Monsanto and Obama Franken Food

Picture Link

One of the things I admire about past presidents in history is the strength of their convictions.  They were men that had an idea of what was best for the nation and acted accordingly.  George Washington proved his convictions during the long years of the Revolutionary War and never gave up the fight for America.  Even as the largest brewer of whiskey he cut down the Whiskey Rebellion during his presidency.  Andrew Jackson tossed the bankers out of the United States Treasury when they thought they owned the American peoples currency and thus owned the government.  Abraham Lincoln led the nation into a civil war that was about states rights but stuck to his convictions that slavery was wrong and thus ended it in America with the 16th amendment to the Constitution.  Teddy Roosevelt saw that the way American's were being treated by the people supplying food to the nation was wrong and broke out his big stick and signed into law the Pure Food and Drug Act which is what we call the USDA and FDA today.

The USDA is charged with keeping a safe food supply for the American people.  The FDA is charged with making sure that drugs used to treat the people are safe.  That sounds great on paper but what if the agency is riddled with people from a company that does not care about food safety or drug safety.  If you look at the list of department heads at the USDA and the FDA it looks like a class reunion for Monsanto.  If you used to work for Monsanto, the USDA needs your help.  Everyone else... We are not hiring.

President Obama campaigned on food safety and the GMO issue during his first election.  GMO is Genetically Modified Organism.  That is where Monsanto takes a plant and screws up the DNA of the plant so that one type of bug won't eat it.  In that respect, they could also make the same plants that you eat an issue to your health.  Everyone loves corn, Monsanto loves corn, so they made it better so that you don't have to spray certain pesticides on the corn by making the plant create that same pesticide inside of its own genetic coding.  Would you spray pesticide on your food before serving it to your family?  Pass the potato's and the DDT please.  Tastes just like butter. 

Michael R. Taylor was appointed as a deputy commissioner to the FDA by President Obama during his first administration.  He was a former LOBBYIST for Monsanto that fought long and hard for his company.

Michael Taylor then led the ban on labeling of GM products all together. This was labeled “the principal of substantial equivalence” which prohibits any distinction to be made between GM and traditional products. Regardless of any testing or lack there of on the possible effects of GM foods used for human consumption.

He left the FDA in 1994 and a few years later became Monsanto’s Vice President in charge of lobbying in Washington. As a lobbyist, Taylor argued AGAINST the Delaney Clause, one of the foundations of food safety regulation that prohibits cancer-causing chemicals to be added to food. - Veterans Today 

The major point of this article is not to beat up Monsanto, well maybe it is.  My point is that the control of industries that are harmful to the American people's food is owned by the USDA and the FDA.  Those are agencies the President and Congress oversee.  What does it tell you if the majority of people working in high positions of each agency are former Monsanto lobbyist or high level employees?  It tells me that the oversight of Teddy Roosevelt signed into law was tossed out with the baby and the bath water.  As a consumer and a person that eats food, you need to be aware that the food coming to your local grocery store is not what you parents or grandparents purchased to feed their children.  Franken Food is what it is. 

There is an old story about Irish immigrants that were mocked, treated badly, could not get jobs, and were considered scum of the earth here in America.  We Irish banded together in the late 1800's and started electing our grown educated children and family into public office.  In doing so we changed the face of American politics forever to meet our needs and not the people that mocked us.  Monsanto appears to be taking the same lesson and using it for profit inside the USDA and the FDA.

It is time for this president to clean house that report to him and stand strong for his people.  I so wish President Obama would have the guts and integrity of Washington, Jackson, and Teddy Roosevelt, and toss out the people that are selling out our food supply safety for a profit.  It is time for change and we need to make that message loud and clear.

What can you do?  Sign this petition to stop Monsanto by asking the President to veto HR933.  Click here to sign the petition.

Spread the word.

Papamoka

Related posts...

Monsanto GM Corn with BT Toxin

FDA Begins HVP Recall

Check your food stores! According to a report issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) there is a problem with HVP which is manufactured by Basic Food Flavors of Nevada. The food recall is voluntary by the manufacturers that use the additive in their processed food products.

Officials believe the public health risk is low, and no one is known to have fallen ill as a result of the contamination. But manufacturers voluntarily recalled 56 products Thursday, and that number is expected to balloon in the coming weeks into what could be one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history.

"We don't know precisely how large this recall will get," said Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner for food protection at the FDA. "The potential amount of products . . . is very large." - Washington Post

What the hell is HVP you ask? The answer to your question is Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein. Now the question you might be asking yourself is what the hell is HVP used in? It’s used as a flavor enhancer additive similar to MSG in dip mixes, soup mixes, salad dressings, snack mixes, and in pre-packaged meals to name a few. Which then leads us to why is HVP being recalled? The answer to that question is possible salmonella contamination. Finally, you are asking yourself what product brand names did the FDA actually recall? There are 56 items on the list so far, and this is just a short list of the retail brands but you can check the FDA web page for the full list of product brand names by category, description, package size, lot numbers, and UPC numbers.

Johnny's Fine Foods
T. Marzetti
Oak Lake Farms
Great Value
Castella
Hawaiian
Homemade Gourmet
Follow Your Heart
Trader Joe’s

Click here for the MS Excel spread sheet from the FDA

I’m off to get a bite to eat but I’m going to check the FDA recall list first to make sure I don’t get the creeping crud! And I’ll just bookmark the Net Doctor web page in case I know of someone that gets salmonella food poisoning.

Papamoka

Sick Kids and Cold Medications

Over the counter drugs for the common cold only mask the symptoms of the cold. I think we all know that. As an adult you are okay to take them but apparently there is a problem giving those same over the counter drugs to your children. We have become a society that trusts the medications at CVS or Walgreen’s over handing the kid an orange or apple every day to eat that naturally combat every day illness that hits our kids. We have become the parents that do not have time for sick kids. Over at the local pharmacy they have the solution in a bottle or pill that will allow junior to go to school because mom or dad can’t afford a day off from work. Literally and monetarily mom and dad can not afford a day off to care for a sick child at home anymore.

Buckle up your seat belts, the government is pulling all of the remedies to eventually get you to work out from under you. Over at MSNBC they have this to say about over the counter medications for your kids…

By Jane Weaver and Melissa Dahl
MSNBC Updated: 7:28 p.m. ET Oct 19, 2007

Julie Eshelman always believed that the decongestant liquid she gave her young daughter for a cold was helpful.

The girl, now 7, used to come home from day care with the sniffles. “She'd wake up in the middle of the night and we’d mix the medicine with some juice,” says Eshelman, 41, of Bloomfield, N.J. “She would then go back to sleep. We thought it worked, but now I’m not so sure.”

Federal health advisors Friday said over-the-counter cold and cough medicines don't work in children and shouldn't be used for those under 6. Although parents have doled out the liquids and pills for decades, the drugs have never been tested in children. The Food and Drug Administration's panel of experts concluded more studies needed to be done. - MSNBC

Now they tell us! Never tested on children but every single medication in my home says what the dosage should be used for children and they even give the weight just in case you have a tiny child by age or a child with big bones so to speak.

Here is a clue, the government never looked at the medications and whom would actually use them the most. I’m guilty of giving my children cold or flu medicine when the symptoms were at there worst. I followed the dosage by the child’s weight and age like a good parent. What parent wants to see their child suffer? Duh… other than Brit-a-ninny Spears …. None!

My mind wanders to why they are coming out with this retraction of FDA regulated drugs that are safe to sell over the counter last week but not this week? We the people will probably never know that answer because it is best that we do not know for fear of panic by the masses. God forbid that a parent should know that they were harming their children that was sanctioned by the FDA for years. Do you think that the cold and flu product benefactor industry would warn parents that their products were not tested on children or even young mice? What else hasn’t been tested on our nations children that we as parents give to them based on the product label?

Top of the grocery list goes oranges, apples, pears, and a bunch of other fruits and vegetables that our parents insisted that we eat to live a healthy life. I’m going to miss the hours of sleep I had when one of the girls was sick and a teaspoon of instant over the counter cure let them rest. But then again if they eat the stuff their bodies really need then maybe they won’t be that sick after all?

Back in the day, long before dirt was invented, mom used to stock up on fruits and vegetables when one of us came down with any bug. Having seven children she knew how to run interference when the latest and greatest health issue hit her family. She didn’t open up a can of chicken soup from Campbell’s, she made it from scratch. Tons of fresh vegetables, one or two whole chickens and lots of potatoes and salt. Whatever else she put in it kept the rest of us healthy.

Stashing the parental must have cold and flu medications is on my list of things to do. Not trusting the FDA when it comes to my kids and any medication even if administered by a highly educated physician is at the top of my list of things to watch out for.

Has the FDA been sold out to the highest bidder? It would not surprise me given the fact that everything else under this current administration is up for sale. What kind of government do we have anymore? Can we trust any of the medications anymore? Should our nations doctors trust them anymore? Lot’s of what ifs here and I’m not trusting any of the bastards. I love my kids to much to have any faith in what medication is okay for my kids to take and what is not. I’m questioning all of the over the counter products now and so should you.

Before you give your child a Tylenol or an Asprin or whatever an adult takes for any illness, read the product label and dosage carefully.

Papamoka