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Food Uniformity Bill Passes in the House Despite Widespread Opposition
WESTON A. PRICE FOUNDATION
ACTION ALERT
March 9, 2006
Members of the House put special interests
before public interest
Despite opposition from many environmental, health and consumer rights
organizations, 39 state Attorneys General, 7 state Governors, the National
Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the Association of
Food and Drug Officials, the National Conference of State Legislators
and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, the United States House
of
Representatives passed H.R. 4167, The National Uniformity for Food Act,
on Wednesday, March 8th.
Pushed forward by the food industry under the guise of promoting
"uniformity" of food safety and labeling laws in the U.S.,
the bill requires all state food safety laws to be identical to the
requirements of the Federal Food and Drug Administration. If the FDA
has not passed a regulation on a food threat, then all state regulations
on that threat would immediately be voided. And, since the states regulate
many food safety issues not covered by the FDA, many food safety laws
will be voided and replaced with no law at all. For example, the bill
would preempt Alaska's newly passed law to label genetically engineered
fish and California's Proposition 65, a very effective law that requires
labeling of food
and consumer products that contain substances known to cause cancer
or reproductive harm. It also threatens state laws governing the safety
of milk and shellfish.
The bill passed the house with a vote of 283 to 139 (see how your Representative
voted here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll032.xml)
even though in eight years of repeated introduction, there has NEVER
been a hearing in either the House or the Senate on this "uniformity"
bill.
While special interests trumped public interest in the House yesterday,
we still have a strong chance to stop this dangerous legislation in
the Senate. At least 7 Senators have already come out in opposition
to the Food Uniformity bill. Our Senators need to know we oppose any
attempts to strip state's abilities to protect and inform their own
citizens concerning food safety and labeling issues.
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS NOW AND ASK THEM TO STRONGLY OPPOSE ANY COMPANION
BILL IN THE SENATE!
Take Action:
http://ga3.org/campaign/fooduniformity_house_passage/
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