|
|
 |
|
Promoting democracy by challenging corporate globalization
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
Fair Trade Archive: GTW E-Newsletters, Action Alerts, and Updates 
|
Imported Food and Product Safety
For the latest updates on imported food and product safety, please see the relevant section of our blog, Eyes on Trade. New Report! Santa's Sweatshop: "Made in D.C." With Bad Trade Policy
Check your imported toys! U.S. toy corporations' decisions to shift production to countries with inadequate safety systems - and the trade policies companies pushed through Congress that limit import safety standards and inspection - are the root causes of the imported toy safety crisis. The money manufacturers are saving through labor arbitrage has created soaring profits and CEO salaries at an enormous cost to children’s safety, GTW's report concludes. Read our press release or the full report, Santa's Sweatshop: "Made in D.C." with Bad Trade Policy (PDF). CNN Features GTW's Food Safety Report Report: Trade Deficit in Food Safety 
GTW's report reveals how trade agreements, like the recently passed Peru NAFTA expansion and the proposed Panama NAFTA expansion, will worsen imported food and product safety problems. Read our press release or the full report, Trade Deficit in Food Safety; Proposed NAFTA Expansions Replicate Limits on U.S. Food Safety Policy That Are Contributing to Unsafe Food Imports (PDF). Then take action by signing our petition! "Trade" Agreements Undermine Food and Product Safety Today, nearly $65 billion in food goods are imported into the United States annually – nearly double the value imported when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and World Trade Organization (WTO) went into effect in the mid-1990s. Contrary to what consumers believe, the vast majority of imported foods that end up on the dinner plates of U.S. consumers is unexamined and untested. 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that it will only conduct border inspections on .6 percent of the food that it regulates (vegetables, fruit, seafood, grains, dairy and animal feed) at the border in 2007 - down from an already disconcerting eight percent prior to NAFTA and WTO. FDA data makes clear that Americans are three times more likely to be exposed to dangerous pesticide residues on imported foods than on domestic foods. Only 11 percent of beef, pork and chicken imported so far in 2007 has been inspected at the border by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As Congress steps up action to address the threat and Democratic presidential candidates prioritize new food safety plans, proposed trade pacts now pending before Congress would replicate and lock in limits on the U.S. government's ability to ensure imported food safety. Included in recently passed and pending "Free Trade Agreements" (FTAs) with Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea are limits on what safety standards the United States can require for imported foods and how much inspection is permitted. U.S. laws that extend beyond the FTAs' limits that have the effect of limiting access of imported food to the U.S. market are subject to challenge as "illegal trade barriers" before foreign trade tribunals. Please sign our petition to Congress and then call your representatives!
Because Public Citizen does not accept funds from corporations, professional associations or government agencies, we can remain independent and follow the truth wherever it may lead. But that means we depend on the generosity of concerned citizens like you for the resources to fight on behalf of the public interest. If you would like to help us in our fight, click here. |
|
|
Join | Contact PC | Contribute | Site Map | Careers/Internships| Privacy Statement | |||||||||||
