Senate bill spells trouble

saluki

There are a few bills stalled in the House and Senate and one of them spells trouble for us.

Senator Durban has been a great leader in food and animal safety, in fact one of the only ones.
But his food safety bill has a proposal tacked on that would
include the regulation of vitamins and supplements.
It has been passed by the Senate but is stuck in the House.

There is a very similar food safety bill introduced By Congressman DeLauro but this bill specifically excludes vitamins and supplements from being included.
This is a bill you may want to support! It has passed the House but is stuck in the Senate.
I wouldn't let this bill die.
Susie
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Looking at each bill, here's a summary from Codybear at Itchmo:

S.654. "A bill to establish the Food Safety Administration to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes." This bill was introduced by Senator Durbin (Ill.). It is currently in the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. This is a comprehensive "food safety bill" that addresses adulteration, "trace-back" of ingredients, a national registry of citizen complaints, governance of imports from foreign countries, etc. This bill would make all food safety issues under the "Food Safety Administration" which would require a new federal agency to oversee all food safety instead of being spread out between several different federal agencies. This bill is commonly called, "Safe Food Act of 2007. It establishes a food safety administration and includes whistleblower protection (not always very effective as evidenced by other "whistleblower" laws). This bill includes the regulation of vitamins and supplements. Also allows citizen input and alerts for unsafe products requiring investigation of complaints. This bill also has a proviso that limits appropriations for this bill to what was appropriated for the 2006 fiscal year to the agencies that would be combined under this Act, unless there is specific appropriations made to fund this bill in 2007. This bill was introduced prior to the pet food tragedy. Along with HR.1148, it has a good chance of becoming law. For details of this bill, see http://senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm (scroll down to "food safety" and click on the bill number). This bill has been passed in the Senate, but not the House.

S.1274. "A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the safety of food for humans and pets." This bill was introduced by Senator Durbin (Ill.). It has currently been referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. This bill is less comprehensive than S.654. It specifically addresses the notification and recall problems that were evident in the pet food tragedy. This bill has the proviso that no one would be fined or penalized just because they didn't "know" that something was contaminated or harmful (proving that someone knew for liability lawsuits is almost impossible, but this goes a step farther in protecting them when evidence is lacking; but this proviso also stipulates absolute cooperation and timely reporting to have this immunity). This bill also requires mandatory recall rather than voluntary recall of known bad food or ingredients for pets or humans. It increases inspection of imports. It does not have any appropriations sections (will it be funded?). This bill was introduced after the pet food tragedy. For detailed information about this bill http://senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm (scroll down to "food safety" and click on the bill number). This bill has not been voted on by either the House or Senate to my knowledge.

S.1292. "A bill to amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act to improve the safety of meat and poultry products by enhancing the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture to retrieve the history, use, and location of a meat or poultry product through a recordkeeping and audit system or registered identification, and for other purposes." This bill was introduced by Senator Schumer (NY.). It has currently been referred to Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. This bill is not likely to be revived this legislative session. This bill has received far less publicity than the Durbin or DeLauro bills. It deals specifically with meat, poultry and milk products only. Requires efficient traceability of these products and also requires documentation that adulterated or contaminated products have been destroyed. A bill worth looking at. This bill does not have an appropriations section (will it be funded?). For details on this bill http://senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm (scroll down to "food safety" and click on the bill number). This bill has not been voted on by either the House or Senate to my knowledge.



HR.1148. "Safe Food Act of 2007 - Establishes the Food Safety Administration to administer and enforce food safety laws. Directs the Administrator of the Food Safety Administration to: (1) promulgate regulations to ensure the security of the food supply from all forms of contamination; (2) implement federal food safety inspection, enforcement, and research efforts to protect the public health; (3) develop consistent and science-based standards for safe food; and (4) prioritize federal food safety efforts and deployment of resources to achieve the greatest possible benefit in reducing food-borne illness. Transfers to the Administration all functions of specified federal agencies that relate to the administration or enforcement of food safety laws.security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes." This bill was introduced by Representative DeLauro (CT.). This bill is currently in House Agriculture Committee. http://agriculture.senate.gov/ This bill was introduced prior to the pet food tragedy. Like S.654, this bill establishes a Food Safety Administration. Like S.654, it consolidates all other governmental food and safety agencies under one. As in S.654, it limits appropriations but has a provision to require whatever money is needed to enforce this legislation eventually. It provides for the humane slaughter of animals for food. This bill also allows for civilian participation and reporting. This bill also requires all importing companies and countries to register before importing to the USA and specific guidelines that must be met concerning safety and health of their products with USA inspections. Registration would be revoked for repeat offenders. This bill also addresses "whistleblower" protection, seizure of bad products (not returning them to the country that sent them), This bill does not give immunity for "not knowing." This bill specifically excludes vitamins and supplements as part of this Act. Along with S.654, this has a good chance of becoming law. For details of this legislation http://senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm (scroll down to "food safety" and click on the bill number). This bill has passed the House, but not the Senate.



HR.2108. "To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the safety of food for humans and pets." This bill was introduced by Represenative DeLauro (CT.). This bill is currently in House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This bill was introduced after the pet food tragedy. This bill is similar to S.1274 in that it specifically addresses the problems that became known during the pet food tragedy regarding recalls: making recalls mandatory instead of voluntary, quick reporting of problems instead of reports lagging behind what is know, etc. There is no appropriations section of this bill (will it be funded?). There has not been a vote on this bill by the House or Senate tomy knowledge. For details on the bill http://senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm (scroll down to "food safety" and click on the bill number).

I hope this summary will help clear the mud about what legislation is currently in Congress and help you decide which bill you want to support. I'll try to keep track of these bills, and let you know when/if major actions are being made on them.

daisy234

Suzie
Very interesting. Nice to see that you are one of the keepers of the watch on duty for our interests.
People sure need to familiarize themselves with what's brewing in the Senate - like these types of bills.

Sadly, these bills came into being since the pet food scare -however,it just may affect the cost of supplementals we all have some faith in. [like major brands]

It has been well settled that the pharma companies have been dogging the supplemental industry for years through theirlobbyers . One day they may succeed in scaring us away from supplementals and succeed in distracting us from the fear of the mass production of new designer drugs on the market.[Not to dismiss the fact that the FDA seems to wear out their rubber stamps every half hour approving some new cure with some new drug - that later is discovered to maim or kill a few here and there]

One thing for sure - we need to study the foods we eat - to stay well -- and must stay away from "man-made" foods. I have always maintained that God knew what he was doing. He made apple trees - he never made any boxed food or pill trees...........

Keep us informed re these bills - thanks a bunch!!!