Thursday, March 09, 2006

U. S. House Passes Bill to Prevent States from Regulating Food Safety Labels

Usually Republicans support the concept of Federalism, the reliance of states to make decisions about the welfare of their residents. Sometimes known as "states rights", the idea is that individual states should make their own rules based on the preferences of their citizens rather than rely on the Federal government.

That is, unless the Republicans in Congress don’t like the actions states are taking.

A bill passed by the U. S. House of Representatives, H.R. 4167, introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) would "preempt", or overrule, all state regulations about food safety, including labeling requirements to warn consumers of about dangers to the food supply, including carcinogenic and toxic substances in food.

The bill passed the House on Wednesday on a largely party line vote (92% of Republicans, 35% of Democrats voting for the bill)

Not only does Congressman Rogers want to limit the federal government’s food safety labeling regulations, he does not want any state to require food safety warnings not approved by the federal government.

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Story in Washington Post