Volume
3, Number 13
August 19, 2000
The
Farmer
———————————————————————
“I see dead
people.”
by Dr. Ridgely A. Mu’min
Muhammad
WASHINGTON
(Reuters: Aug. 4, 2000) – “A pair of New York firms have announced recalls of
about 25,000 tons of hot dogs, sandwich meats and chicken nuggets, the US
Department of Agriculture said Friday…
Meanwhile,
Ahava Products Corp. of Brooklyn is voluntarily recalling about 6,000 tons of
chicken nuggets for possible salmonella contamination. The product was imported
from Israel and distributed in the New York City area and California.”
Question:
How can Israel ship “chicken nuggets” across the ocean and Black farmers
can’t find markets for their products in America?
Just
one week earlier while we were at the Unity 2000 protest march and rally in
Philadelphia, we heard over the radio that 350,000 pounds of processed meat was
being recalled in the Philadelphia area, infected with e-coli bacteria.
Question:
Who is supposed to check this stuff anyway?
Answer:
In the future the USDA will allow companies in foreign countries to inspect
their own meat and then the USDA will stamp “USDA Inspected” when it reaches
America.
At
least according to Lori Wallach, if the WTO (World Trade Organization) gets its
way. Lori Wallach,
leader of the anti-WTO protests in Seattle, announced this to the shocked
audience at the Leo Baeck Temple on the occasion of a Town Hall Meeting to kick
off the “Shadow Convention” during the week of the Democratic National
Convention in LA. Both the
Democrats and Republicans are in favor of the WTO, so there has been no debate
on this issue of “harmonizing”
which will force all countries to accept the standards of the “least
restrictive” countries within the WTO. This
is a food safety version of allowing
the “foxes to guard the hen house”.
Now
this is the “kicker”. Over the
last 25 years OSHA, USDA, EPA and FDA have become more restrictive on American
farmers and small food processors. Farmers
are not allowed to use certain pesticides and fungicides while their foreign
competitors can use them. If that country is a part of NAFTA, then those
corporate farmers can ship those poisoned crops to the US without being
inspected.
We
did a feasibility analysis of setting up a small canning operation and small
freeze dry operation. The costs
were prohibitive because of the new domestic regulations. Most of even your large brand names like Green Giant,
Libby’s, Del Monte and Swanson only refer to who is “distributing” it and
not who is manufacturing it. To
find out the manufacturer you have to be able to decode those bar codes on the
back of the label. In other words
there are only one or two canning companies and freeze drying companies who do
custom processing and packaging for the “name brands”. A smaller manufacturing or processing plant can not compete
on price. Soon there will be “ONE
FIRM” and many labels.
At
the end of this article I have listed some articles and websites that will
inform you about how the WTO policies will affect countries in the “third
world” making them less self-sufficient with regards to food supplies.
The “free trade” economic policies, while great for the corporations,
do not provide food security which will lead to more political instability for
the poorer and weaker countries of
the South.
It
would be wonderful if those of us who know those whom the politicians serve, and
understand the objectives of their masters, could get you to read these
articles, do further research and become aware, concerned and active about the
plight of our brothers and sisters all over the world.
However, as you bite into that tainted piece of meat, these issues may
become more palatably understood. It’s
like that movie called the “Sixth Sense”;
“I see dead people.”
The
"Big Bang" in agriculture in the WTO
by
Bhagirath Lal Das http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/bang-cn.htm
THE
WTO, THE WORLD FOOD SYSTEM,
AND
THE POLITICS OF HARMONIZED DESTRUCTION
by
Gerard Greenfield http://www.amrc.org.hk/Arch/3204.htm
The
WTO, Agriculture and Food Security http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/focus11-cn.htm
Whose
Trade Organization
http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/publications/wtobook.htm
(You
may contact me at: drridge@bellsouth.net
or visit my web page at:
http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/lig/d/r/drridge/index.htm
)