Who Needs Food Safety When We Have Cloned Corn?

In response to the email alert I posted a little while ago, I've called Representative Henry Waxman, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Senator Barbara Boxer to share my thoughts about HR 2749. If this is the same bill I heard about a few months ago, and I believe it is, the law would require farms to purchase expensive microchip tracking systems for its animals. The theory behind it is that tracking the animals will reveal sources of contamination and help prevent food poisoning. The problem? Giant factory farms, already the proven sources of most if not all of our food safety issues, are EXEMPT. They can use one chip for an entire herd -- which OBVIOUSLY defeats the entire purpose of the plan. Besides that, what good is microchipping animals if we don't require the farms to operate under strict safety standards?

History has proven that when former executives of corporations are responsible for enforcing regulations in their industry, the laws are NOT enforced and the problems stay the same or get worse. The latest so-called food safety bill, HR 2749, is no different. With a former Vice President of Monsanto (the corporation responsible for the genetically modified foods that most of us are eating unknowingly and therefore unwillingly) heading up the FDA Food Safety task force, we can be certain that factory farms will be allowed to continue producing unsafe food in filthy conditions, while small farms that supply wholesome food will be driven out of business by unrealistic regulations that do nothing to actually improve food safety.

HR 2749 is a boon to giant corporations and leaves concern for the lives of consumers in the hands of a person who is obviously committed to the interests of corporations like Monsanto. We cannot allow this corruption to continue any longer. Politicians pay lip service to the issues and take no action to make any real changes; meanwhile, people are dying from completely preventable causes.