Rumors on legislation spread like mulch

by Nicole Brodeur

I've received more than a few e-mails warning me that the U.S. House and Senate were about to shove through a bill that would outlaw farmers markets, and make it illegal to grow your own garden. Mercy.

Let's all calm down.

Breathe in some lavender, brew some camomile tea.

Your organic gardens are safe, folks, despite the alarming spin.

I've received more than a few e-mails warning me that the U.S. House and Senate were about to shove through a bill that would outlaw farmers markets, and make it illegal to grow your own garden. Mercy.

And, according to the panicked e-mails and YouTube videos, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 was going to dictate which fertilizers and insect sprays could be used, and control which seeds would be available.

"Strange, right?" asked one person who passed it on to me.

Strange, yes. Also wrong.

"It's a bunch of bull," said Trudy Bialic, the director of public affairs for PCC Natural Markets, our 45,000-member Seattle-based co-op. "And yet, we are getting buried here in calls and e-mails. People are hysterical.

"But it is a straw dog."

Bialic, whose job is to make sense of dense legislation, was so deluged with frantic questions that she wrote an explainer for the May issue of PCC's Sound Consumer newsletter.

House Resolution 875 seeks to improve the safety of foods in supermarkets by tightening standards for labeling, enforcement and regulating all foods. It would also better oversee the safety of imported foods.

And it applies only to foods shipped in interstate commerce. Not your backyard basil.

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