NEW REPORT: Fast Track to Unsafe Food

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
  For Immediate Release:
  September 24, 1997
  
  New Report Documents How "Fast Tracked" Trade Agreements
  Have Increased U.S. Imports of  Contaminated Food
  
  Fast Track to Unsafe Food Reveals How NAFTA Undermines U.S. Food Safety
  Washington D.C....Public Citizens Global Trade Watch released a new report
  today documenting the damage "fast tracked" trade agreements have wreaked on
  U.S. food safety. NAFTA's Broken Promises: Fast Track to Unsafe Food reveals
  how trade agreements like NAFTA have resulted in a dramatic increase of
  dangerous food being imported into the United States. The rules of these
  agreements have also greatly restricted the United States' ability to
  protect the public from unsafe food.
  
  "This report documents how bad trade agreements like NAFTA have damaging
  effects on our everyday lives -- including the food we feed our families,"
  said Lori Wallach, Director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "Not
  everyone has lost a job or has seen their wages fall because of NAFTA, but
  everyone eats," she said.
  
  "Fast track will only exacerbate the damage which trade agreements like
  NAFTA are currently inflicting on the U.S. food supply," said Wallach. The
  Clinton Administration's fast track proposal would put new affirmative
  limits on the President's ability to deal with food safety issues in trade.
  
  The comprehensive report analyzes government data and medical and academic
  sources to document how:
  
  * 	Imported food is more than three times more likely to be contaminated
  with illegal pesticide residues than U.S.-grown food, according to new
  analysis of FDA data;
  
   *	While U.S. food imports have skyrocketed, U.S. inspections of imported
  food have declined significantly;
  
   *	Imports of Mexican crops documented by the U.S. government to be at a
  high risk of pesticide contamination have dramatically increased under
  NAFTA, while inspection has decreased;
  
   *	The enormous increase in imports from Mexico and Canada under NAFTA has
  overwhelmed U.S. border inspectors;
  
   *	Approximately 74 U.S. import inspectors are responsible for inspecting
  nearly 2.4 billion pounds of imported meat and poultry;
  
   *	Foodborne illness is on the rise globally and in the United States due in
  part to the "globalization" of the food supply;
  
   *	The process whereby the U.S. recognizes other nations' food inspection
  systems as "equivalent" has increased imports of contaminated meat and
  poultry under NAFTA and undermined federal efforts to strengthen the
  oversight of meat and poultry.
  
  
  Recent outbreaks of disease involving imported raspberries and strawberries
  have forced the issue of U.S. food safety into the debate over fast track
  and NAFTA expansion. "NAFTA, fast track and other trade policies are now
  directly undermining consumer protection -- such as food safety. That is why
  consumer, food safety and health groups oppose the fast track to more of
  these trade disasters," said Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen.
  
  The Public Citizen report is published simultaneously with a bipartisan
  letter to President Clinton signed by more than 75 Members of the House of
  Representatives urging President Clinton to renegotiate provisions in NAFTA
  relating to food safety;  ensure that fast track include food safety
  provisions; improve border inspection; and begin a country of labeling
  program for all imported food.
  
                                        - 30 -
  
  ===== Comments by MDOLAN@CITIZEN (MDOLAN) at 9/24/97 12:51 pm
  We all worked pretty hard on this report. It has graphs and 265 footnotes.
  We will post the Exec Summary on our Web Page in a couple of days.
  To order a copy, please contact the PC Publications Division at 
  202-588-1000.
  Set you back about $10, I do believe.
  
  
  
  ****************************************************************************
   /s/ Mike Dolan, Field Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen
  
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