Fwd: [NJGMO] URGENT COOL sign-on letter

[Tobias Fox]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jwa...@fwwatch.org <jwalsh_fw...@groups.fwwatch.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 2:10 PM
Subject: [NJGMO] URGENT COOL sign-on letter

Dear friends, 

I am sorry for cross posting this message, but the meatpackers and their allies in the Chamber of Commerce have ramped up an attack on Country of Origin Labels (COOL) that they hope to include in the federal spending bill that will be considered in early December. Farmers and consumers overwhelmingly support commonsense labels that tell families where their food comes from and allow farmers to distinguish their products in the marketplace.

But the special interests and their congressional allies are trying to slip language into the spending bill that would weaken or rescind COOL. We have prevented the meatpackers efforts to legislatively sabotage COOL in the 2014 farm bill and in other budget bills and we can prevail now, but we need your help.

PLEASE SIGN ONTO THIS LETTER TO DEFEND COOL and share the letter with your friends and allies. The special interests are making an aggressive push on this and we are trying to get more than 300 groups to stand with us and support COOL.

Congress will take up this legislation in early september: SIGN ON BY NOVEMBER 25th

To sign on or with any questions, please email: pwoo...@fwwatch.org

Thanks for all your help: We have been beating the meatpackers in the courts and the Congress; help us do it again! 

Thanks so much, patrick at Food & Water Watch

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here is the text of the letter:

The undersigned NNN farm, ranch, rural, faith, labor, environmental, farmworker and consumer organizations urge the leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee to reject any effort to weaken, suspend or rescind mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) in the upcoming legislation to provide funding for the federal government for the remainder or part of Fiscal Year 2015.

 American consumers are increasingly interested in understanding more about the origins of their food and the public overwhelmingly supports Country of Origin Labeling. The commonsense COOL labels that are in place today provide additional and more accurate information about where their food comes from. Farmers are proud of the food they put on American dinner tables and support the current COOL labels that allow consumers to make more informed food purchasing decisions.

Congress enacted COOL in the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills in response to the broad-based support for these sensible labels. Since 2008, the World Trade Organization has been weighing a dispute over COOL that will most likely continue past the end of Fiscal Year 2015. The WTO has ruled that COOL labels are legitimate but continues to weigh the implementation of the labeling requirements.  Importantly, in each successive deliberation, the WTO has been increasing receptive to the legitimacy of the Congressionally mandated labels.

 Congress should not short circuit the WTO process; nor should it unconditionally surrender to the threats of tariff retaliation by our trading partners. We believe the United States has strong grounds to appeal the most recent WTO ruling and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will likely file its intent to appeal the ruling in January of 2015.

 The Senate rejected efforts to weaken COOL in the 2014 Farm Bill and the FY 2015 Agricultural Appropriations measure. Indeed, the Farm Bill added venison to the list of products that receive the COOL label. We do not believe that Congress should make any legislative change to weaken, suspend or rescind COOL at this juncture; nor do we believe it is appropriate to make legislative changes to these popular labels outside of the full view of the American public as the Appropriations Committee leadership negotiates the upcoming spending legislation. We urge you to reject any effort to undermine these commonsense labels. 

Sincerely

[SIGNATORIES]

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very brief background on WTO case: Country of origin labeling was included in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills because of the broad-based advocacy efforts of farm, consumer, faith, rural and other community and environmental organizations. Before the first label was applied, Canada and Mexico challenged COOL as a trade barrier at the World Trade Organization. (They only challenged the COOL provisions covering beef and pork, but COOL also covers fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, seafood, chicken, lamb, goat and some nuts.) The case is ongoing and is expected to take about another year; the executive branch will file an appeal to the latest round of the dispute in January 2015.

The WTO case has essentially boiled down to whether the labels provide enough benefits to consumers to be worth the cost of implementing the rule. But so far, the WTO has ruled that the goal of COOL (providing information to consumers) is legitimate and at each step of the WTO dispute process, the WTO has been more receptive to COOL. There are good grounds to appeal the latest decision (the WTO massively overestimates the costs and underestimates the benefits of COOL) and there is no need for Congress to change the law at this point. 

Canada and Mexico are demanding that Congress repeal the law before the WTO dispute is even completed. The meatpacking industry and other manufacturers are echoing these demands. The Canadian agriculture minister demanded that Congress completely repeal COOL, even the fruit, vegetable, seafood and other labels even though the WTO has not even considered these provisions of COOL. The U.S. should appeal the decision not repeal COOL.

There is more information about this WTO case at: 

http://nfu.org/news/302-international-policy/2606-nfu-says-wto-ruling-on-cool-shows-usda-moving-in-right-direction-points-out-no-need-for-congressional-involvement-

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/pressreleases/world-trade-organization-attacks-commonsense-country-of-origin-labels/

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