Report Release Details |
July 25, 2007 The report was released during press conferences that brought together consumer advocates, state officials and food producers in Washington, D.C., Austin, New Orleans and the Pacific Northwest, and will be released Thursday at a press conference in San Francisco. To get in touch with any of the following participants please contact Among the participants in today’s events were: Pacific Northwest Conference Call Rick North is the project director for the Campaign for Safe Food, a project of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “It’s obvious that when it comes to food trade rules, corporate profits are taking priority over adequate consumer safety,” said Rick North, the project director of the Campaign for Safe Food for the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “As we see in this report, when it comes to trade in seafood, there are real consequences. As our seafood imports have skyrocketed over the last ten years, so have the incidences of diseases related to the consumption of seafood. We need to be taking a proactive approach to deal with the food safety crisis, not passing more trade agreements that will allow businesses to undermine good state food safety laws.” Craig Vejaraska is a fourth-generation cattle rancher from north-central Washington state and a member of the trade committee of R-CALF USA, a national independent cattle producer’s association. “Even if the hamburger coming from other countries isn’t choice meat, it still lowers the prices that we all get paid for our top quality meat,” said Craig Vejraska, a fourth-generation rancher from north central Washington state. “I’ve got another generation of boys that want to grow up on the ranch, but if you keep these unfair trade policies up, we’re going have to look for something different. Operations in other countries feed things to their cattle that are totally illegal here, so it’s just not a level playing field. I hope my Congresswoman Cathy McMorris and her colleagues from the state of Washington realize the importance of the trade issue to Washington cattleman and vote against these proposed NAFTA expansions.” Owen Froerer is a row crop farmer from Nyssa in eastern Oregon. “Our trade policies have run amok. We are told that trade agreements are supposed to help us sell our product overseas. Well, a lot of farmers in the Pacific Northwest have found that just the opposite is true,” said Owen Froerer, a farmer from Nyssa, Oregon. “This new Public Citizen report shows that imports of vegetables from overseas regularly have three times the amount of illegal pesticide residues than vegetables grown here at home. In 2005, Seneca closed the world’s largest asparagus cannery in Dayton and shipped its state-of-the-art equipment to Peru. A free trade agreement with Peru will be the nail in the coffin.” Washington Rep. Marilyn Chase (D-Shoreline) represents Snohomish and King counties. “State legislators have long recognized that international trade agreements today contain rules that undermine the democratic process in place to regulate in the public interest,” said Maralyn Chase, a state legislator from the Seattle area who has sponsored bills mandating food labeling requirements in Washington state. “Washington’s citizens have a right to know that the food on our table is safe to eat, and it is unfathomable that we are considering trade agreements that allow other countries to challenge necessary domestic laws that can protect our families from dangerous foods.” Austin Press Conference Beth O’Brien is a representative of Public Citizen in Austin, TX. “I think most Texans would agree that the federal government shouldn’t be negotiating away our state’s right to inspect our food supply as much as necessary to know what we are eating is safe,” said Beth O’Brien, a representative of Public Citizen’s Texas office. “But that is exactly what these new NAFTA expansion agreements will do.” Larry Butler is the co-owner of Boggy Creek Farm in Texas. “I am certainly not here today to talk about how bad produce is from Panama and Peru. I understand that Peruvian and Panamanian farmers are also totally opposed to these trade agreements,” said Larry Butler, the co-owner of Boggy Creek Farm. “I’m growing vegetables for people here in Austin to eat, and I know that farmers in Peru and Panama are doing the same for their local communities. The fact of the matter is that food is just not meant to shipped thousands of miles before we eat it, and the more we expand these free trade agreements, the more power it gives to big agribusiness corporations to play farmers in different countries off of each other and, as we are learning today from this report, cheat and endanger consumers for an extra buck.” Stayton Weldon is the R-CALF USA Region V director. “I don’t think people realize when they go shopping that little of the imported food they buy has ever been even looked at by an inspector. It’s not surprising that we are in the middle of an imported food safety crisis,” said Stayton Weldon, the Region V director for R-CALF USA, an independent cattle ranchers association. “Our trade policies should be harmonizing food and safety regulations upwards, not downwards, as the Peru and Panama NAFTA expansion deals do. That’s why cattle producers are dead set against more NAFTA expansion.” Marla Camp is the publisher of Edible Austin. “The very best way to assure food safety is to know where your food comes from – and to actually know the grower, producer or artisan who makes it. Buying local food gives you that advantage,” said Marla Camp, Publisher of Edible Austin, a community-based food publication that celebrates the abundance of local food. Emmett Fox is the chef and owner of ASTI Trattoria and FINO Restaurant in Austin, TX. “Buying local produce is good for the environment and good for business, but the fact of the matter is that the federal government’s trade policies are not setting us up for success,” said Emmett Fox, chef and owner of ASTI Trattoria and FINO Restaurant, two Austin eateries that prioritize buying local produce. “I can have inspectors come in and fail me if I don’t keep my restaurants clean, but we have products coming into the country that aren’t even being looked at. It just blows my mind that these trade agreements would actually limit the government’s ability to inspect imported food.” New Orleans Press Conference Margaret Curole is a legislative liaison for the Louisiana Shrimp Association. “After the year 2001, when all the trade agreements really first started having impact, our market was virtually destroyed by cheap imports,” said Margaret Curole, legislative liaison with the Louisiana Shrimp Association. “Worse, as this report from Public Citizen points out, these trade agreements make it impossible to appropriately inspect imports, even though we know that there are serious food safety problems with them. If I were member of Congress from Louisiana, the last thing I would ever do is vote for more free trade agreements.” Ronald Black is a cattleman and member of R-CALF USA. “Beef from cattle born, raised and processed in the U. S. is the finest and safest beef in the world, which is why Louisiana cattlemen like me are opposed to any trade agreement that does not have provisions that ensure the safety of our national food supply, the health of the U.S. cattle herd, and the continued viability of our industry,” said Ronald Black, a central Louisiana cattleman and member of R-CALF USA, an independent cattle producers association. “We are losing cattle producers at an alarming rate in this country, and a big reason is trade deals that create unfair competition from other countries.” Budd Hirons is the president of the New Orleans Food Co-op. “The clearest recommendation of this report is that the best way to protect yourself as a consumer is to buy local,” said Budd Hirons, president of the New Orleans Food Co-op, a grassroots organization planning a new cooperative grocery store in New Orleans. “We are fortunate to live in an area where there is a rich food culture and a tradition of small-farm production. Insisting on food produced within the region will have a tremendous positive impact on our health as a community, on our local economy, on the environment in general, and on the preservation of a food culture that makes our area unique.” Dana Eness is the executive director of Stay Local!, New Orleans, LA. “When we support locally owned and operated businesses, we protect local character and prosperity, local jobs and wages, and environmental sustainability,” said Dana Eness, executive director of Stay Local!, an initiative of the New Orleans-based Urban Conservancy that is dedicated to creating a strong economy based on locally-owned and operated business. “It is disturbing to me that the federal government is negotiating international trade agreements that would restrict the ability of state and local governments to enact local purchasing rules. That’s exactly the opposite of what we need to be doing.” |