Written by B.T. Hill   

I spend most of my waking life in front of a computer reading about food issues. There are articles about food rights, local food, food sovereignty, what government is doing to small farmers, FDA regulations and the USDA. At times my head gets so full I can’t take in any more. Actually, I get tired of it because it’s actually so simple.

Of late, the federal government is spending a tremendous amount of money in manpower hours, fuel costs and court time, chasing down this nation’s small farmers to compile evidence against them for providing food for a select few. These select few are in private buying clubs – key word here is private.

DEFINITION of “Private” from Merriam-Webster dictionary:

pri•vate adj \ prī-vət\

a : intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class b : belonging to or concerning an individual person, company, or interest private house c (1) : restricted to the individual or arising independently of others.

Private, not public, which means: It will not affect or endanger the 300+ million people in this country.

Right there the debate should end. The espionage, harassment, subpoenas, convictions, fines, loss of business and income, trauma to the families, the destruction of rights of contractual agreements between parties — should all fall by the wayside.

It doesn’t because the government won’t let it.

This is too simple.

Let people decide for themselves what they want to eat..., period!

Why is this so difficult? Why can’t the government just step out & let it be? If people choose of their own free will, to consume meat, raw milk, fish or vegetables or home-produced food from a non-regulated source — so what? If they should become ill — so what? It was their choice, their risk, a contractual agreement between these private individuals and the farmer.

Why should the FDA care what happens to a few when it should be focusing on the industrialized food system which can sicken & potentially kill hundreds or thousands at once?

The FDA should stop trying to police every venue under the auspices of risk prevention. It should realize that it cannot ever hope to control what every person in this country consumes for each meal and go back to its job of protecting the public instead of persecuting the private.

Article by Bev Hill
www.goodfood4all.wordpress.com