RE-Food Safety Laws- - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message

[Guest guest]

October 5, 2006

 

 

Ms. Mary Riley

1225 Reno Avenue

South Lake Tahoe, California 96150

 

Dear Ms. Riley:

 

Thank you for writing to me regarding the

" National

Uniformity for Food Act of 2005 " (H.R. 4167). I

appreciate

hearing from you on this issue and welcome the

opportunity to

respond.

 

Please know that I am strongly opposed to H.R.

4167. Like

you, I believe consumers in California and across

the country

deserve to know if their food contains chemicals

that may cause

serious health problems. As you know, H.R. 4167

prohibits states

and localities from enacting food safety

regulations that are

stronger than those required by the federal

government. It also

prevents state and local governments from filling

gaps in food

safety laws when the federal government has no

warning standards

for a food product. For California, the bill

would effectively

overturn Proposition 65, which since 1986 has

allowed the state to

establish valuable food safety protections. On

March 8, the House

of Representatives passed H.R. 4167 by a vote of

283 - 189. In

addition, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) recently

introduced

companion legislation, S. 3128, in the Senate.

Both bills are

currently under consideration in the Senate

Committee on Health,

Education, Labor and Pensions.

 

Be assured, I will use every legislative option

available to

stop either piece of legislation should the

Senate take up and

consider them. For more information, I have

included a May 26

press release which includes a letter that I,

along with Senators

Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA),

Patrick Leahy

(D-VT), and Richard Durbin (D-IL) and 16 other

senators have

written to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist

(R-TN) opposing these

pieces of legislation.

 

Again, thank you for writing. I hope you

will continue to

write to me on issues that concern you. If you

have any further

questions or concerns, please feel free to

contact my Washington,

D.C. staff at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

 

Senator Feinstein Joins with 20 Senators to Urge

Senate

Opposition to Legislation Aimed at Rolling Back

State Food

Safety Laws

 

Washington, DC - United States Senators Dianne

Feinstein (D-Calif.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.),

Barbara Boxer

(D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Richard

Durbin (D-Ill.)

today joined with 16 other senators to oppose

federal legislation

that would roll back as many as 150 food safety

laws in all 50

states.

 

Yesterday, Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Ben

Nelson

(D-Neb.), and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) introduced a

Senate

companion bill to the " National Uniformity for

Food Act of 2005, "

which was passed by the House in March. The

legislation would

roll back essential food safety laws and preempts

state and local

authority by prohibiting states and localities

from enacting food

safety regulations stronger than those required

by the federal

government.

 

The 21 senators are calling on Senate Majority

Bill Frist

(R-Tenn.) to ensure that the Senate bill proceeds

through the

proper legislative process. The House bill, H.R.

4167, was passed

without a hearing, and there has been no hearing

in the Senate on

food uniformity since 1988.

 

" State and local communities over the years have

established special precautions to help give

consumers the

peace of mind that the food they eat is safe, "

Senator Feinstein

said. " These laws alert consumers when food

products may

contain chemicals that cause cancer or birth

defects. But the

food uniformity measure passed by the House would

essentially gut more than 150 of these food

safety laws in all 50

states. It needlessly endangers the health of

millions of

Americans. I will do everything I can to ensure

that state

protections, such as California's Proposition 65,

are allowed to

continue to serve as safeguards against harmful

chemicals in

our food. "

 

Following is the text of the letter sent to

Senate Majority

Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). A copy of this

letter was also sent to

the attention of Senate Minority Leader Harry

Reid (D-Nevada):

 

" We are writing to express our strong concerns

about

H.R. 4167, the National Uniformity for Food Act

of 2005, and

to ask that you prevent this, or similar

legislation from going

forward by any means other than through regular

order. As

you know, this bill passed the House without a

hearing and

there has been no hearing in the Senate on food

uniformity

since 1988.

 

H.R. 4167 undermines hundreds of important

food

safety laws across the country, and sets a

dangerous precedent

undermining states' rights. It preempts state

and local

authority by prohibiting state and local

governments from

enacting food safety regulations stronger than

those required

by the federal government, even if that authority

is needed to

respond quickly to an incident such as an act of

bioterrorism.

It also severely limits a state's ability to

enact or enforce a food

safety regulation or issue a safety warning when

no such

federal regulation or warning exists.

 

We believe state and local governments

should have the

right to warn their residents when a product

contains

chemicals that cause cancer or birth defects and

we do not

believe they should have to petition the FDA in

order to make

those warnings known. Currently state and local

governments

conduct approximately 80% of food safety

activity. H.R. 4167

would reverse this traditional and sensible

division by wresting

all power from governors, legislatures and

voters, placing it

instead in the hands of a few hundred federal

employees.

There have been no testimony, no reports and no

analysis to

show that state and local food safety activity

has harmed or

confused consumers. No evidence has been

presented to show

that state and local requirements are overly

burdensome on

the food industry. Therefore, we believe that

H.R. 4167 is not

only unnecessary, but it puts Americans' health

in danger.

 

State and local laws have resulted in food

processors

switching from lead soldered cans to ones that do

not use lead,

years before the FDA acted. Such laws have

protected millions

of Americans from arsenic in bottled water and

they have

informed consumers of whether their salmon

fillets are fresh

or farm-raised. Under H.R. 4167, those consumer

protections

can no longer be guaranteed by state and local

authorities.

 

We would like to reiterate our strong

concerns about

H.R. 4167 and urge you to insist on regular

order, should the

Senate consider this legislation.

 

Thank you for your consideration. "

 

The letter was also signed by Senators Frank

Lautenberg

(D-N.J.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.), James Jeffords

(I-Vt.), Herb Kohl

(D-Wis.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Hillary

Rodham Clinton

(D-N.Y.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Russ Feingold

(D-Wis.), Jeff

Bingaman (D-N.M.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.),

Robert

Menendez (D-N.J.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Bill

Nelson (D-Fla.),

John Kerry (D-Mass.) Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Ron

Wyden (D-

Ore.).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Dianne Feinstein

United States Senator

 

http://feinstein.senate.gov

 

Further information about my position on issues

of concern to California and the Nation are

available at my website

http://feinstein.senate.gov. You can also

receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my

e-mail list at

http://feinstein.senate.gov/issue.html.

 

 

 

 

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