| 9/11/2003 Senators Eye Report on Meat Labeling - 9/10 AP The General Accounting Office report undermines an argument against the labeling requirements, which are set to take effect in September 2004, a group of senators from the beef-producing northern Plains said. Sens. Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson, both D-S.D., and Mike Enzi and Craig Thomas, both R-Wyo., said the GAO report is ammunition against House legislation that would cut off funds to the labeling program before it starts. Daschle, the Senate Democratic leader, said the report counters misconceptions and "extraordinary distortions" about the program's cost. "We have now official documentation for what we have known all along - country of origin labeling makes sense," Daschle said. The Agriculture Department had estimated the cost of record-keeping and paperwork for the first year of the program would be $1.9 billion across the food industry. The GAO questioned USDA assumptions that led to that figure, including how many businesses already are keeping needed records and the number that would have to do so. The report said the USDA "could provide no documentation to support its estimates" when it assumed an hourly rate of $50 to develop a record system - more than double the rate it used in recent estimates for other programs. USDA spokeswoman Julie Quick said the cost estimate was preliminary. The department will issue proposed rules for implementing the labeling program later this fall, she said, and is on track to have them in place before a September 2004 deadline. The rule-making process will be accompanied by an analysis of all costs associated with the program, she said. "It will be a much broader economic picture that we'll have before this process is finished," Quick said. Retailers and meat processors said the cost to their industries could be even higher than the USDA estimate, once production and shipping changes not considered by the GAO are added. The uncertainty bolsters the case to delay the program's launch, said Tim Hammonds, president and CEO of the Food Marketing Institute. Higher costs will lead to higher prices in the supermarket, said Dan Murphy, a spokesman for the American Meat Institute. "None of us want to pay more for food, especially when there is no added benefit other than a sticker on the label," Murphy said. "This business about how this is expensive, how it involves complicated record-keeping, is nothing more than scare talk," Johnson said. The House voted in July to prohibit money from being spent to implement the rules. The ban was part of its version of a USDA spending bill. The senators said they will introduce a measure that, if passed, will instruct their colleagues working on a compromise bill to remove that House measure. Daschle said the labeling rules will serve consumers by allowing them to know where their food was produced and help ranchers by creating a demand for U.S. meat. Enzi agreed. "On shoes, they tell you what the country of origin is. On underwear they tell you what the country of origin is," he said. "But I tell you those things that you wear can't hurt you nearly as much as the things you put in your body." President Bush signed the labeling program into law last year. It applies to beef, lamb, pork and fish, some produce and peanuts. ON THE NET USDA Country of Origin Labeling: http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool National Farmers Union: http://www.nfu.org Coalition of labeling opponents: http://www.countryoforiginlabel.org Related Link: http://www.ap.org |
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