OCF Candidate Survey 2006

Candidate: Aimee Smith
Party: Green Party
District: 15
Running For: US House
State: Michigan

1

QDo you think organic agriculture should receive a fair share (at least 2.5%) of government resources spent on agriculture?

A Yes

Comment: I would favor an even higher share for organic agriculture. In fact, I would support phasing out all subsidies to factory farms and other facets of industrialized agriculture.
2

QDo you support strict standards for processed foods, dairy, and body care products that are labeled or marketed as organic?

A Yes

Comment: Products labeled organic must not have been grown with sewer sludge, contain genetically modified organisms, or have been irradiated. I believe that standards for percentage of organic ingredients should be more stringent than the current 95% standard for USDA organic certification.
3

QDo you support more aggressive government action to assess the harms of pesticides, take harmful pesticides off the market, and hold companies responsible for diseases and environmental damage caused by pesticides?

A Yes

Comment: As part of a critique of the technological-development-as-progress paradigm, I advocate the precautionary principle where the burden of proof is on the manufacturer before putting a new chemical or material into the environment or food supply.
4

QShould people have the right to pass consumer safety laws at the state or local level that require food labels to include information on dangerous ingredients?

A Yes

Comment: Greens support decentralization and I do not believe the Federal government should bar labeling at the state and local level.
5a

QDo you support Country of Origin and labeling that helps consumers choose local products?

A Yes

Comment: Buying locally is important to minimize the amount of resources used in bringing the food to the consumer. It is for this reason and not for jingoistic or ethnocentric reasons that we should promote country of origin labels and encourage people to buy locally produced foods.
5b

QDo you support government action to help US farmers develop local and regional markets and to reduce non-renewable energy use on their farms?

A Yes

Comment: By eliminating subsides for conventional agribusiness resources could be freed up for low interest loans and pilot projects.
6a

QDo you support mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically engineered ingredients?

A Yes

Comment: I also believe the USDA bar should be set below the current 5% mark. I know genetic contamination is a tough issue, but I believe the tolerance for GMO should be much lower.
6b

QDo you support mandatory pre-market safety testing for all genetically modified foods and crops?

A Yes

Comment: I prefer a ban on the use of genetically modified crops since it is impossible to predict the interactions such crops will have with other organisms in the environment, but in the meanwhile, I would support mandatory safety testing.
7

QDo you support universal testing for Mad Cow disease and a ban on feeding slaughterhouse waste to farm animals?

A Yes

Comment:
8

QDo you support a restructuring of trade-distorting US farm subsidies?

A Yes

Comment: Again, by redirecting farm subsides from the corporate conventional factory farm that is essentially dumping on markets throughout the world, we can stop crushing the local organic food production elsewhere as well as here.
9

QDo you support a significant shift in US farm subsidies to help family farmers and ranchers make the transition to organic?

A Yes

Comment:
10

QDo you support a significant shift in subsidies to help US farmers adopt conservation and renewable energy practices on farms?

A Yes

Comment:
11

QDo you support increases for WIC (Women, Infant and Children), the Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and other programs to help low-income Americans buy organic food?

A Yes

Comment: It is immoral to force low income people to eat potentially harmful foods and it is more cost effective to promote healthy eating than to pay the medical costs later. In the long run, our economy needs to be restructured so that no one needs to be dependent on government assistance for basic necessities such as food.
12

QDo you support universal health care with a preventive focus and a major emphasis on better nutrition?

A Yes

Comment:
13

QDo you support 80%-by-2050 reduction in climate destabilizing greenhouse gas pollution?

A Yes

Comment:
14

QDo you support ending the Iraq war and redirecting funds from the $500 billion annual military spending in the U.S. toward greening the U.S. economy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and converting U.S. agriculture to organic practices?

A Yes

Comment: But I also believe reparations to Iraq are in order.
15

Q Do you support requiring electronic voting machines to produce voter-verified paper records and election officials to use these records to conduct mandatory audits of election results?

A Yes

Comment: There can be no democracy without transparency and accountability. Other voter reforms are also essential such as instant runoff voting.
16

QDo you support eliminating the distorting effect of special interest money on our elections and politicians by requiring full public funding for all federal, state, and local elections?

A Yes

Comment:
17

QDo you support legislation to prevent internet companies from rigging the system to serve only the highest-paying users and discriminate against users they don’t like?

A Yes

Comment:

 

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