Oppose Food Bill 160-2 Template Letter 2

This is a template letter you can use freely to write to All MP's, or your local MP. See instructions here

Download a Microsoft Word .doc version of this template letter Oppose Food Bill 160-2 Template Letter 2

-- [Your Address]

[Date]

Parliament Buildings Wellington

Dear Mr/Ms [MP Surname],

Thank you for taking a moment to read this letter. Parliament is about to pass into law an act which seemingly addresses food safety. Why not, you may think? Unfortunately there is more to this than meets the eye. Food Bill 160-2 is a misguided attempt to control all aspects of food production and use in order to “stabilize” global trade. The bill is a control mechanism and vehicle for the enforcement of Codex Alimentarius, a set of United Nations (FAO) food standards. Codex is widely open to influence by special interests such that severe restrictions are placed on the content of vitamins, minerals and natural therapeutic compounds. This means that natural foods will be stripped of their healing powers in turn causing increases in diseases such as cancers etc. Naturally, stringent policing will be required to facilitate state intervention that will be necessary to force such odious impositions onto the general public.

Accordingly, Food Bill 160-2 carries with it the following provisions: food safety officers and assistants may enter any premise where a food business operates without notice or warrants, using instruments and force deemed necessary and in so doing are protected from criminal and civil liability. The powers and duties of food safety officers take up twenty three pages of Food Bill 160-2 amounting to 9,500 words. In addition to this, any part of the overall regulations can be altered in an instant by the Governor General through an Order in Council even to go so far as declaring anything to be food. It is interesting to note that the FAO Model Food Law of 2005 proposes that an authorized officer may, without a warrant enter any food business or other premises etc where any food is being, or is suspected of being produced etc.

Food Bill 160-2 thus means that non-Codex-complying producers can be shut down easily. In fact, in extremis, anything can be declared “food” and subjected to the above treatment. The claim that such power may be abused is far from trivial. The current government is blinded by monetarist policies to such an extent that it will stop at nothing in its efforts to directly inject regulations (such as those promulgated under Codex) into the framework pertaining to the domestic market. In this way, Kiwi regulations will be “harmonized” with the international standard and there will be no difference between the two so that international trade will be stabilized regardless of the extent to which domestic food-quality is degraded.

Food Bill 160-2 as drafted, was written to enable Codex compliance by New Zealand, however foreign coercion has no place in a sovereign democracy. The powers involved in this bill are too wide and need to be curtailed drastically before it is suitable for use in New Zealand.

NEW ZEALAND NEEDS TO CLEARLY ESTABLISH ITS OWN SET OF STANDARDS TO DEFINE DOMESTIC FOOD SAFETY and not rely on foreign standards that will continue to be designed with the interests of international food companies in mind.

Yours faithfully,

[Your Signature]

[Your Name] -