Tennessee Moves to Classify ‘Vaccine Lettuce’ as a Drug

A bill that would classify as a drug certain foods with vaccine materials added to them was passed by the Tennessee Senate and now awaits Governor Bill Lee’s signature into law amid concerns about research on putting immunity boosters into lettuce.The proposed law, HB 1894, was passed in a 23-6 Senate vote last Thursday after getting the House’s green light in a 73-22 vote in early March.
Abill that would classify as a drug certain foods with vaccine materials added to them was passed by the Tennessee Senate and now awaits Governor Bill Lee’s signature into law amid concerns about research on putting immunity boosters into lettuce.
The proposed law, HB 1894, was passed in a 23-6 Senate vote last Thursday after getting the House’s green light in a 73-22 vote in early March.

It would classify any food that “contains a vaccine or vaccine material” as a drug under Tennessee law, meaning the food would have to be labeled accordingly. The bill defines vaccine material as a substance intended to “stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against disease.”

The legislation would not ban vaccine-imbued foods from being sold in the state but would require them to carry the same sort of medical labeling as injectable vaccines or medications.
While proponents of the measure cited ongoing research into this method of conveying vaccines and the need to give people the recommended dose of a vaccine, opponents questioned the bill’s necessity and whether such foodstuffs would ever be sold alongside their unvaccinated counterparts at grocery stores.
During a debate on the bill before Thursday’s vote, state Senator Heidi Campbell, a Democrat, asked for evidence of “any instances of there being food offered in the state of Tennessee that contains vaccines.”
Speaking of the research, she said that “the idea that this would somehow correlate to some kind of a retail offering of vegetables, especially when that vegetable would cost many thousands of dollars, just seems to me [to be] messy to be passing legislation for that reason.”Senate advocates of the bill said that they did not know of any specific examples of vaccine-imbued foods being sold but that the bill was to ensure regulations are in place if such sales occur. They also noted the relative inexpensiveness of some vaccines and lettuce.