| 12/10/2003 US House Backs 2-Year Delay in Food-Origin Labels - 12/8 Reuters The delay was part of a mammoth $375 billion bill that funds the Agriculture Department and several other federal departments for fiscal 2004. It was scheduled for a vote in the Senate on Tuesday, where objections might postpone a vote until January. Now voluntary, country-of-orign labeling was scheduled under a 2002 law to become mandatory on Sept. 30, 2004. The deadline would become Sept. 30, 2006, under the catch-all bill, passed 242-176 by the House. The only items still to face a 2004 deadline for labeling would be farm-raised and wild fish. Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Democratic leader on the subcommittee that oversees USDA spending, accused senior Republican leaders in the House and Senate of deciding in secret to overturn strict labeling rules. "Behind closed doors, our attempts to do that (create tough rules) were absolutely subverted," said Kaptur. Consumer groups and mainline U.S. farm groups support mandatory labeling as a way to distinguish home-grown foods from foreign competitors on the grocery-store shelf. The two largest groups representing U.S. cattle and hog farmers oppose the law as a costly burden that will lower livestock prices. Foodmakers and grocers also oppose the law. The USDA estimates a cost of $580 million to $3.9 billion to business to comply with the law. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, a champion of the law, says the delay effectively will kill it. "This business of delaying it for two years is subterfuge," he told reporters recently. The House Agriculture Committee may look into a better- designed voluntary labeling system next year, a committee staff worker said. A voluntary plan might be yoked in a bill with repeal of mandatory labeling. "I think it is too early to say this project is dead," said Tom Buis of the 300,000-member National Farmers Union, a supporter of mandatory labeling. "With health, safety or quality ... how can you assure the consumer without that data?" Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, Mississippi Republican, has not discussed his agenda for next year, said a spokesman. Farm activists said the bill unfairly cut funding for soil, water and wildlife stewardship. Kaptur said the conservation cuts totaled $490 million. Fred Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said the cuts protected crop subsidies and flouted Congress' desire to put more emphasis on conservation. Also included in the massive government spending bill was $20 million for USDA to use in work on chronic wasting disease. The Interior Department would get $3 million for its work on the disease. Chronic wasting disease has been found in deer and elk in Wisconsin, Colorado, Wyoming and several other states. It is a neurological disease related to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep, but does not pose a risk for humans. Related Link: http://www.reuters.com |
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