Do we really need to use swat to search/arrest/serve warrants on the Ammish?
Obama Food Safety Czar Defends Armed Raids on Amish Farmers, Raw Milk Producers
Nick Gillespie June 10, 2011
San Francisco Chronicle reporter (and Reason contributing editor) Carolyn Lochhead reports on a disturbing press conference with Michael R. Taylor, the Food and Drug Administration's guy in charge of food safety. That the conference was held at "the Ogilvy Washington public affairs group" doesn't help. What, the FDA's cafeteria wasn't available?
From Lochhead's account:
"We believe we're doing our job," Taylor said at a presentation at the Ogilvy Washington public affairs group. He promised to "keep doing our public health job," and described his agency's campaign against raw milk producers as based on a "public health duty" and "statutory directive."
Our story thus far: In April, Amish farmer Dan Allgyer's Rainbow Acres farm in Pennsylvania was the object of an armed raid by FDA agents and other law enforcement people in search of raw milk products. Allgyer's operation, which sold raw milk products to ultra-willing and ultra-informed customers in the Washington, D.C. area, broke a "technical violation" against selling unpasteurized dairy products. As Lochhead notes, "The agency's actions are likely to put him out of business."
Good job! Lochhead explains how a law change last year makes all the difference - and how the FDA's Taylor is planning to get tough on raw milk sellers without the need for pesky court orders:
Before the new law, the FDA could only impound food when it had credible evidence the food was contaminated or posed a public health hazard. The detention powers are part of what Taylor described as a new agency focus on preventing food poisoning outbreaks rather than responding to them after the fact. Taylor described the new law as giving the agency "farm to table" control over food safety.
Taylor outlined an aggressive approach, saying he would seek a "high rate of compliance" with new food safety rules, touted the agency's "whole new inspection and compliance tool kit," including access to farm records, mandatory recall authority, and enforcement actions that can be accomplished administratively, "without having to go to court."
Lochhead notes that the FDA's Ahab-like obsession with controlling the food supply ("big new regulations are coming down the pike on produce") are running headling into the rise of small farm operations that focus on more expensive methods of production and conservation efforts at legacy farms. So when the organic arugula farmers march on the White House, don't say we didn't see it coming.
Submitted for your approval: The FDA's focus on raw milk and related issues is a massive waste of time and resources. And it exemplifies one of the reasons why people are sick of government.
Read more here.
Reason on raw milk here.
And watch Keep Food Legal founder (and Reason contributor) Baylen Linnekin talk about raw milk and the outrageous Allgyer raid with Judge Napolitano on Freedom Watch.
http://reason.com/blog/2011/06/10/obama-food-safety-czar-defends?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reason%2FHitandRun+%28Reason+Online+-+Hit+%26+Run+Blog%29
What happens when the rats and mice take over? It is so stupid, sorry, thanks for the link to Survival Blog.
EPA Bans Many Household Rat and Mouse Poisons
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday that it plans to ban the sale of “the most toxic rat and mouse poisons, as well as most loose bait and pellet products” to residential customers.
The goal is to better protect children, pets and wildlife.
“These changes are essential to reduce the thousands of accidental exposures of children that occur every year from rat and mouse control products and also to protect household pets,” said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
The EPA also will require that all rat and mouse poisons marketed to residential customers be enclosed in bait stations that don’t allow children and pets to reach the poison.
The EPA says children are particularly at risk for exposure to rat and mouse poisons because the products are typically placed on floors, where children can find them and sometimes eat them.
Each year, poison control centers receive between 12,000 and 15,000 reports of children under the age of six being exposed to these types of products, the EPA said.
In 2008, EPA gave producers of rat and mouse poisons until June 4, 2011 to research, develop and register new products that are safer for children, pets and wildlife. Those new products have enclosed bait delivery systems and less toxic baits but still provide effective rodent control, the EPA said.
While many companies have agreed to adopt the new safety measures, “a handful of companies” are refusing to comply. The EPA said it will "initiate cancellation proceedings” against non-compliant products to remove them from the market.
In addition to requiring protective bait stations and barring pellet formulations, EPA intends to ban the sale and distribution of products containing brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone and difenacoum directly to residential consumers because of their toxicity and the secondary poisoning hazards to wildlife.
Those poisons will be available for use in residential settings, but only by professional pest control applicators.
The compounds mentioned above also will be allowed for use in agricultural settings, but protective bait stations will be required for all outdoor, above-ground uses.
The EPA news release offers tips on avoiding rat and mouse infestations, including sealing holes in the home and cleaning up rodent food sources
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/epa-bans-many-household-rat-and-mouse-po
No comments:
Post a Comment