FWD: [RP] food safety press conference

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  Texas Fair Trade Campaign
  Concerned Americans for Reforming the Economy (CARE), Clean Water Action, 
  Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, Public Citizen, Reform Party, 
  Sierra
  Club, Texas AFL-CIO, Texas Citizen Action, United We Stand America,  US 
  Public
  Interest Research Group (PIRG), Texas Farmers Union, International 
  Brotherhood
  of Teamsters, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees 
  (UNITE)
  
  
  Consumer Groups Warn Shoppers - NAFTA Imports May Be Dangerous To Your 
  Health
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE		        CONTACT:
  August 13, 1997			        James Scott-Public Citizen
  
  
  AUSTIN -   Your family's next meal could be hazardous to their health, a 
  coalition of consumer, environmental and labor groups warned Wednesday. The 
  Texas Fair Trade Campaign, made up of groups such as Public Citizen, Texas 
  Citizen Action, the Teamsters Union and the Sierra Club, is  concerned with 
  the
  increasing threat of unsafe food imports and urged shoppers to demand that 
  their members of Congress take dramatic steps to beef up border food 
  inspection.  	
  
  	The coalition greeted shoppers with a Consumer Alert fact sheet headlined 
  Its Enough To Make You Sick!  According to US government studies cited in 
  the handout, raw food imports have jumped by as much as 45 percent since 
  NAFTA was
  enacted in 1993.  Unfortunately for consumers, less than 1% of those 
  imports
  are inspected for disease and harmful pesticide residues.
  
  	The 1994 NAFTA trade deal with Canada and Mexico opened a floodgate of 
  food imports coming across our borders, said James Scott of Public Citizen. 
  Unfortunately that deluge has swamped the governments ability to inspect 
  and
  ensure the safety of our food supply -- and the situation might get worse.
  
  	President Clinton and Congress are rushing to expand the North American 
  Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed with Mexico and Canada in 1994, added 
  Dan Lambe, Director of the Consumer group, Texas Citizen Action.  They are 
  in a big hurry to sign up Chile and 23 Central American, Caribbean and 
  South American nations too.  But while corporations have profited from 
  NAFTA, the agreement has created problems for average American families. 
  Problems that can show up at
  your dinner table.
  
  	The US GAO May 97 Agricultural Inspection report found that APHIS 
  inspectors must take short cuts in order to keep up with the increased 
  workload, added Scott.  At  11 of the 12 ports of entry visited, including 
  the three bussiest ports in the US, inspectors said that they are unable to 
  examine enough vehicles or cargo containers to consider their inspection to 
  be representative
  of the movement of goods, to control the flow of restricted goods, and to 
  minimize the risk of pests and disease.  Inspectors at two ports of entry 
  said
  they were unable to inspect a large enough sample in a given cargo shipment 
  to
  meet APHIS inspection guidance.  At the second largest port in the country, 
  inspectors curtailed inspections of high risk cargo during high-volume 
  periods
  because industry has continually pressured both political representatives 
  and
  APHIS to have inspections performed more quickly.
  
  	The Texas Fair Trade Campaign cited a number of concerns with imported 
  food that have increased with NAFTA that are expected to increase as more 
  countries are added to the trade pact:
  
  FOOD BORNE ILLNESSES
  
  	Food borne illnesses in the United States have increased since 1993-94, 
  according to the National Advisory Council on Microbiological Criteria for 
  Foods. At the same time, the volume of produce coming into the US from 
  Mexico
  has also increased.  For example, there has been  a 45.2% increase on fresh 
  and
  frozen fruits imported from Mexico.
  
  	This spring approximately 130 cases of Hepatitis-A have been identified in 
  Calhoun County, Michigan.  The year-old strawberries associated with the 
  illness were illegally imported from Mexico where they were grown, but 
  health
  officials do not know the exact source of the contamination.  The Hepatitis 
  A
  outbreak this spring among Michigan school children from tainted 
  strawberries
  is just a taste of the disaster waiting to happen here and across the 
  country
  if Congress doesnt act now, warned Lambe.
  
  PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION
  
  	Important crops from major suppliers have very high rates of illegal 
  pesticides, including strawberries from Mexico with a 18.4% violation rate, 
  head lettuce from Mexico at 15.6%, and carrots from Mexico at 12.3%. 
  (Environmental Working Group-Compiled from Food and Drug Administration 
  Pesticide Monitoring Database FY 1992 and 1993.  Surveillance data only)
  
  	Yet, according to the Government Accounting Office, only a tiny  
  percentage of imports is ever examined for disease or pesticides.  Of that 
  small sampling, however, the Food and Drug Administrations 1995 review of 
  pesticide residue on foods reported that 39.9 percent of imported fruits 
  and 28.7 percent of imported vegetables contained residues of DDT, 
  Malathion, and a host of other
  dangerous pesticides.  
  
  Consumers should call Washington to demand that their member of Congress to 
  stand up for food safety by opposing any more NAFTA trade deals, concluded 
  Scott.
  			
  ***** NOTES from MDOLAN (MDOLAN @ CITIZEN) at 8/18/97 5:52 PM
  
  
  ****************************************************************************
   /s/ Mike Dolan, Field Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen
  
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