WASHINGTON (FNS) -- Now that industry-backed efforts to reform a myriad of regulations relating to food have stalled in the Senate, the food industry is preparing for another push in the fall.
The National-American Wholesale Grocers Association and the Food Marketing Institute, along with Republican leadership, are striving to break the log jam that forced Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole to pull the regulatory reform bill from consideration in the final days of the summer session.
That bill, among other things, included a provision to repeal the controversial Delaney Clause.
Now, the Grocery Manufacturers of America is mounting grass-roots campaigns in New Mexico, West Virginia, Montana, Virginia and Arkansas in an effort to woo errant Senators.
Letter writing campaigns, plant visits and attendance at town meetings also are planned by industry groups in an effort to reach their congressional representatives.
"We plan to keep pushing," said George Green, vice president and assistant general counsel for FMI. Two votes are needed to stop a Democratic-led filibuster of the regulatory reform bill.
Industry officials feel their best chances for winning additional support could come from Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.; Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.; Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Charles Robb, D-Va.; and David Pryor, D-Ark.
Dole is a chief sponsor of the measure, which was a plank in Republican congressional campaigns in 1994 and is bound to enter into the 1996 presidential debate. He is determined to see it become law. "It will pass the Senate this year," he said. "I feel fairly confident. We want good, solid regulatory reform and we think it will happen."
Under Dole's plan, the federal regulatory process would be overhauled by requiring extensive cost-benefit and risk analysis for major regulations; expanding opportunities for regulated parties to sue federal agencies over their adherence to administrative procedures; and allowing individuals to petition agencies to modify or revoke regulations.
Repeal of the Delaney Clause would leave two safety standards in place. One section of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act bans any added food substance that may render the food injurious to health. A second section bans any food additive not subject to a regulation promulgated by the FDA that sets forth its safe conditions of use.
In arguments against the bill, opponents of the regulatory reform measure targeted the Delaney repeal as posing a threat to the nation's food supply.
In an attempt to quell opposition, a handful of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., offered a compromise that would have either deleted the Delaney provision or would have created a legislative fast-track for action following a new scientific study. This plan was roundly rejected by the industry and by Dole.
Several amendments were accepted, however, to narrow the scope of the measure and build support, including: an exemption of the cost-benefit analysis and risk-assessment procedures to address food safety, specifically E.coli bacteria; requiring the risk assessments only for regulations that would cost more than $100 million, rather than the $50 million threshold initially proposed; and an exemption for any regulation issued before April 1.
The amendments were aimed at dispelling claims that the bill would delay pending Agriculture Department meat inspection regulations.
The Clinton administration opposes the compromise measure, and cabinet secretaries of Labor, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, the Treasury and the Interior have recommended that Clinton veto it.
The administration said it opposes the measure because it goes beyond attempting to reform the regulatory process by repealing the Delaney Clause, and because it would force agencies to choose the least costly regulations and prevent those responsible for protecting public health from issuing regulations unless they could demonstrate a "significant" reduction in risk.
The administration also has said the measure would cause excessive litigation, and was tantamount to "a backdoor regulatory moratorium."
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., is advancing a bill that would address the portion of the Delaney Clause dealing with pesticides. Introduced Aug. 10, this bill would amend the FDA Cosmetic Act by establishing a single, narrative negligible risk standard for pesticide residues in raw and processed foods. A similar bill is pending in the House.
While the industry plans to back Lugar's effort, the goal is to persevere in overall Delaney reform.
"We want comprehensive reform," said Jeff Nedelman, vice president of communications and strategic planning for GMA. "We remain convinced this will pass."
