|
R-CALF sues WTO and others over COOL ruling
Story Date: 9/6/2012
| |
Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 9/6/12
Mile High Organics — a food distributor based in Denver — and the Made in the USA Foundation Inc. have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver against the World Trade Organization, the U.S. Trade Representative and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in an effort to keep the Country of Origin Labeling Act (COOL) in place, according to court documents.
The Appellate Body of the WTO this summer ruled that COOL, which required meat from Mexico, Canada and elsewhere to be labeled as such, discriminated against imported beef. R-CALF and its fellow litigants content that the WTO does not have the authority to override U.S. law.
"More than 90 percent of U.S. consumers favor the Country of Origin Labeling Act,” notes Joel D. Joseph, general counsel of the Made in the USA Foundation, in a news release about the lawsuit. “This law does not discriminate against any country, it merely requires labeling. Consumers have a right to decide whether to buy U.S. or imported meat, and accurate labeling is a consumer right."
The lawsuit also contends that one member of the three-person appellate panel that decided the COOL case was a Mexican lawyer who has represented Mexico in trade cases, and that his participation was a clear conflict of interest.
Made in the USA Foundation and R-CALF were the primary supporters of the Country of Origin Labeling Act.
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
|
|
|
|
