The surrogate
It begins with a woman who yearns for a baby and another who is willing and able to give her one. You can imagine the motives of the prospective parents. But what about the woman willing to carry a baby, give birth and then walk away?
Friday Night Rewind It doesn't matter which team you cheer for. We've got video previews of every high school football program in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando County.
TALLAHASSEE — Florida tomato growers want compensation from the federal government for millions of dollars lost because of an investigation that originally focused on raw tomatoes after a salmonella outbreak this spring.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson travels to Washington next week to ensure an entire industry is not unnecessarily tainted.
"Public health and safety is, of course, the top priority, but we also have to look out for growers who are losing tens of millions of dollars unnecessarily," Bronson spokeswoman Liz Compton said. "We're going to have food-borne illnesses in the future, but that doesn't mean an entire industry should have to suffer."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspected Florida tomatoes in June and found no problems, but the investigation virtually killed the market for fresh tomatoes.
"If they (FDA) didn't know what they were talking about, then they shouldn't have ever said anything until they knew," said Will Maxwell, president of Gadsden County Tomato Growers Association in North Florida. "We got tainted with the whole deal, guilt by association so to speak."
U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, is working with members of the Florida congressional delegation to help growers whose livelihoods have been devastated by the FDA's warnings.
Compton said growers remain in a difficult position because it's time to start planting for the October harvest, but they aren't sure how much to plant because of the public's doubts.
[Last modified: Jul 24, 2008 05:10 PM]
Comments on this article
by Jesse
Jul 24, 2008 5:10 PM
They deserve something back! Once again the Gov. screws it up. Tomatoes, no it's peppers, did we say tomatoes?? A bigger Gov. would be better, right? To think that some people want to put tem in charge of a health insurance system!!!
by Honor
Jul 24, 2008 10:57 AM
Whereever these tainted tomatoes orother fresh fruits and vegetables are coming from (it was not Florida), everyone would have a negative financial impact. Are Florida farmers whining?
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