Stop the HARMonizing of US/Canada food 'safety' laws

[Guest guest]

Inge's Plea: With relentless determination, our Canadian Government is integrating Canada into the USA, and is presently HARMonizing all of our food inspection, food safety and environmental laws to conform with American law. (Called integrating the American Continent!)

As you probably already know, the Bush Administration has ordered their EPA to rescind most of the "environmental protection and pollution laws” that had been instituted over the past 50 years. They are going back to a system where corporations can pollute with impunity- Where “safety” means “don’t hinder corporate profits and expansion potential in any way”! American agricultural policy for the past 50 years has been one of systematically annihilating the independent family farms, and re-organizing food production as " industrial agriculture - with the emphasis on "big, chemicalized, centralized, genetically engineered....". Thus the predominance of the “factory farm” and “feed lots” where thousands of animals are crammed into very restricted space, and both disease and pollution become a major, unsolvable problem. Therefore, they pass laws that allow a “see no problem” policy. And the Monsantos laugh all the way to the bank.

 

At the same time - even though citizens are demanding environmentally sounder and poison-free, more nutritious food – the USA government is passing laws that severely restrict organic farming and the local marketing of their produce, passing “disabling” legislation at every turn. Meanwhile the multinational Monsantos can operate with impunity, producing inferior quality food and operating under almost non-existent safety regulations.

Bill C-27 would HARMonize our food safety and agricultural practice regulations with these American laws and standards in the push to further integrate Canada into their global EMPIRE - where all directives will come from outside our borders. Indeed, this is just one more step to eventually "dissolve the border". Bill C-27

is one more step in making us just one more obedient, toothless "Banana Republic", in which our elected government has surrendered its abilityto establish any independent internal standards and/or controls. As a Canadian, this is not the kind of Canada I want to live in.

 

If this is not the kind of Canada that you want to live in, please take a moment

and draft your own letter to your member of Parliament – (and/or all members of Parliament, if you have their emails) - asking that he/she vote against Bill C-27 - which HARMonizes us with USA food safety regulations. This includes endorsing genetically engineered foods and irradiated food, both of which spell “a health disaster”..

Thank you, Inge

Pull up the website www.beyondfactoryfarming.org for assistance.

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PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 12, 2005Keep Canadian food inspection system independent, say scientistsCanada risks losing its ability to adopt independent testing and the inspection capacity it needs to protect the health and safety of Canadians if Bill C-27, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act, is passed, say prominent Canadian and U.S. scientists who will be addressing the House Standing Committee on Agriculture this afternoon.Dr. Lester Friedlander, former USDA veterinarian and meat inspector, says "rules and regulations are broken every day in the United States because the government is not enforcing them, allowing, for example, animal protein to be fed back to cattle." He has seen this occur in the U.S. and believes it is a growing problem in Canada. Warning Canadians against adopting U.S.inspection rules and practices, Dr. Friedlander says, "The public must insist that the

food safety regulatory function be separated from the governmental agency promoting corporate agribusiness. We need a genuine, separate department of consumer protection."Dr. Gerard Lambert warns against relying on other countries’ testing. "If food is not tested properly it will contaminate our food chain very rapidly. Testing after the fact is too late." He added, "Bill C-27 is about harmonizing with US regulations. It is not about protecting the health of Canadians."Bill C-27 would allow the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to accept testing and certification results from other countries. The government has said this legislation will make Canada’s food and agriculture regulatory system more similar to the American system.However, the U.S. system currently permits irradiation of meat, which is not allowed in Canada, has failed to meet World Health Organization guidelines for preventing BSE, and relies on voluntary compliance when companies are found in

violation of its regulations.Furthermore, U.S. whistle-blower scientists who act in the public interest are not protected."This government’s ’Smart Regulation’ legislative renewal project, which includes Bill C-27, is what I describe as the ’Corporatization of Knowledge’ -- instituting private interests ahead of the public good," says Dr. Shiv Chopra, who along with colleagues Dr. Margaret Haydon and Dr. Gerard Lambert, blew the whistle on conflicts of interests in Health Canada’s drug approval process. "We will request the postponement of the entire legislative renewal process until after a full public inquiry into what we, as scientists, have been suffering on account of the pressure exerted on us to pass drugs and other products and methods of questionable safety."The scientists will appear as witnesses at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food, Room 253-D Centre Block at 3:30 PM, April 12.Canadians opposed to Bill

C-27 can fax a letter of concern to their MP from the Beyond Factory Farming Coalition web site, www.beyondfactoryfarming.org. The BFF Coalition is a network of local, provincial and national groups including the Council of Canadians. It promotes livestock production that supports food sovereignty, ecological, human and animal health, as well as sustainability and community viability and informed citizen/consumer choice. -30-For more information:Cathy Holtslander, Beyond Factory Farming Project Organizer, (306) 955-6454 or cellular (306) 229-4075 Jan Malek, Council of Canadians (613) 233-4487 ext. 231

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