A MESSAGE FROM DR. GABRIEL COUSENS!
Dear Friends,
I am writing to tell you about an opportunity to turn the tide in the battle to secure authentic freedom for organic farming and non-Generically Modified Organisms (GMO) foods.
For some time now, we have been aware of an impending threat to the foundations of our health. Having stopped a mandated swine flu vaccine, and having addressed, to the best of our ability, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, it is time for us to nip Bill S 510, or the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, in the proverbial bud. Bill S 510 is currently stalled in Congress. If we act now, we can ameliorate its potentially deadly implications, or even end it altogether.
Bill S 510 amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) and expands the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to regulate food. It also authorizes the Secretary to suspend the registration of a food facility. Given the fact that Bill S 510 “considers” harmonization with Codex Alimentarius, this appears to be a strategic maneuver, in a long line of attacks, on our health and rights. While its alleged intention is to protect the consumer, this legislature sets up the preconditions that will eventually grant the CAC (Codex Alimentarius Committee) power to shut down organic farming operations and eliminate food facilities not “in line” with the Codex agenda. It could also grant monopolization of the food market by large agri-business corporations seeking to spread GMO foods and eliminate industrial and private organic farming. Codex supporters have already tried this once in Canada and in the U.S.; this is their second attempt, and we must defeat their efforts! Bill S 510 gives one man, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, complete power over inspection and recalls, potentially enabling market manipulation in favor of pesticide, herbicide, and GMO producing agri-businesses. Keep in mind that this Secretary is appointed by the President – he is not elected by popular vote. Who is appointed could be largely determined by campaign contributions, or worse, by ideological agenda.
Bill S 510 requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems. It authorizes the Secretary to order an immediate cessation of distribution, or a recall of food. This is another potential manipulation point. The Secretary has the power to halt food shipments, deemed a “health risk” to anywhere in the United States. This is perhaps the most disturbing provision in the bill. Given the fact that food production has been largely segregated to the west coast, over the last fifty years, and the scarcity of local farms producing organic crops, it would be precariously easy for the federal government to starve any given locality across the country. Organic foods, again, could be arbitrarily targeted here.
Bill S 510 allows the Secretary greater power to regulate importation of food, which could include superfoods and herbs from outside of the United States. Cacao beans, goji berries, Incan berries, coconut products, and exotic fruit would all be subject to further government regulation through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under this provision the government would have the power to ban importation of these foods into the United States to the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry.
Summarily speaking, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, on a superficial level, is not explicitly antagonistic towards organic agriculture, nor is it explicitly supportive of conventional agriculture and GMO foods. However, given the government’s track record in subsidizing conventional farming, and given the conflict of interests ever present within the FDA and other government agencies, centralization of power into the office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services over food facilities seems like a serious disaster for the health oriented American population. Bill S 510 is an insidious threat to our health freedoms. While improvements in the bill’s languaging have been made, Bill S 510 is still, as we say in chess, “five moves away” from agricultural tyranny.
Thank you for receiving and spreading this message.
Blessings,
Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MD, MD(H), DD
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Letter to Congress
You may use this template to contact your senators and voice your concern over Bill S 510:
Dear Senator;
I am writing to express my concern over Senate Bill 510 – the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. While inspection of food production facilities may be necessary to ensure cleanliness, this bill dangerously centralizes power over food production into the hands of a single appointed official. Bill S 510 also “considers” harmonization with Codex Alimentarius, which I do not believe has America’s best interest at heart. We should never even “consider” giving up our sovereignty to the recommendations of the CAC, which has already begun limiting and manipulating the European supplement market. The answer to our environmental and food safety issues lies clearly in the de-centralization of food production and the re-institution of local family farms, communal gardens, and community supported agriculture.
I urge you as my elected official to include explicit provisions in Senate Bill 510 for the protection of organic and local farms from this type of heavy-handed regulation, and for the explicit rejection of Codex Alimentarius, which stands blatantly against the organic food and health supplements I consider invaluable to my health. Without health, we cannot have life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.
Sincerely,
(Your Signature)
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Action Steps:
To combat this threat, and others like it, Hippocrates Health Institute has initiated the POP (Preserve Organic Power) Campaign. The POP Campaign seeks to preserve long range organic power by keeping our voices and choices alive; keeping organic standards pure; keeping people informed and educated; and by taking action to make a difference. As part of this campaign, POP will hire a lobbyist to work on our behalf in Washington, D.C. The Tree of Life Foundation has already made a contribution to this effort. We encourage you to do the same and that you for any contribution that you can make.
To donate to the Hippocrates Codex Donation Fund please send a check or money order to:
Hippocrates Codex Donation Fund
Attn. Carol Bianco
1443 Palmdale Court
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
You may learn more about the POP Campaign by visiting: http://www.popcampaign.org/
