Paul Williams, Ph.D. writes on Family Security Matters about an unbelievable proposal from Henry Waxman, whose wealthy and liberal West Los Angeles district includes no farms, but plenty of upscale grocery stores selling organic food and exquisite imported delicacies. If you need truffles, Waxman's district probably offers more outlets than any other Congressman's stomping ground. But people who know anything about farming, not so much. Williams writes:
As proposed by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, H. R. 2749 will grant the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate all farms and farm produce in an attempt to purge America's farmland of E. coli O157:H7, a lethal, food-borne bacteria.
Under the terms of the bill, crops must be grown in sterile areas, surrounded by 450 foot buffers, so that they are not exposed to other vegetation, runoffwater, birds, beasts, or wildlife of any kind.
To create such sterile farms, ponds will be poisoned; wetlands drained; and streams re-routed to safeguard the crops from untreated water.
Trees will be bulldozed from agricultural corridors to protect the fields from bird droppings.
Fields will be lined with poison-filled tubes to kill rodents.
All children under five will be prohibited from stepping foot on farmland or tilled soil for fear of leaking diapers.
A crow landing in a cornfield will mandate the destruction of the entire corn crop.
Sounds crazy but it's true. Such protocols are already in place throughout California. They were implemented by leading corporate agribusiness to offset the possibility of lawsuits erupting from a new breakout of E coli in supermarkets and food chains.
Large corporate fasmrs may have no problem with this, but I wonder about the small organic farmers so beloved of lefties.
Dennis Sevakis writes:
Question: Will we ban all unprocessed food imports or just put all the smaller American farmers out of business?
Guess you can't teach people - or they're not smart enough -to wash raw fruits and vegetables before eating them. Or isn't that the issue here?
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