Foundation Receives 501(c)(3) Status!
The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is pleased to announce that the Fund's sister organization, the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation, has been awarded tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as a public charity. All donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.
The Foundation is critical to the Legal Defense Fund's mission to protect the rights of farmers and consumers. Under IRS regulations, the Foundation can provide financial support to help the Legal Defense Fund litigate cases that are in the public interest. Litigation that defends human and civil rights secured by law qualifies as being in the public interest. There is no more universal human right than having access to food.
The Foundation has already spent thousands of dollars to help the Fund's attempt to stop the implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). It also provided much of the funding for the AB1735 lawsuit in California. You can support the Fund's fight to protect direct commerce between farmers and consumers by making a financial contribution to the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today.
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Petition Update
Over 8600 people have signed the Fund's petition opposing HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. To send messages through the "Oppose HR 2749" go to http://bit.ly/Oppose_HR2749
Over 2700 people have signed the petition supporting HR 778, a bill that would effectively overturn the ban on raw milk for human consumption in interstate commerce. To send messages through the "Support HR 778" petition, go to http://bit.ly/Support_HR778 Those of you who have not yet signed both petitions are urged to do so. Together we can uphold our food freedom of choice.
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HR 2749 Update
The bill has only passed out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and has not yet gone to the House floor for a vote. On July 16 at 10 a.m., the House Agriculture Committee will be holding a hearing on food safety and the Committee will be discussing HR 2749.
Readers are encouraged to contact the Committee members and ask them to oppose HR 2749. Links to the members are posted at:
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HR 2749's Real Impacts: a Response to Consumers' Union
Consumers Union (CU) recently posted a defense of HR 2749 that casually dismisses concerns the bill would hurt small farms and local food businesses. The CU avoided addressing the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund's detailed analysis, which is posted at http://bit.ly/13Pn6n, and conflated arguments made by FTCLDF with statements made by anonymous individuals and posted on a blog.
H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enforcement Act (FSEA), adds over 130 pages to the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act with myriad new requirements and penalties for violations. The FTCLDF agrees that the industrial food safety system has serious flaws and needs to be fixed. The country has seen numerous outbreaks of foodborne illnesses caused by imported foods or domestic foods that were processed in huge facilities and shipped throughout the country. Unfortunately, HR 2749 does not focus FDA's efforts on these very real problems. Instead, it creates a regulatory framework that will heavily burden the small farms and local food processors, the very people who provide a safe, healthy alternative to the industrial food supply.
Food safety is a priority shared by everyone. The FTCLDF calls on Consumers Union and the other groups supporting HR 2749 to explain exactly how the bill would address the industrial food supply problems without harming the local food movement. The fact that massive, industrial food companies, such as Peanut Corporation of America, have killed or sickened people is a strong argument for regulating such companies, and we applaud CU's efforts to improve the industrial food supply. But the wrongs committed by these companies are not a valid basis for harming the hundreds of thousands of safe, healthy small farms and artisan producers who will be burdened, or even driven out of business, by HR 2749. |
