From: juliana jones <[email protected]> Subject: WHAT'S NEXT, MAIL "PASTEURIZATION"? Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 15:45:45 -0500
Dear Citizens and Friends of Center for Food Safety, TELL CONGRESS THAT FOOD IRRADIATION IS NOT "PASTEURIZATION!" TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW, URGE THE FARM BILL CONFEREES TO REJECT SECTIONS 442 AND 1079E OF THE FARM BILL! Please visit: http://www.foodsafetynow.org to learn more and to send an email to the Farm Bill Conferees and to your Members of Congress. Otherwise read on to learn about this important food safety issue. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa has gone into full court press in his love for irradiation, using his power to push irradiated food on an unsuspecting public. On Feb. 13, during the final consideration of the Farm Bill by the Senate, he submitted a 396 page manager's "technical" amendment. Just a select few knew of its contents. Sen. McCain was furious, calling the amendment's size and complexity "unprecedented" and a "Senate record." Buried in this last-minute amendment, Sec. 1079E on "Pasteurization" redefines that widely understood and accepted term so it would now include irradiation. For the past five years, the food irradiation industry has tried to force the FDA to change the labeling regulations for irradiated foods so the industry can label them as "pasteurized." Currently, under commonsense FDA regulations, irradiated food labels must say: "Treated by irradiation" or "Treated with radiation." Sen. Harkin's statutory redefinition delivers to the industry what it could not achieve honestly in the regulatory process, usurping a trusted term that describes a different process. As confirmed in an excellent New York Times article, both FDA and USDA do not accept this sort of deception ("Bill Defines Irradiated Meat as 'Pasteurized,'" NYT, Mar. 5, p. A-18 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/05/politics/05FOOD.html). USDA's position was stated clearly in a letter available at: www.citizen.org/documents/derfler_letter.pdf . Sen. Harkin knows that calling irradiated food "pasteurized" is directly against consumers' wishes. Two professional polls and six FDA citizen focus groups have repeatedly shown that consumers would feel misled. The vast majority of consumers don't want to eat irradiated food. But, Sen. Harkin has bought into the irradiation industry's labeling solution - just don't tell them! To boot, he snuck in Sec. 442 on "Use of Approved Food Safety Technology," another last-minute change to force national school lunch programs to accept irradiated food. What makes this amendment incredibly insidious is that neither parents nor students would be informed if the lunches consist of irradiated foods. Serious health risk issues from eating large quantities of irradiated food still have not been resolved by FDA, especially for children. DROP THESE "FORCE IRRADIATION ON THE PUBLIC" SECTIONS FROM THE FARM BILL - CONSUMERS DESERVE THE RIGHT-TO-KNOW! As one FDA citizen focus group member said: "I think it's totally unbelievable. It has the potential to make people worry about pasteurization, rather than making them feel good about irradiation." Another observed: "Louis Pasteur would spin in his grave." Another citizen asked: "It's misleading - why would they do that?" Yes, why, Senator Harkin? URGE THE FARM BILL CONFEREES TO REJECT SECTIONS 442 AND 1079E! To send an email to the Farm Bill Conferees and to your Members of Congress, please go to: http://www.foodsafetynow.org Thank you! Juliana Jones Project Manager The Center for Food Safety 660 Pennsylvania Ave., SE , Suite 302 Washington, DC 20003 www.centerforfoodsafety.org www.foodsafetynow.org www.gefish.org www.gefoodalert.org ph: 202-547-9359 fax: 202-547-9429 *TO UNSUBSCRIBE to the Center for Food Safety's actions and updates, please reply to this email by typing the word, "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. ___________________________________________________________ CFS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, with an office in San Francisco, CA. Established in 1997, CFS is a public interest membership food safety and environmental organization that utilizes legal actions, policy initiatives, grassroots organizing, public education and media outreach to curtail industrial agricultural production methods that harm aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. We need your support as a member! As a member of CFS, your support will help us monitor government agencies that are regulating our food supply and take legal actions against these agencies to ensure that money and back-room deals don't win out over what is right for the health of our families, communities, and the environment. To Learn more about how a membership to CFS can help our legal, scientific, and grassroots efforts please visit the "Join Us" section on our website, http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org. , or call 1-800-600-6664. Center for Food Safety is a member of the GE Food Alert. To find out more about the coalition, visit www.gefoodalert.org. -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. 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