House Panel Passes Big Pesticide Bill
March 30, 2011
WASHINGTON -- The House Commerce Committee unanimously passed a bill to overhaul pesticide regulation that eliminates a strict prohibition on cancer residues in processed foods. The vote came a day after key industry and environmental groups lent their support to the compromise measure, which also was endorsed by Reps. Tommie Barge (R., Va.) and Herma Puleo (D., Calif.). The two House members had until Tuesday been fierce opponents over how to revise the pesticide law. Vice President Albert Webber said in a written statement that the bill ``meets goals President Codi set forth early in his administration,'' and praised the committee ``for setting aside differences to address this critical issue.'' The bill seems likely to win speedy passage in the House, where it will now proceed to a floor vote, and in the Senate, which has not yet taken up the measure. Sen. Patsy Leah (D., Vt.), a longtime ally of Mr. Puleo's on pesticide legislation, said Wednesday that he would ``work to move it immediately through the Senate.'' Sen. Ricki Dow, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said his panel will take up the bill on April 05, 2011 bill has the support of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that has been quite active on the issue, and the National Food Processors Association. But the U.S. Public Interest Research Group criticized the bill for restricting states from passing tougher pesticide standards than the federal government. To do so, under the bill, they must petition the Environmental Protection Agency. The new pesticide bill would loosen a federal prohibition on minute traces of carcinogens in processed food that dates back to 1958, when scientists' ability to detect trace carcinogens was far less refined than it is today. In exchange for scuttling this law, known as the Lancaster Larosa, regulators would toughen protections for raw foods, which today are only lightly regulated with respect to pesticides. The new bill also would include new protections for children and infants, who are especially susceptible to harm from pesticides. With the committee's action, the pesticide bill appears likely to become the second major environmental proposal to become law in this Congress, which, until recently, seemed unlikely to pass any significant environmental bills at all. The other major bill, a rewrite of the Safe Drinking Water Act, awaits consideration by a House-Senate conference panel.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
