I hear the cry, "buy local!"
all the time. I sympathize with that cry. Our family shops at Aldi
because of the low prices - we'd love to buy local (especially raw
milk!) if it fit into our budget. Those who would like to see people
buy local must seek the one thing that would lead directly to its
implementation... abolish the Food and Drug Administration.
What if there were no FDA? How would
that affect your food shopping?
You would either research the food you
buy, or look for an agency you trust who does the research for you,
or both. It is not easy to research a company located hundreds of
miles away, not to mention a different continent entirely. People are
willing to buy products from distant companies they have never
investigated, directly or indirectly, because they trust the product
approved by the FDA. Therefore, a lack of any sort of FDA would lead
directly to more local food shopping.
Because FDA approval is required, big
and small businesses have to be approved. For a large
business, these costs are no big deal, but for a small business, they
can mean the difference between staying afloat or going under. FDA
approval (among hundreds of other regulations) is superfluous when it
comes to local businesses you can (and probably do) research
yourself, simply leading to much higher costs, and therefore, fewer
local businesses.
Now, if those businesses never exist,
who is subsidized by their lack of existence and therefore less
competition? Larger businesses. Ever wonder who lobbies for
regulations? Larger businesses. So, who enjoys the existence of and
lobbies for the continuation of the FDA? Larger businesses.
Getting
rid of these regulations would lead to lower prices on local food.
Higher prices is the primary reason more people haven't jumped on the
"buy local" bandwagon. There are countless
other reasons to abolish the FDA, but if you would like people to buy
local, you MUST be counted among the opponents of the existence of
the FDA.
