“We’re from the government and we’re here to help you.”
It’s an old, familiar not-joke. There’s nothing funny about what the government has done to tomato growers by falsely accusing them of spreading salmonella. Now the government says tomatoes weren’t the problem, it’s peppers. This has all the makings of a B movie and sounds like Mad Cow all over again. Frankly, I don’t trust the government this time, either. They can only cry wolf so many times - I hope.
Previously it was spinach. They blamed all sorts of things for the spinach contamination but never did find a cause. The real reason for all of this is overly large scale farming and massive distribution. This creates too large a single source and too much cross contamination. So far it’s all been “accidental” but imagine if a terrorist figures out that they can easily spread disease via the mega-farms… The solution is diversification, local production and small farms.
What is especially scary is that the government wants farms to become sterile factories:
On Saturday, Carolyn Lochhead wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle about the toll the outbreak is having on California agriculture, and how overreaction could lead to farms becoming massive sterile zones, where anything that isn’t the crop of interest — pollinator-attracting plants, beneficial insects, birds, or mammals — will be wiped out. Lochhead talks to Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm in Yolo County about her reaction:
“It involves things like the FDA going to a cantaloupe farm and saying, ‘Oh, there’s a telephone wire above your farm, you’re going to have to reroute that because birds could perch on that wire,’ ” Redmond said. “People in Salinas are putting up fences that are supposed to keep deer and (wild) pigs out at great expense and a huge disruption to wildlife corridors.”
She said auditors are now asking for “clean strips - in other words, herbicides. No weeds, no plants, no nothing.”
The government wants a sterile lab. A factory for food. Apparently they have not heard of the dangers of mono-cropping never mind all the other reasons for a healthy environment.
Reaction to the spinach scare was so acute that large produce buyers, including restaurant chains and supermarkets, imposed harsh and often arbitrary demands on their suppliers that have caused collateral damage to water-quality and wildlife-habitat improvement efforts, organic growers said.
The goal is to eliminate all mammal feces by erecting big fences to prevent wildlife from entering fields and by ripping out vegetation used to buffer fields and streams, even though there is no evidence that wildlife caused the E-coli contamination.
-SFGate
This has all the fixings for a Government Made Disaster - perfect for pushing programs like NAIS down our throats. Scare the people and they’ll jump, right over the edge.
Published in the Manchester Union Leader 7/22/08 PAGE 7A was an article by Judd Gregg U.S. Senator from NH. It followed the scary script being laid out to led us to more unneeded “protection” and regulation. He even used words like “enhance preventative measures to increase food safety as well as strengthen our ability to rapidly trace back…”
He played the terrorist scare card too…lame. If he wants to protect our “national food supply” he’d start thinking of ways to decentralize food production or keep his nose and big government out of things. Nothing wrong with MY home grown tomatoes.
After reading the article I’m thinking he belongs on the naughty list. [Added. People can go leave comments on Judd Gregg’s article. -WJ]
What scares me is alot of people will read the article and whine “what is government gonna do” Wrong question. The sheep are being lead and articles like the one I read are herding them down the wrong path.
Comment Bob Constantine — July 23, 2008 @ 4:54 am
Now if this were NAIS in place
and the USDA thought a certain disease was in a certain area and procedes to wipe out all the critters in that area and then after tests come back from the lab find out there is no disease or it was traced back to another area….OOOPS, WE’RE SAAWREEEE!
AND THE STOOOPID AG OFFICIALS CANNOT SEE WHY WE DO NOT WANT NAIS!
Comment esbee — July 23, 2008 @ 6:08 am
come to think of it, this tomato/pepper fiasco is a good way to tell your friends that under NAIS it would be previously healthy dead animals rotting in a field and just not tomatoes.
Comment esbee — July 23, 2008 @ 6:10 am
Some lessons from History just need to be repeated before some people get it. Like Mono-cropping the potato in Ireland lead to the potato famine which lead to thousands dying of starvation and thousands more fleeing the country to the US and other countries around the world. I know for my homegrown veggies I pick the heirloom varities to try to grow (try being the operative word, I have a black thumb when it comes to growing plants). WE don’t need more centeralization of our food production, but it happens as the more lucrative farming land is built over in favor of the homes, condos and businesses that provide a larger tax base to the local governments. We don’t need the Feds “protecting” us from every little thing that could go wrong everyday of our lives, but that is where we are heading. One of the network morning shows a couple of weeks ago had a segment on “protecting” ourselves from the “tainted” food scares which included such things as washing veggies before eating and cleaning up between preparing meat and veggies on the same counter. I’m thinking “duh, my mom taught that”. They never mentioned buying local and growing your own. We just have to keep ringing the bell on these issues and explain why they can be destructive to American Agriculture.
Comment Lorene — July 23, 2008 @ 12:33 pm
The real reason for the attack of the killer vegetables scare is the fact that they want to force irradiation of all foodstuffs onto the market..Just think, tomatoes with a shelf life of two years..nothing living will grow on them. I wonder what that’ll do to the inside of your body..will it kill the flora and fauna in your GI tract..hmmm. And milk that keeps at room temp for months..now that’s a concept I don’t even want to deal with.
Comment Deb — July 23, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
think Henshaw Incident that got wiped out with no disease present after all was said and done. Their own vet was not allowed to have tests run at Henshaws expense and oh, the animals were destroyed as in destroyed not samples kept and meat allowed to be eaten or tested which was normal for the supposed suspected disease and oh yeah, piglets were still running around and Danny was asked to bait the little critters because they were too active to catch after weeks of sharpshooters. Yes, destroy is what it is all about and our kids were served the warm shelf kept milk in Iraq. They kept a list for us to send for food from home they could eat. First time our kids have ever been hungry and none are picky eaters.
Comment Sue Karber — July 23, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
“duh, my mom taught me that”
I too am amazed at how the govt has taken the place of good ol’ mom. Perhaps becz today’s mom is too busy working/seeking new liasons to replace the father(s) of her kids/getting tanned, nails and hair done, staying young/watching those reality shows/ etc. So why not let the govt feed them too.
Yes, I know not all moms are like that but I have seen many that are, going all the way back to the 60′ when my mom did babysitting in the home (she wasn’t going to go get an outside job, she had her own kids to raise) I got to see first hand the breakdown on the next generation.
my mom’s favorite expression as to why me and my brother could not do what the other kids were allowed to do…”I’M NOT PUTTING 2 MORE IDIOTS OUT IN THE WORLD!”
we know the govt likes idiots … much easier to pull the polyester over their eyes!
Comment esbee — July 24, 2008 @ 7:01 am
Apparently the USDA isn’t the only NAIS intent on tracking its products…
NAIS-National Assoc.of Independent Schools is into tracking too…read the following from nais.org
“Tracking Alumni to Demonstrate School Effectiveness….
This monograph describes the importance of independent schools conducting research and producing objective data that demonstrates the success of our programs and students. One way to do this is to track graduates.”
My question is what if those allumni just do not want to be tracked…can they opt out?
Comment esbee — July 24, 2008 @ 11:25 am
Now the government wants rfid for veggies, complete with a 3 phase program including premises registration with GPS and reporting. There was an interesting article at MSNBC website news, I don’t know how to send the link, but the article number is 25851415.
I guess small roadside veggie stands will be a thing of the past.
Eileen
Comment eilee — July 26, 2008 @ 8:33 am
If the government needs to get involved they could follow the lead of Minnesota’s rational approach to the salmonella problem in their state.
Link
“WASHINGTON - It was a hot lead for detectives on a cold case. People suddenly were getting salmonella at a Minnesota restaurant more than 1,000 miles from the center of the nation’s outbreak.
Not my tomatoes, protested the manager. He’d switched his supply to government-cleared fresh tomatoes and even canned ones. But a lot of his menu items had a raw jalapeno garnish sprinkled on top, and that turned out to be a critical clue in the two-month salmonella mystery.
On July 3, Minnesota e-mailed the feds. After tracing credit card receipts — to find what the restaurant’s healthy customers didn’t eat — there was good evidence that the jalapenos were sickening people. And, officials had a diagram tracing the pepper shipments all the way back to three farms in Mexico.”
Comment Ann — July 26, 2008 @ 9:30 am
the lady senator from vermont and a male senator from illinois were on the lou dobbs tv show last week touting veggie id, saying america must get a handle on knowing where this produce is grown if food poison is to be under control.you can guess what this means. nvid is on its way.
[Hmm… The lady senator from Vermont… Would that be Bernie Sanders or Patrick Leahy? I guess they’re out of the closet now… :) It is unfortunate how misguided these legislators can be. They believe what they are told by the ‘experts’. This is why it is so important to contact your representatives to let them know there is another side to the story. -WJ]
Comment nick — July 26, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
walter thank you,i would never put any thing on this site knowing it was wrong on purpose.the lady was not from vermont but was rosa de lauro (d-ct),the man i do not know.the rest of the story is true
Comment nick — July 27, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
Vegetable I.D. ? ha ha ha
That lady from Connecticut should be microchipped, dipped in Salmonella sauce, tarred and feathered and sent on her way. Just my opinion but I bet there’s a pile of unmarked bills heading her way from somebody who’s pulling her puppet strings.
Okay so say we get a vegetable I.D. program are tomatoes vegetables or fruit? Wild blue berries on your back 40? Sorry no permit to grow those maam, come with us!
What about nuts (the kind on trees, not the kind we elect)
what if a squirrel takes some nuts and doesn’t notify you or brings them from the neighbors yard to yours? Ignorance of the law is no excuse! The squirrel was acting as your agent and turned states witness against you for a lighter sentance…COME WITH US!
Quick check the compost pile, tear out any volunteering
vines that you aren’t permitted to grow! Run for your life aggghhh!! The unlicensed pumpkins are attacking!! AaGHH!!!
Comment Bob Constantine — July 28, 2008 @ 6:23 am
This whole veg id thing bothered me so much I put together a video commentary to post on YouTube in the hopes the general public might see it and wake up!
Comment Podchef — July 28, 2008 @ 7:59 am
Podchef just viewed your video, good job and by the way Nice to meet you! This is what NAIS and traceability is all about: This paragraph below is very important to show people when discussing NAIS and food safety.
Aims to ensure that governments do not use quarantine and food safety requirements as Unjustified trade barriers to protect domestic industries from import competition. It provides Member countries with a right to implement traceability as an SPS measure
Bold i.e., Bold
Italics i.e., Italics
Underline i.e., underline
text http://www.oie.int/eng/publicat/rt/2002/WILSON.PDF
The Government has decided that its cheaper to test after the fact then before. It doesn’t matter what comes across the borders the fact remains that nothing is TESTED until hospitals report sickness or death.
Comment Gisela — July 29, 2008 @ 9:53 am
Hey all,comp has been down for about 2.5 weeks so I havent been able to keep up with y’all,but I see that stupid is still oozing out of the govt/corp folks ears and mouths,oh well,whats new?
This veggie ID thing is what some of us were talking about a couple years ago when Pa Farms out of Penn State first brought it up,of course everyone I talked to in the capitol has said it’ll never happen but I have my doubts,stupid always spawns more stupid!
Alot of this BS is caused by these idiotic trade agreements and ISO types of standards nonsense thats going on to bring all nations to a standardized whatever.
The problem is they are not bringing the third world up to a higher standard but are instead bringing US down to the least common denominator,this is goofy,but we must not offend poorer nations by insisting they actually wash their hands after they deficate in the spinich patch,my god no, that might come off as condesending or (horrors)racism,
imagine us trying to insist that some poor illegal working a strawberry patch in California not behave like he would in guatamala or mexico,imagine insisting that the employer actually PROVIDE a clean toilet and water/soap and then insist that people use them,we’d have to be the meanest people on the planet!!I have seen people right here in this country use the toilet walk right out the door and buy a sandwich and chow down happens all the time .
How often in restarants,by patrons and employees alike,you want the source of disease outbreaks,you got it?
Mamma always insisted we wash our hands when we came to the table,I think folks need to get back to this and other sanitary habits,but then I am just a farmer,what do I know?
Theres alot of BS going on out there and the only thing thats going to fix it is common sense and some backbone,come on America get some, we didn’t become the greatest by being the dumbest,we can fix this but we gotta want to not wish to, time to send these morons in govt and their cronie corporations that cause this stuff packing!!
“Live free or die tryin”
Comment LEE — July 30, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
This compost thing is interesting.I certainly agree with not allowing any operation to degrade the crik but where do we draw the line?
Do we outlaw all human activity period,issue a massive suicide plan and we all comply at a set time?
Who will clean up that mess?hmmm.
Composting is a completly natural and much desired alternative to most all the processes now employed by citys to reuse what would be wasted otherwise,
I assume that this town like most has a sewage treatment plant that gathers up all the human leavings as well as all the drains discharge in the place and then supposedly treats it to make it safe before either burying it or dumping it into a local watercourse.
Dont take that too seriously folks they soak the crap in clorine,run it through a big eggbeater and then dump it into your watersupply,pretty simple and straightforward,some variations,but thats the basic plan.
Please dont try to convince me that this compost operation or anything like it comes even close to the pollutant discharge level of even one small village sewer plant,no way!
I have watched the crik turn deep brown and get that sweet sicky odor when the plants along our Allegeny river and its criks discharge,any wonder they tend to do it at night or on rainy days? As I said I dont agree with polluting the crick or the water,but if you are flushing a toilet at all in your house into a city sewer then you are just shifting your mess from you to someone else,understand I am not condeming toilets or folks who use them,had one myself for years,
but the point I am trying to make is that some of the folks who gripe the most are always looking at the neighbors porch and never at their own,or the mess they make,and believe me there are alot of ways people contribute to making a mess,but we need to find the best answer we can find and then go with it and encourage the people who undertake these methods, not browbeat and condemn them,what will replace this compost place,a trucking outfit to ship the problem to somewhere else?
just a variation of the sewer plant,basicly a “feelgood,lookee at me doing the right thing”kinda BS,
time to take responsibility for our own messes and find the answers to this problem,I for one wish people would build more honest to goodness composting places and quit sending their mess down the crik to the next fella,thanks.
“Live free or die tryin”
Comment LEE — July 31, 2008 @ 10:54 am
Nobody mentions all those beaver carrying girardia the gov’t released into the waterways.
My creek has about 200 or more beaver POOPING in it. The creek empties into the River about 1/2 mile from the uptake for the city water supply. I asked a friend in the local health dept and yes the town has problems with girardia infections. Will they test my beaver or irradicate them? NOOOOooooo
I think they should catch and tag all those Gov’t beaver causing disease BEFORE they tag our livestock. And the deer with TB and bats with rabies and possum…
Comment Snazy snezy — August 1, 2008 @ 5:58 pm
It’s pathetic how “diligent” our government is in “testing” and calling for “tracking” of American grown produce, but allows the Communist Chinese government to ship in poisoned pet foods; tainted prescription drugs; lead painted toys for our children, and other suspect cheap good, which are destroying our industries — and this same government continues to bestow upon China “most favored nation” status …
Could it be because China holds trillions of dollars in US debt?
Comment Lydia Selwood — August 3, 2008 @ 5:11 am
The idea is to scale way back on testing and rely on “tracability” and “Good Farming Practices”. “…USDA is moving toward supporting fewer labs nationwide, with the remaining labs serving as regional labs and supporting larger geographic areas…”TAHC
In California in the year 1995 testing for TB was 10,576 and in 1999 it was 1,425. (WTO was ratified in 1995)
This is going to backfire on the US government big time but it will be too late for us and the thoasands who will die from tainted food.
I hope ALL the Bureau Rats get hung for TREASON over this!!! IT is out right treason since they KNOW it is going to backfire.
Comment Snazy snezy — August 7, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
I’ve said it before - NAIS is not disease control, it is damage control, and small farms will be collateral damage.
Comment Barbara — August 8, 2008 @ 11:05 am
NAIS and QUALITY
Scott Dalgleish was editor of ASQ’s monthly publication “Quality Magazine” for five years. He has started his own company Dragonfly Inovations making educational toys. He has some interesting observations about ISO and quality that directly relate to what the USDA and Codex is trying to ram down our throats.
“Have you ever considered how shrink-wrap has affected product quality? Shrink-wrap has created an interesting quality issue. Shrink-wrap makes it impossible for customers to inspect products…
..I’ve observed that most companies put more effort into creating an image of quality instead of actually trying to improve their quality to world-class levels. Sadly that make sense because saying you have high-quality is much easier and cheaper than actually achieving that level of quality-and top management wants things done in the most efficient manner….”
Quality Mag
“…Scott Dalgleish, [is] vice president of manufacturing at Spectra Logic Corp., a Boulder, CO, maker of robotic computer tape backup systems. Dalgleish, an ASQ certified quality manager who has worked in the quality profession since the late 1980s, is not happy with the direction that the quality movement has taken in recent years. And he sees the ISO 9000 family of standards as the primary negative influence.
Among other things, Dalgleish contends that ISO 9000 misdirects resources to an overabundance of paperwork that does almost nothing to make products better, while fostering complacency among top management and quality professionals alike. The recent conversion to the 2000 version of the standard has only made things worse, he says. While ISO 9000:2000 has almost no effect on how good companies operate, it requires huge amounts of time for document revision that could better be spent on real quality improvement, he believes…”
Quality Mag: Letters from the editor
Comment Snazy snezy — August 8, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
I walked into the local organic food store in Minoqua today and announced myself as the intergalactic produce inspector from Zeist, that I had received reports of the Wild Berry Market being in receipt of produce from a local grower without a premise id and that I would need to see their receipts and the table id numbers from all their customers as part of the farm to table trace ability. The new sales clerk was not sure what to do so I asked to see the owner. We visited for a half an hour and she enjoyed my joke. However the irony is that it may soon be reality. At the recent hearings on fresh produce traceability a representative of the center for disease control testified that a combined effort of the FDA all the way down to local health departments will be required. In lite of the recent insane proposals surrounding NAIS we can only speculate that our homes will be next to fall under surveillance for safe cooking practices. No raw milk, fresh homegrown produce, or canning as this would disrupt the economic benefits to their corporate masters. Hoarding food probably won’t be allowed either, I vaguely recall something from one of the 10,000 laws passed during the Clinton adm. After all that stuff isn’t safe if a deer walked through the field, a high line may harbor birds, frogs in irrigation ponds, or dog tracks in an adjacent field are at present enough to have a crop condemned under the leafy greens marketing order-no joke, see this months edition of The American Vegetable Grower. A organic produce grower in California is being required to fill out food safety surveys and indemnification forms, indemnifying the buyers. Cal OSHA and other regulatory powers are coming down hard on the small farms as well with heavy fines. Darol Dickinson sure got that right. Oh by the way I know for a fact they have produce from a farm without a premise registration because it’s mine, customers claim it just tastes better that way and there is no arguing with them. I also explained to the young clerk that I’m only allowed of the farm every three or four months, she seemed to understand.
Comment Paul-Martin:Griepentrog — August 8, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
There is an article referenced at farmtoconsumer.org yesterday (8/8) titled:”Researchers to Study Link Between Sustainable Farming and Health”…at the UNC…Chapel Hill. The grant they rec’d was from private sources (not USDA), so maybe it will be unprejudiced. Read the article and perhaps we can give some of our opinions to the ones who are going to do this study.
Comment The Phantom — August 9, 2008 @ 8:03 am
Barbara comment 21 We are rodents to the Homeland Security Folks and it is proven here HLS COLLEGE ED Link
Now we all know what is done to rodents! Then look on page six for some real interesting information on where the food chain is broken with foreign influences which enter our system unchecked. Then look at where border security is on the priority listings….
Comment Sue Karber — August 11, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
Home Land Security Farmers are Rodents link. Hope this comes through this time. Sorry
Page 6 is a great show and tell why NAIS is not the answer.
Comment Sue Karber — August 11, 2008 @ 11:50 pm
Sue K.,
Interesting! I ran an Army/Navy store for many years and sold helmets,did you notice the make of helmet?
German NAZI! says a mouthful dont it?!!! I’d say the rodent in this picture is a nazi foot soldier from the fascist dept of homeland terror ran by DHS!
In the words of our fearless decider: bring it on rodent, my guns bigger;)
‘Live free or die tryin”
Comment LEE — August 14, 2008 @ 10:44 am
LEE, it fits either way. Using a rodent to represent the farmer means the farmer is to be destroyed and removed. If HLS is the rodent then they are sneaky, destructive, disease carrying especially if let loose, I mean escaped from from Plum Island. Either way it shows the true adgenda of what they are doing to USA citizens since without farmers all consumers have is factory farms and food used as a weapon against them. Every citizen should be offended and mad about the state of affairs in USA and get in gear and make changes.
Comment Sue Karber — August 14, 2008 @ 10:03 pm
Sue K ,you are absolutly correct,I hope I didn’t imply otherwise,wether the “rodent” is us farmers or the govithugs it is offensive and shows the lack of respect they feel toward the farmers.
My point was simply that I recognized the fascist symbol in that helmet no matter how they might have meant it to look,thanks,have a great day!:)
“Live free or die tryin”
Comment LEE — August 16, 2008 @ 7:33 am
Lee, sorry, I should have added the type of Fascist gear HLS chose was excellent for you to point out. I meant to add that it just got lost in the process of backup in case of not getting through the first try in posting.
You did an excellent deed in spoting the helmet and meaning. Sure explains why HLS refuses to secure our ports, borders and safety.
Comment Sue Karber — August 16, 2008 @ 11:11 am