The Tennessee General Assembly approved legislation on Thursday to label any food product with vaccine technology as a pharmaceutical drug. The bill is currently awaiting a signature from Governor Bill Lee.
HB 1894 was passed by the Tennessee House on Thursday and adopted by the Senate. It aims to define “food that contains a vaccine or vaccine material as a drug for purposes of the Tennessee Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.”
The legislation specifies the “[v]accine or vaccine material” includes any “substance intended for use in humans to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against a disease, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease,” which describes the process for both standard vaccines and those which rely on mRNA technology, like the most popular COVID-19 vaccines.
State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka), who sponsored HB 1894, previously described the legislation as a “consumer protection bill” in February.
“It’s to make sure that if you’re going in to buy tomatoes and there’s a polio vaccine in there, that you are aware of what you’re buying has a polio vaccine,” stated Cepicky.
He explained, “The problem you have is if it’s not treated as a pharmaceutical, being the size and difference between you and me, how many tomatoes do I have to eat to get the proper dosage versus how many tomatoes that you have to eat? And if you eat too many, do you get a overdose?”
WOW 🚨 A Lettuce Vaccine Bill Being Introduced
Health Committee, Tennessee Rep Scott Cepicky “University of California Riverside has already perfected the ability to put human vaccines into our lettuce right now. Also tomatoes has the ability to do that also for UC Berkeley. —… pic.twitter.com/RvXpq6Ae4N
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 25, 2024
Cepicky noted that the report indicated that researchers are inching closer to putting vaccines in food, particularly lettuce, and stressed that consumers should know what is in their food.
The lawmaker argued, “There is no law deeming those that when you go into a grocery store, you should know as a consumer, this head of lettuce is a head of lettuce. The head of lettuce right next week could contain a vaccine in it.”
Cepicky said, “All we’re saying is if it does have the vaccine in it, make sure it’s listed as a pharmaceutical so people can get the proper dosage.”
While fact checkers maintain vaccines are not currently found in products on American supermarket shelves, researchers at the University of California in 2021 received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to adopt mRNA technology for use in food.
The legislation comes amid calls within the scientific community for governments to enact a “global moratorium” on COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Some scientists warn that the benefits of the new technology do not outweigh the potential risks.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
