Latest Farm Bill Proposal Would Override States' Rights, Center for Food Safety Warns

Language recently added to the proposed 2007 Farm Bill would undermine current state-level efforts to regulate genetically modified crops and other agricultural products, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety, a non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organization.

The revised proposal, approved Thursday by the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, says no state or local entity can enact laws prohibiting agricultural products inspected and passed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, or specified by the secretary to have "non-regulated status." Opponents of the revision warn it appears to take aim at recent state and county efforts to prohibit genetically modified crops in their jurisdictions.

"Given the recent spate of food scares, it's shocking to see this attempt to derail safeguards for our food and farms," said Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety. "We need a Farm Bill that will promote stronger food safety standards, not one that attacks these vital state-level protections."

The U.S. Farm Bill, which is revised and adopted every five or six years, should more properly be termed the "Food Bill," according to sustainable farming advocates such as Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma." Among other things, the bill establishes federal subsidies for growers of major commodity crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat, which has an impact on everything from the prevailing prices for farm goods around the world to which food items are used most heavily in school lunch programs.