Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] Food industry fights to eliminate cancer warnings

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Note: forwarded message attached.Ronald A. Fells

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Food industry fights to eliminate cancer warnings for

toxic substances in food

NewsTarget

July 31 2006

 

http://www.newstarget.com/z019813.html

http://www.newstarget.com/019813.html

 

If the National Uniformity for Food Act (S.3128) which

is currently before the Senate passes into law, more

than 220 food safety and labeling laws could be

overturned in California alone.

 

California's Proposition 65, which requires products

to carry warnings whenever they contain ingredients

shown to cause cancer or birth defects, is the real

target of the overly broad Senate bill, according to

the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

 

The supposed aim of S.3128 is to create uniformity

between FDA regulations and state laws -- but if it

were to pass, it would cancel out local and state

regulations concerning restaurant hygiene, milk

pasteurization and even warnings about consuming fish

with high mercury content and alcohol when pregnant.

 

" The fallout from this attack on California's

Proposition 65 could be the destruction of hundreds of

other state and local food safety and labeling laws in

every state, " said CSPI senior staff attorney Benjamin

Cohen. " Parents pouring milk for their kids or dining

in a restaurant shouldn't have to worry about getting

a food-borne illness. Yet some Senators would place

their constituents at greater risk of that just to

please the powerful and politically connected food

industry. "

 

" This attack is yet another outrageous attempt by

giant food corporations to blind consumers from the

truth about hazardous grocery products, " said Mike

Adams, consumer health advocate and author of Grocery

Warning. " That food corporations would actively seek

to remove cancer warnings about carcinogenic

ingredients is merely indicative of the industry's

utter disregard for public health, " he added.

 

Not only do public health and environmental groups

oppose S.3128, but many governors, including Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., also stand in

opposition. Watchdog group representatives say

Proposition 65 has been an indispensable tool for

encouraging manufacturers to eliminate harmful

chemicals rather than putting warnings on their

consumer goods; while the law only applies to products

in California, companies tend to reformulate their

products on a national scale.

 

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