Oregon House Passes Bill To Prohibit GE Food Labeling Laws

The Associated Press
April 11, 2003

House passes bill to prohibit local food labeling laws

by PETER PRENGAMAN

Hoping to squash any future attempts by local governments to impose
their own food labeling laws, the House on Friday passed a bill to
prohibit labeling requirements more stringent than federal standards.

Backers say the proposal aims to pre-empt efforts like last year's
Ballot Measure 27, which sought to require labeling of genetically
modified foods sold in Oregon.

"Local governments have gone forward with many ideas that go beyond
federal laws," said Rep. Jeff Kropf, a Sublimity Republican who
sponsored the bill. "This pre-emption avoids the crazy, quilt and
patchwork laws" that could result if cities came up with their own
requirements.

The bill, approved 43-8, now moves to the Senate.

More than a dozen states have adopted their own labeling standards on
certain foods to make up for perceived gaps in the policies of the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration.

Oregon's own open date labeling law, which informs customers how long a
perishable food can be sold as fresh, is tougher than federal standards.

The House bill passed Friday wouldn't ban efforts by the Oregon
Legislature or statewide initiatives to raise standards. It would only
prevent local governments from doing so on their own.

Before the vote, opponents of the bill, all Democrats, argued that the
proposal was a solution looking for a problem.

"What cities are currently doing this?" said Rep. Floyd Prozanski,
D-Eugene.

Kropf answered that he wasn't aware of any.

"Then there is no reason to address something that hasn't occurred,"
Prozanski said.

The food industry spent more than $5 million to defeat Measure 27 last
November, possibly the most ever spent on an Oregon ballot measure.

Groups such as the Oregon Grocery Association and the Oregon Farm Bureau
argued that any added requirements would put state producers at a
competitive disadvantage.

They hope this House bill will help them avoid other battles on the
local level.

Opponents said local control was a right of local governments,
regardless of costs.

Laws that are "one size fits all are not always best," said Rep. Kelly
Wirth, D-Corvallis.

Wirth gave the example of milk available at many Oregon supermarkets
that contained rBGH, or genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone,
which is injected into lactating cows so they produce more milk.

She said the label made no mention of the hormone, which is approved by
the FDA but banned in many countries because some say it's linked to
cancer.

Local governments should be allowed to assess those risks for
themselves, Wirth said.

"People can buy organic foods if that's what they feel strongly about,"
Kropf answered.