The Pluto-Ceres in Capricorn interplay in 2010 has coincided with some bold attacks on natural foods and supplements. And to close out the year, two big fake-out spin moves have resulted in top-down pieces of legislation being passed in both Canada and the United States.
Bill S.510, coined the Food Safety Modernization Act, was snuck through last night in the U.S. Senate, the night of the 29 degree Gemini total Lunar Eclipse/mutable t-square, just before today's Winter Solstice.
That's some bad voodoo. And here's more:
Despite word that there would be six more months of debate in the Canadian Senate, Bill C-36, the lateral lock-step legislation called the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, was passed December 13, 2010, the day of the exact Mercury Rx-Mars-Pluto conjunction at 4 degrees Capricorn.
This leads one to believe that the Harper Conservatives have taken a tip from the other Global Governors and hired themselves an astrologer.
Nah, more than likely just following orders...
Canadian consumers were already well-protected on this front by the Hazardous Product Act, which allowed for fines, jailtime and recalls of products through court channels. But under Bill C-36, Health Canada and its team of "inspectors" can now work outside the court system, targetting citizens and their businesses independently. Health Canada inspectors now have the right to:
- enter private property (at gunpoint with police officer presence) without warrant searching for unlicensed consumer products of all kinds
- seize any property they so desire, including any and all documents
- seize vehicles that have been used to transport products
As Canada is now shifting to globally set guidelines rather than national, Health Canada can also disclose personal and business information to foreign governments without consent.
Under Bill C-36, all returns of products, regardless of the reason for return, must now be reported to Health Canada.
This bill locks powers into federal law for Health Canada to enforce Natural Health Products Regulations (NHPR), federal legislation that came into full effect in January 2010 that brings natural health products under similar licensing restrictions as pharmaceuticals. Natural health products in Canada are now required to go through a lengthy and costly licensing process for a Natural Product Number (NPN). Natural product manufacturers do not have the capital available to them that Big Pharma has, and these new requirements will certainly mean limits in access to natural products. Already, companies have been forced to pull products from shelves, including NOW, a brand I personally use. Currently, there is a large backlog of products, many have been refused an NPN and some suppliers have stopped shipping to Canada due to the red tape.
Bill C-36 locks government and police raids on naturopaths and health food stores, already well underway in Canada over the past 20 years, firmly into federal law.
Hitting at the root, Eldon Dahl, a Calgary, Alberta naturopathic doctor and supplier of supplements to other naturopaths, had his home raided at gunpoint by Health Canada and RCMP officers on January 15, 2009. Dahl and his wife and daughter were held in their living room for 11 hours as Health Canada officials and police officers, who refused to show ID, rummaged through their entire home and business operation. The Dahls' computer hard drives were confiscated. Three hundred thousand dollars worth of naturopathic products - 85% of which were licensed up to the new NPHR standards now being enforced by Health Canada - were seized.
None of Dahl's inventory has been returned. He has been slapped with 50 criminal offenses, as has his wife who has nothing to do with the business. Due to the raid and confiscation, the Dahls have had to sell their home and start from scratch with their business.
And you'd better believe this put a chill through the naturopathic and natural health industry.
The passing of Bill C-36 comes as the U.S. Senate snuck the matching legislation - Bill S.510 - through last night. A Sunday night. A rare total lunar eclipse on the Winter Solstice night - something we have not experienced since 1638 and will not experience again until 2094.
Just as with C-36 in the Canadian Senate, there was a quick reversal with Bill S.510. The bill had first been attached to a humungous spending bill after a technical issue arose with the passing of S.510 in November. The spending bill was considered too cumbersome and time-consuming to read in full (Mercury retro in Capricorn) and was put down in early December. Most thought S.510 was, for the time being, a dead duck. But Sunday night, it arose from the dead as the Moon grew full, was attached to yet another piece of legislation - the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act - and passed, pending approval from the House.
November 2009 - Mark Tijssen of Ontario, Canada has his house staked out for five days by a conservation officer sitting in a neighbour's treehouse, followed by a police raid and confiscation of his personal butchering equipment. Charged with four offenses under Ontario's "Food and Safety Quality Act" for selling his home-grown and butchered pig meat to a friend
January 1, 2010 - federal Natural Health Products Regulations (NHPR) start to be fully enforced in Canada, including the necessity for every product to have a Natural Product Number (NPN), issued through Health Canada
March 2010 - Home on the Range raw milk co-op in Chilliack, British Columbia is ordered to halt its operations
June 14, 2010 - Marigold Natural Pharmacy in Courtenay, British Columbia is raided at gunpoint by Health Canada and RCMP officers and has $146,000 worth of inventory confiscated
June 30, 2010 - Health Canada officials are involved in a raid at gunpoint of Rawesome Foods, a private food buying store in Venice, California and the confiscation of its products
December 13, 2010 - Bill C-36, the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, is passed by the Canadian Senate
December 20, 2010 - Bill S.510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, is passed by the United States Senate
YouTube video series on the raid of Eldon Dahl:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
2 comments:
Can't we hope that under Merc Rx this won't be the last we'll hear about these issues? Until recently I lived in rural Ontario better(!) part of past decade and those farmers are the last food providers we need to worry about.
Also, here in the big city (TO) lots of us active and aware about the war on natural remedies.
We ain't heard the end of this story....
On another front, heard on CBC today we're about to mirror Yanks' latest take on FCC's half-measures on net neutrality. Follow the leader.
Mebbe the Pluto in Virgs crew will get on the bandwagon. This Virg sure hopes so.
Yes, Canadian sovereignty pretty much doesn't exist anymore. It's pure madness.
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