[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens: Food safety bills must be amended to protect family farms, organic farming

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, April 6, 2009



Greens urge amendment to food safety bills, citing need to protect
family farms and organic farming

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WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders voiced concerns about the "Food
Safety Modernization Act" (HR 875 and S 425) and, while supporting the
goal of food safety and farm inspections, urged amendments in the bill
to protect small and family farms, farmers' markets, and organic farming.

"America needs national food safety guarantees in the age of genetic
modification, misleading labeling, food-borne illnesses and
contaminants, especially pesticides.  But the 'one size fits all'
approach of the bills endangers family farms and local, organic
agriculture.  Without amendments, the result of HR 875 and S 425 may be
the demise of small farms and organic agriculture, increased profits and
the expansion of giant agri-businesses," said Nancy Allen, farmer and
member of the Maine Green Independent Party.

"Rather than crushing protocols and penalties, we call for regulation
that ensures food safety by working with family farms, farmers markets,
and similar small businesses and promotes the selling of locally,
organically, and sustainably grown produce," Ms. Allen added.

Greens noted that the bills do not address the problems of the large
corporate farms: poor working conditions, limitations on fast marketing
because of large quantities of produce, long-distance markets, overuse
of chemicals, petroleum dependence, and lack of quality, nutrition,
taste, and freshness.

Recent breakdowns in food safety have been the result of major corporate
farming practices that fail to control pathogens, because of indequate
regulatory oversight caused by the influence of agricultural monopolies
on state and national agencies responsible for protecting consumers.
Greens said that all farms should be held to strict standards and
undergo inspections, but warned that the cost of paperwork and oversight
protocols would be prohibitive to small farms and would ultimately harm
consumers if small farms were subjected to the same requirements as huge
agribusiness farms.

The Green Party's national platform advocates "legislation that assists
new farmers and ranchers, that promotes widespread ownership to small
and medium-sized farms and ranches, and that revitalizes and repopulates
rural communities and promotes sustainable development and stewardship"
(http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/ecology.html#753970).

For more information on the Food Safety bills and concerns about their
effect on small farms, visit the Cornucopia Institute's web pages:
"Farmers Fear Being Run over by Food Safety Juggernaut" (April 2, 2009)
(http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17451.cfm); Action
Alert: Critical Pending Food Safety Legislation
(http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/03/action-alert-critical-pending-food-safety-legislation).

See also "Food Safety Hits the Fan: Regulatory Action, Inaction and
Over-reaction and the Effects on Small Scale Growers" by Steve Gilman,
Northeast Organic Farm Association - Interstate Council Policy
Coordinator (http://www.nofa.org/policy/leafygreens.php).


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
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http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
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• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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