Tell Congress it's time to get farm worker input on e-coli outbreaks

http://www.ufwaction.org/...

Tell Congress it's time to get farm worker input on e-coli outbreaks

In recent months, there have been numerous alarming stories in the news media about occurrences of food-borne illness caused by fresh produce. Just last week, there was a new incident regarding people getting sick from Taco Bell and the lettuce they used. This incident has sickened 71 people in five states, causing kidney failure in some victims.

Federal officials are investigating this E-coli outbreak. A few months ago, residents of 21 states got salmonella poisoning from tainted tomatoes served at restaurants. In the most widespread incident, Calif. spinach contaminated with E. coli sickened more than 200 people in 26 states, killing three.

Farm worker voices have been absent from media coverage and the policy debate. It's time to hear from the people who labor daily in our fields and see what occurs day in and day out.

Take Action at: http://www.ufwaction.org/...

Send an e-mail today to your congress members and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who will chair the agriculture subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee and will be holding hearings on this issue. Tell them farm workers need to be part of the debate. It's time to invite the UFW and farm worker advocates to testify at the oversight hearings.

Take action TODAY.  
Go to: http://www.ufwaction.org/...

•  Gee, no one else commented?

  Farmworkers have been blamed for the e coli problem
  However, it seems like the actual vector is feedlot cow manure in irrigation water

  We should pass this on...email your Congresscritter

  by la motocycliste on Fri Dec 15, 2006 at 02:10:45 PM PDT

  •  Actually this is a very good idea... would

    love to see hearings with real workers given some respect.

    by va dare on Fri Dec 15, 2006 at 03:27:33 PM PDT

•  excellent idea...but

  sure, they will know where the problems lie on a farm.  Question is, will they be willing to testify if it means they are publicly identified as the source of where the "bodies are buried"?

  They will certainly be putting their jobs and the livelyhood of their families on the line...and you can believe there will be serious retaliation.

  The agribusiness community is a remarkably small, long memoried, and retaliatory community...like small fiefdoms handed down from generation to generation.

  gunslinger

  ps.  what is with the strong urine stench that comes off some fields in California when they are irrigating?  Are they using "reclaimed" sewer water?

  Let alone eat this produce, I wouldn't even walk out into those fields...but the crops sure are green from all the "free fertilizer" they are getting.

  The nose knows!

  by gunslinger on Fri Dec 15, 2006 at 03:52:59 PM PDT

•  Very disappointing

  There's nothing in this diary that can't be found at the UFW site.

  What, specifically, do UFW members have to offer the agriculture subcommittee? Have there been illnesses or deaths among those working in the fields suspected to be the sources of contamination?

  When I was a kid, I spent summers picking green beans and strawberries. I snacked on a lot of raw, unwashed green beans and strawberries. We were never warned not to eat the produce. Have things changed?

  Surely you can add something. If not, you've wasted my time.

  by tapestry on Fri Dec 15, 2006 at 04:19:55 PM PDT