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Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threaten U.S. Food Safety, Borders, Importing pests/disease
TOPIC: Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening U.S. Food Safety, Borders -
Importing pests/disease without local predators/controls - International
food trade, risks
For your info - P. Dines
--- FORWARD ---
From: Rich Winkel, INTERNET:rich@pencil
Organization: PACH
Sender: owner-imap@CHUMBLY.MATH.MISSOURI.EDU
To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
Date: Sat, Jun 7, 1997, 4:29 PM
Subject: Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening U.S. Food Safety
/** headlines: 191.0 **/
** Topic: Report Highlights Lax Inspections At U.S. Border **
** Written 9:15 PM Jun 5, 1997 by econet in cdp:headlines **
/* Written 7:04 AM Jun 3, 1997 by dwiehoff@iatp.org in trade.strategy */
/* ---------- "trd-str Teamsters on New GAO Study:" ---------- */
From: dwiehoff@iatp.org (Dale Wiehoff)
Subject: trd-str Teamsters on New GAO Study:
Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening U.S. Food Safety (fwd)
FORWARDED MESSAGE from (PUREFOOD@SMTP {Purefood@aol.com})
---------------------
Subj: Teamsters on New GAO Study:
Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening U.S. Food Safety
Date: 97-05-29
From: AOL News
Report Highlights Lax Inspections at U.S. Border
WASHINGTON, May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Food safety in the United States is
threatened by the explosion of foreign-grown produce entering the country
under trade deals like NAFTA, the General Accounting Office says in a new
study.
The increase in foreign-grown food is causing federal inspectors to take
dangerous shortcuts while handling imported plants and produce.
"This report is more proof that NAFTA is putting working families at
risk," said Teamsters General President Ron Carey. "Because of pressure
from NAFTA to keep freight moving, food safety is suffering."
The GAO documents that the amount of foreign-grown produce and plants
entering the United States has skyrocketed because of NAFTA and other
trade
deals. At the same time, the GAO found that the Animal Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS), the agency responsible for examining produce
and plants entering the United States, is being pushed to speed up the
flow of imported cargo because of pressure to fulfill the terms of trade
agreements.
At the Mexican border crossing with the heaviest passenger vehicle volume,
inspectors only examined 0.1 percent of incoming cars and trucks. This is
far below the APHIS' already low target of 2 percent.
The study, Improvements Needed to Minimize Threat of Foreign Pests and
Diseases, found that despite efforts to beef up enforcement, inspectors
are overworked and their examinations often are hasty and ineffective.
In some cases, there are not enough inspectors to monitor all border
points-of-entry. Inspectors at the three busiest ports in the United
States admitted in the report that they could not be confident that their
examinations were "adequate" to identify dangerous pests and disease.
In other instances, GAO investigators witnessed federal inspectors
allowing the shippers themselves to select which parts of the cargo to be
examined. This practice "reduces the credibility of the inspection,"
according to the GAO.
The most common inspection shortcut was the practice of "tailgate
inspections," examining only the cargo stored near doors and openings of
vehicles. A study by APHIS itself found that 60 percent of pests are
missed in tailgate inspections.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Dale Wiehoff Tel: 612-870-0453
Executive Director Fax: 612-870-4846
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Ext: 612-870-3401
2105 First Avenue South Email: dwiehoff@iatp.org
Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA URL:
http://www.iatp.org/iatp
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** End of text from cdp:headlines **
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