Getting the facts straight on H.R. 875

The renewed congressional effort to reform America‚ broken food safety system has brought a flurry of food safety bills on Capitol Hill.  Strangely, the strongest bill for consumers has received a lot of unfounded negative attention lately. Representative Rosa DeLauro’s Food Safety Modernization Act – H.R. 875 – will go a long way in modernizing and overhauling the Food and Drug Administration and give consumers the food protection they deserve.

Unfortunately, the rumor mill has misled the public about the legislation. FactCheck.org, a reputable group known for its objective and unbiased look into TV ads, debates, speeches and interviews, sifted through the misinformation to assess what is H.R. 875 fact and what is fiction.

FactCheck.org debunks the hysteria of much of the e-mail circulating about the DeLauro bill like this one that began “BEWARE THE FOOD POLICE! HR 875/S425 IT WOULD NATIONALIZE FARMING- DESTROY ORGANICS- EVEN ATTACK YOUR PRIVATE GARDEN!” All caps and scare-tactic lingo aside, the common e-mail alert is not even remotely grounded in fact, according to FactCheck.org.

Organic home-gardener Lori Robertson of FactCheck.org uncovers the misconceptions about H.R. 875 floating in cyberspace, including the supposed threat to private gardens: “It seems quite a stretch to think that anyone’s personal vegetable patch would be considered a farm, ranch or orchard. First Lady Michelle Obama showed no signs of concern last week as she broke ground on a sizable 1,100-foot garden plot on the White House lawn. Organic, of course.”

That’s just one myth-buster mentioned in her posting. We highly recommended you read it to educate yourself about the issue and for some entertaining futuristic scenarios generated when thinking of a world in which some of these bloggers were right.  People “surreptitiously cultivating tomato plants in a closet with a sunlamp, lest they get busted by the cops”? Definitely worth the read.

Learn more: read our backgrounder on the bill.

- Food & Water Watch