Urgent- Your Help Needed Now re: Farm Bill

Extremely Urgent!!! Your Action Needed TODAY!

CFS has just learned that the U.S. House subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry will consider new language added to the 2007 Farm Bill that would bar states or localities from prohibiting any food or agricultural product that the USDA has deregulated. The new language reads:

SEC. 123. EFFECT OF USDA INSPECTION AND DETERMINATION OF NON-REGULATED STATUS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no State or locality shall make any law prohibiting the use in commerce of an article that the Secretary of Agriculture has—
(1) inspected and passed; or
(2) determined to be of non-regulated status.

That means no state or locality can ban risky products when the federal government has failed to act to protect our health or the environment. The primary intent of this passage is to deny local or state rights to regulate genetically engineered crops or food. This would wipe out the restrictions passed by voters in four California counties and two cities, and the California Rice Certification Act, which prohibits the introduction of GE rice varieties without state approval. Local and state laws pertaining to GE crops have also been passed in Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. All of these democratically enacted laws are threatened by this language. The proposal also threatens bans on the use of GE fish in open-ocean aquaculture that have been adopted in Alaska, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Washington, and many other state and local laws put in place by voters!

The biotech industry and big agribusiness have been trying to push similar bills in dozens of states across the country, and also at the Federal level with last year’s so-called “Food Uniformity” bill. Now they want to sneak it into a committee hearing and hide it in the Farm Bill.

The California members of the committee need to hear from all of us NOW! The hearing starts at 10am EST THURSDAY, MAY 24TH so we need to contact our Representatives immediately and tell them we oppose ANY language in the Farm Bill that would pre-empt local or state regulations on food or agricultural production! The hearing will be broadcast live at: http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html beginning at 10am Eastern time.

Click "Take Action" to Contact ALL California members of the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, and their staff members. If your Representative sits on this subcommittee, please call them and urge them, as a constituent, to oppose this undemocratic language (call the main House switchboard at 202-225-1904 and ask to speak to someone in your Reps office). The members of the subcommittee are:

Leonard Boswell, Chairman, Iowa - Phone: (202) 225-3806 - Fax: (202) 225-5608
Kirsten Gillibrand, New York
Steve Kagen, Wisconsin
Tim Holden, Pennsylvania
Joe Baca, California
Dennis Cardoza, California
Nick Lampson, Texas
Joe Donnelly, Indiana
Jim Costa, California
Tim Mahoney, Florida
Robin Hayes, North Carolina
Mike Rogers, Alabama
Steve King, Iowa
Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
K. Michael Conaway, Texas
Jean Schmidt, Ohio
Adrian Smith, Nebraska
Tim Walberg, Michigan



Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Representative Dennis Cardoza (if you live in California)
Representative Jim Costa (if you live in California)
Representative Joe Baca (if you live in California)

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: No Preemption Language in the Farm Bill!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I am writing to strongly oppose the pre-emption language in Section 123 "Effect of USDA Inspection and Determination of Non-Regulated Status," in the House Farm Bill your subcommittee is considering today.

It has come to my attention that the subcommittee on livestock, dairy and poultry will today be considering language in the Farm Bill that could pre-empt the rights of states and localities to pass regulations regarding food or agriculture products or methods the USDA has granted "non-regulated status:"

SEC. 123. EFFECT OF USDA INSPECTION AND DETERMINATION OF NON-REGULATED STATUS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no State or locality shall make any law prohibiting the use in commerce of an article that the Secretary of Agriculture has:
(1) inspected and passed; or
(2) determined to be of non-regulated status.

This is clearly a back-door means of wiping out state and local food safety laws, including laws on genetically engineered crops and organisms. Such a measure should not be hidden in the Farm Bill and passed without an open, democratic process. The state and local laws this language could do away with were put in place democratically, by voters.

I URGE YOU TO OPPOSE ANY FARM BILL LANGUAGE THAT WOULD PRE-EMPT STATES RIGHTS TO MAKE DEMOCRATIC DECISIONS TO PROTECT THEIR OWN HEALTH, FOOD SAFETY AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.

Sincerely,

your name

cc:
Baca Staff member
Cardoza Staff member
Costa Staff member
Representative Leonard Boswell