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Thirteen Nebraska Organizations Tell House of Representatives to Keep COOL
Lincoln, NE. Nebraska Farmers Union (NEFU) announced
today that 13 Nebraska organizations have added their support to a letter
signed by 122 state and national organizations sent to the House of
Representatives today, Monday, June 6th asking them to reject a
House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee provision that would effectively
kill mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL).
The 13 Nebraska based
organizations represent a wide range of organizations including general farm,
ag commodity, organized labor, rural, public interest, community and
environmental organizations who are asking the House of Representatives to
approve an amendment to be offered by Representative Rehberg (R-MT) that would
strike the COOL delay language from the House Ag Appropriations
Subcommittee.
The 13 Nebraska based
organizations include: American Corn
Growers of NE, Center for Rural Affairs, Great Plains Environmental Law Center,
Independent Cattlemen of NE, Mid NE Pride, NE Farmers Union, NE Grange, NE
Livestock Markets Association, NE State AFL CIO, NE Chapter of the Sierra Club,
NE Wildlife Federation, NE Women Involved in Farm Economics, and Nebraskans for
Peace.
The House of
Representatives is expected to deal with the recommendation of the House Ag
Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday that would change the current
mandatory COOL to voluntary. The
coalition group cited recent AgriTalk radio online poll results that showed
that 80.1% of rural listeners support Mandatory COOL compared to 15.5% support
for voluntary.
NEFU President John
Hansen said, “Food producers and consumers overwhelmingly support mandatory
Country of Origin Labeling. This issue
is about honesty, and fairness. When 48
of the 57 countries the U.S. engages in trade with have COOL, our Congress
should stop catering to a handful of big business special interests in the
middle of the food delivery system who are determined to derail the hard fought
mandatory COOL passed in the 2002 Farm Bill.
U.S. food producers and consumers deserve a level playing field. My organization believes in the quality of
the food we raise, and in being honest with our food customers. Congress should give U.S. food producers and
consumers the information they need to make informed food buying decisions, and
the opportunity to actively support our traditional food production system of
independently owned and operated family farms and ranches if they want to,”
Hansen said.
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