Action Alert Congress Threatens to Eliminate Country of Origin Labeling for Food

Subject: COOL Alert! Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 10:21 AM
From: pam@sustainableagriculture.net

http://www.sustainableagriculture.net

National Campaign For Sustainable Agriculture

Country-of-Origin Labeling Under Attack !

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Sign your organization on to a letter to Congress, below, and linked at:
http://www.agmatters.net/Competition/ACO_SignOnLtr_Oct_18_05.doc

2. Call your Senators and Congressperson, especially if they are on the Conference Committee (see list below).

The Agriculture Appropriations bill may go to Conference Committee soon and action is needed to preserve mandatory country-of-origin labeling. The House Appropriations Committee passed a provision to DELAY implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef until September 2007. The Senate version of the bill does not include any language on labeling. Now the two bills go to a conference committee to determine the fate of beef labeling.

In 2003, COOL was in a similar scenario. The House included a one-year delay on beef and the Senate overwhelmingly passed an amendment saying "NO" to delaying implementation. The final conference report result was a 2-YEAR DELAY FOR ALL covered commodities except seafood!

TO SIGN YOUR ORGANIZATION ON TO THE LETTER BELOW:
Contact Katy Ziegler (National Farmers Union) at 202-314-3103 or kziegler@nfudc.org.

SIGN ON LETTER : AMERICANS FOR COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN LABELING
http://www.agmatters.net/Competition/ACO_SignOnLtr_Oct_18_05.doc)

October XX, 2005

Attn: FY2006 Agriculture Appropriations Conferees

Dear Appropriations Leaders:

We, the undersigned organizations, write to reiterate our opposition to any attempt at further delaying country-of-origin labeling (COOL) in the fiscal year (FY) 2006 agriculture appropriations bill. We support the Senate version of the bill that allows implementation to move forward on the remaining covered commodities as scheduled and urge the conferees to remove the delay language from the final compromise legislation.

Our coalition, representing millions of American producers and consumers, continues to push for the implementation of mandatory COOL, as was directed in the 2002 farm bill. Several surveys consistently illustrate American consumers support mandatory country-of-origin labeling and are even willing to pay a premium for such information. Furthermore, 48 of the 57 countries with whom the U.S. trades with, require labeling on one or more of the covered commodities under the U.S. law.

Country-of-origin labeling provides U.S. agricultural producers the opportunity to promote their excellent products. The labeling law does not violate international trade agreements, would not drastically increase producer and consumer costs, does not require third-party documentation for “trace-back” or disadvantage any commodity. Labeling products is simply a promotional tool for U.S. producers and an information source for consumers.

Evidence that this law does work can be found in the implementation of mandatory COOL for seafood which took effect April 2005. Today, American consumers and seafood producers are benefiting from the COOL information to which they did not have access while the program was voluntary. Since going into effect over seven months ago, consumers and producers are benefiting, and the sky did not fall!

Delaying the implementation of this valuable law to give opponents of COOL the opportunity to repeal the law and replace it with a voluntary law is simply not right. A voluntary system will not work.

We strongly request the conference committee remove the House language delaying implementation of COOL for beef and beef products and follow through with the promise Congress made to American producers and consumers in 2002.

Sincerely,

ORGANIZATIONS SIGNED-ON
______

TO CONTACT THE SENATE CONFEREES:

(For more information regarding contacting your Congresspersons, contact Jeri Lynn Bakken (Western Organization of Resource Councils) at jerilynn@worc.org or 701-376-7077.

Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman

Robert F. Bennett (R-UT) Phone: 202-224-5444 Fax: 202-228-1168

Ranking Democrat

Herb Kohl ((D-WI) Phone: 202-224-5653 Fax: 202-224-9787

Craig Thomas (R-WY) Phone: 202-224-6441 Fax: 202-224-1724

Tim Johnson (D-SD) Phone: 202-224-5842 Fax: 202-228-5765

Thad Cochran(R-MS) Phone: 202-224-5054 Fax: 202-224-9450

Arlen Specter (R-PA) Phone: 202-224-4254 Fax: 202-228-1229

Sam Brownback (R-KS) Phone: 202-224-6521 Fax: 202-228-1265

Christopher S. Bond (R-MO) Phone: 202-224-5721 Fax: 202-224-8149

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Phone: 202-224-2541 Fax: 202-224-2499

Ted Stevens (R-AK Phone: 202-224-3004 Fax: 202-224-2354

Tom Harkin (D-IA) Phone: 202-224-3254 Fax: 202-224-9369

Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) Phone: 202-224-2152 Fax: 202-228-0400

Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) Phone: 202-224-5824 Fax: 202-224-9735

Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) Phone: 202-2243954 Fax: 202-228-0002

HOUSE CONFEREES:

Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman

Henry Bonilla (R-23rd-TX) Phone: 202-225-4511 Fax: 202-225-2237

Ranking Democrat

Rosa DeLauro (D-3rd CT) Phone: 202-225-3661 Fax: 202-225-4890

Jack Kingston (R-1st GA) Phone: 202-225-5831 Fax: 202-226-2269

Tom Latham (R-4th IA) Phone: 202-225-5476 Fax: 202-225-3301

Jo Ann H. Emerson (R-8th MO) Phone: 202-2254404 Fax: 202-226-0326

Virgil H. Goode (R-5th VA) Phone: 202-225-4711 Fax: 202-225-5681

Ray H. LaHood (R-18th IL) Phone: 202-225-6201 Fax: 202-225-9249

John T. Doolittle (R-4th CA) Phone: 202-225-2511 Fax: 202-225-5444

Rodney Alexander (R-5th LA) Phone: 202-225-8490 Fax: 202-225-5639

Maurice Hinchey (D-22nd NY) Phone: 202-225-6335 Fax: 202-226-0774

Sam Farr (D-17th CA) Phone: 202-2252861 Fax: 202-225-6791

F. Allen Boyd (D-2nd FL) Phone: 202-2255253 Fax: 202-225-5615

Marcy Kaptur (D-9th OH) Phone: 202-2254146 Fax: 202-225-7711

Thanks for your organizational sign-ons and calls to Congress!

~Pam
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pam Browning Policy Coordinator National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture 110 Maryland Avenue, Suite 306 Washington, DC 20002 Phone: 202-544-5466
pam@sustainableagriculture.net
http://www.sustainableagriculture.net