Country-Of-Origin Labels May Be a Thing of the Past

The House has passed a bill to repeal country-of-origin labels (known as COOL) requirements on your imported meat, and much more. If this comes to fruition, there could be 20,000-65,000 metric tons of fresh or frozen meat coming into the country annually with the consumer having no clue what country it came from. This is about 1% of all meat imports to the US. Even though 90% of consumers want labeling, the World Trade Organization has ruled that labeling discriminates against imports.

Brazil, a country we frequently import meat from, reported a case of Mad Cow Disease as recent as 2014. Other countries stopped importing meat due to the incident, but the US did not.

Food Independence Proves Necessary for the Survival of Hawaii

With 90% of Hawaii’s food being imported from the mainland, they are starting to see the environmental impact it’s causing; and it’s not good. The largest cargo vessels can emit as much pollution as 50 million cars in a year, according to a 2009 study, and shipping accounts for about 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, if the ships stopped coming, Hawaii residents would only have 3 days of food in their kitchens. So why don’t they grow more of their own food? Majority of the agricultural land is controlled by companies growing genetically engineered seeds, which is one of the state’s biggest exports. What farmland is available comes with hard-to-get and high-priced leases.

Supreme Court Blocks Obama’s Limits on Power Plants

The Obama administration pleaded to the court to allow more regulations and limits on emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from coal-fired power plants. The Supreme Court denied this ambitious environmental initiative. Industry groups and 20 states challenged this request claiming that this would cost more money if the rule went into effect.

“The E.P.A. will have to do more homework on costs,” said Sean Donahue, who represents environmental and public health groups that signed on to the agency’s case. “But I’m very confident that the final rule will be up and running and finally approved without a great deal of trouble. This is a disappointment. It’s a bump in the road, but I don’t think by any means it’s the end of this program.”