Editor:

I would like to address the issue of HR 2749, a bill that gives the FDA sweeping new powers without actual policy oversight. The problem with food safety issues is an industrialized conglomerate system that has the power and influence within a system that does not want change, only profit.

Large factory farms are the number one source of disease outbreaks, hence the use of antibiotics and other drugs to fight the spread of disease. From what I have read, HR 2749 may place additional burdens on smaller farmers to make it even harder for them to operate. Making a small farm adhere to the same rules that are geared for factory farms places unnecessary financial and paperwork burdens on small farms that have a track record of better and healthier foods.

Also, the way the system is structured now, large genetic engineering (GE) big Ag companies have been fast tracking GE foods with no labeling and sneaking this by the public with little notice that we have become guniea pigs for GE companies. Independent laboratories are finding more and more health risks tied to GE foods, i.e. GE corn causing sterility in lab rats. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Pollen contamination of non-GE crops is a steady problem that is causing erosion of genetic diversity in our crops. If GE wheat gets introduced into the environment, non-GE varieties will be contaminated and lost for genetic purity.

Factory farms and GE companies need to be heavily regulated to help assure food safety for consumers. The time to grow as much of your own food as possible is more important than ever. Something needs to be done about food safety, but not at the expense of small farmers.

STEVE G. FORD, Casper