Do you really want to eat Monsanto corn with the plant genetically modified to grow the pesticide inside of it? GMO does not mean crossing different breeds of sheep, developing various hybrids of corn, or other “within species” enhancement to improve naturally-occurring traits. As explained on the website, www.gmo-awareness.com, “Instead it’s about using a bacteria or virus to artificially insert an entirely foreign DNA into a plant’s genes, such as human genes inserted into rice, or Monsanto’s “Bt” (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn, which was genetically modified to produce a protein that ruptures the stomach when ingested by pests.”²

That's right, Monsanto is growing corn, soybean, and other food for human consumption that have the toxin inside of them that kills the bugs that eat the fruit (or in other cases, makes the plant resistant to pesticide sprayed on it). Sound yummy? Why do you think there's a rise in Crone's disease and other gastrointestinal problems in humans? Could it be that we're eating poisonous food designed to fast-kill bugs and slow-kill us? The GMO crops are so effective at killing bugs and the fear of cross-contamination to indigenous crops is so great that Monsanto suggested farmers plant a “buffer zone” to protect the pollinating bugs (and the USDA requires it in some cases to prevent the spread of the toxic genes to its certified organic crops).³

According to an article on www.gmo-awareness.com, studies on human health risks have been thwarted by the industry. “Nearly two decades after genetic engineered crops have been in your grocery store, human studies are only now starting to be performed — but not in the United States. Why is no research being done on the potential human health risks of GMOs in our country? The ag-bio companies won’t let it happen. Emily Waltz explained it back in 2009, in her article published in Nature Biotechnology: ‘the crop industry’s strong-arm tactics and close-fisted attitude to sharing seeds is holding back independent research and undermining public acceptance of transgenic crops.’ Scientific American magazine agreed: ‘Agritech companies have given themselves veto power over the work of independent researchers.’ Not surprisingly, no such permission has been granted in the last twenty years, except for studies that are crafted to put GMOs in a positive context.’”

According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology in early 2012, “Insecticidal Bt toxins such as those produced in genetically engineered plants can be detrimental to human cells. Researchers at the University of Caen (France) showed that toxins produced in, for example, the genetically engineered maize MON810, can significantly impact the viability of human cells.”

A study done in China in 2012 showed that ingested plant microRNA — such as the genetically modified bits containing Bt — not only survive digestion, but "most definitely influence human cell function." and has been linked for ten years to human diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.

Why don’t we spend some time on that food hazard issue? Don't expect the government to do so any time soon. So, until then, only eat certified organic, non-GMO food. It costs a little more, but how much does a stay in the hospital cost after a lifetime of eating the cheaper, toxic corn and beans and their related processed food products?

^Notes

1. Fort Fairfield Journal, August 29, 2007, p. 13; www.mainemediaresources.com/ffj_08290713a.htm

2. http://gmo-awareness.com/all-about-gmos/gmo-risks/

3. http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/05/17/organic-101-can-gmos-be-used-in-organic-products/#more-45631