cookiesinheaven

Labels: Congress, GOP, Hunger, SNAP

Main Post Office, a photo by santa barbarian on Flickr.

DON'T LET THE LOBBYISTS KILL IT.

...In 2006, in what looks like an attempt to bust the Postal Workers' Union, George Bush signed into law the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. This law required the Postal Service to pre-fund 100 percent of its entire future obligations for 75 years of health benefits to its employees – and not only do it, but do it within ten years. No other organization, public or private, has to pre-fund 100 percent of its future health benefits.

...The transparent purpose of this law, which was pushed heavily by industry lobbyists, was to break a public sector union and privatize the mail industry. Before the 2006 act, the postal service did one thing, did it well, and, minus the need to generate profits and bonuses for executives, did it cheaply. It paid for itself and was not a burden to taxpayers.

So definitely write your congressman and ask him to roll back Bush's idiotic law, and at least give the Post Office a chance to sink or swim on its own. - Rolling Stone

CALL TO POST OFFICE TO TELL THEM NOT TO SHUTTER THIS HISTORIC PUBLIC SERVICE - 202-268-2599 

Santa Barbara Downtown Post Office, a photo by santa barbarian on Flickr.

Labels: Architecture, Congress, Lobbyists, Lois Capps, Post Office, Privatization, Santa Barbara, Union Busting, WPA

Labels: Congress, egg recall, eggs, food safety, twitter

• Increases the frequency of inspections of food facilities, and calls for more frequent inspections to at least annually for high-risk facilities and at least once every three years for facilities deemed a low risk.. (Currently a facility is "generally" inspected every 10 years.)
• Requires those importing food to the United States to meet the same safety standards as domestic food producers.
• Gives the FDA the authority to order a mandatory recall of contaminated food (currently, recalls are VOLUNTARY and the FDA has to ask the facility to initiate).
• Requires that food processors-with certain exemptions, such as farms-annually register with the FDA and pay a $500 registration fee to help offset the inspection costs.
• Requires that facilities report testing results to FDA whenever they test food for contamination or adulteration. (This addresses the fiasco of the Peanut Corporation of America recall. They were ignoring positive salmonella tests until it received a negative result from a different lab.

Labels: Congress, FDA, food safety, inspection

Representative Lois Capps, sits on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. That committee will consider crucial food safety legislation on Wednesday. Let Representative Lois Capps know today that you expect her to stand with us.... her constituents — not big industrial food companies — when it comes to food safety.

Earlier this year, salmonella-tainted peanut butter from a single Georgia factory caused nine deaths, sickened over 600 people, led to the recall of thousands of products, and cost the food industry $1 billion in losses. Meanwhile, deadly E. coli outbreaks are on the rise. The USDA recalled a total of 300,000 pounds of contaminated ground beef during the month of May alone.

Thankfully, Congress is now paying attention. The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 represents a good basis for reform and would be first major update of food safety legislation in decades. But big food industry players are fighting tooth and nail to weaken the bill — it's up to us to tell Congress to strengthen and pass a bill that really protects our food supply.

Tell Rep. Capps to strengthen and pass the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.

The bill, while it does not go nearly far enough, is a good start. As currently written, it will increase funding for and frequency of food inspections by the FDA and the USDA. The bill will expand the powers of the FDA, giving it — for the first time — the ability to order mandatory recalls. The bill will also assess on producers a $500 fee per "food facility," increase criminal and civil monetary penalties for food safety violations and enforce new product traceability guidelines.

The current bill remains dangerously weak in the area of prevention, which is fundamental to being able to stop outbreaks before they start. It allows up to three years between food facility inspections and does not force companies to actually test for pathogens.

At the same time, big food companies and the livestock industry are already insisting that the FDA's proposed new powers be weakened. They must not succeed. Now is the time to make sure Congress improves the legislation and resists the food industry's push to gut the law.

I hope you sign the petition, too.

Labels: Congress, FDA, food safety

Labels: Congress, food safety, inspection, Peanut Butter, Recalls

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today introduced legislation to establish an effective national food safety framework for all fresh produce. The bill comes one year after a large-scale outbreak of food-borne illness caused by a virulent strain of E. coli in fresh bagged spinach sickened more than 200 people and killed three. Since then, U.S. consumers have been bombarded with repeated cases of contaminated food – everything from peanut butter to seafood to pet food. Just this week, there was a recall of a Dole bagged salad product because of E. coli contamination.

“It seems these fresh-produce recalls have become the rule rather than the exception in the United States – and that is unacceptable,” said Harkin. “It is increasingly clear that the Food and Drug Administration lacks the resources – and the authority – to ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply. The American people need to have confidence that their fruits and vegetables are produced and handled in a safe and wholesome manner.”

The current produce oversight system is a patchwork of state and federal regulations. For example, California and Florida have different mechanisms for certifying the safety of leafy greens and tomatoes, respectively. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also has its own mechanisms to ensure the safety of produce; however, an Associated Press report last week noted that establishments that grow and process leafy green produce are inspected only once every 3.9 years.

...the bill would also require rulemaking to ensure that imported produce has been grown and processed with the same standards that we will have in the u.s.- Tom Harkin's website

Labels: Congress, food safety