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Issue 7 - June 2005


The Truth about Country-of-Origin Labeling!


COOL Dйjа Vu?


The Fiscal Year 2004 Appropriations bill included a 2 year delay of implementing mandatory COOL on meat,


fruits, vegetables and peanuts, despite a majority of the U.S. Senate opposing any delay and 193 members of


the House opposing any delay. During House floor debate on the FY2004 agriculture appropriations bill, an


effort was made to strike the COOL delay. Here are comments delivered by proponents of the 1 year delay


during floor debate on July 14, 2003:


"This prohibition that we have put in this bill simply says that USDA will not be able to


work on enforcing, promulgating, developing any kind of regulation for a year until


there can be more ample study and understanding of the bill." Rep. Henry Bonilla


"We want this [mandatory COOL] to work; and for it to work, it will take an additional


1 year of time to make it work." Rep. Charlie Stenholm


"All we are asking for here is a time-out to study the issue more closely before a


mandatory system is enacted." Rep. Tom Latham


Why was another delay inserted into the FY2006 agriculture appropriations bill again? This makes no sense.


OPINION POLL


www.AgriTalk.com recently asked the following question on their weekly online poll:


What form of country-of-origin labeling do you prefer?


Mandatory: 80.1%


Voluntary: 15.5%


Doesn't Matter: 4.3%


COOL Opinions


Several newspaper editorial boards have come out in support of COOL. Here are links to a few:


Editorial: Meat label regulation stalls again, The Forum, May 26, 2005. "...The meatpacking industry continues


to defy the will of most Americans by lobbying key members of Congress to prevent implementation of a consumer friendly


regulation. The industry's goal - thus far realized - is to delay indefinitely country-of-origin labeling of meats, a requirement


that was supposed to go into effect on Sept. 30, 2004. But the big packers have worked their will on key members of


House agriculture committees, and a proposal for yet another delay is in the works.


Packers, processors flex muscle against COOL, AgWeekly, May 24, 2005. "...Honestly, how hard is this to


implement? U.S. meat is one of the last holdouts for labeling worldwide with 35 other countries requiring labels for meat.


COOL has finally gone into effect for U.S. fish and shellfish, and labeling of foreign produce and other food products has


been in effect for years. All the arguments of exorbitant cost, impossible record keeping, and the burden to producers and


consumers have pretty well been refuted. Yet the U.S. government continues to reject the initiative and disregard overriding


producer and consumer desire. It would seem big meatpackers and processors wield a beefy amount of influence over


the administration and Congress.


They Said It "By taking the funding away from the implementation, you are cutting the


legs out from under American farmers and ranchers and our ability to know


where our products comes from, and it makes you wonder why somebody


would be reluctant to put their name or their country on their product,"


Rep. Denny Rehberg, July 14, 2003 during the first COOL delay debate.


Compiled by National Farmers Union. For more information, contact Katy Ziegler, kziegler@nfudc.org, 202-314-3103.


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