Consumer and Public Heath Groups Urge Senators to Oppose Food Industry Immunity Bill

For Release:
September 12 , 2006
Contact: Laurie Beacham
            212/267-2801      
Consumer and Public Health Groups Urge Senators to Oppose Food Industry Immunity Bill
New York, NY - Eleven consumer and public health groups sent a letter today to U.S. Senate leaders urging them to oppose S. 908, misleadingly known as the “Commonsense Consumption Act of 2005.” The bill would give special legal protection to the food industry for harm caused by its products, even when it is grossly negligent or reckless. A similar bill has passed the House and may be considered by the U.S. Senate this year.
The groups signing the letter are: Alliance for Justice, California Center for Public Health, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Center for Informed Food Choices, Center for Justice & Democracy, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, The Action Coalition for Media Education, The Praxis Project, US Action, and US PIRG.
According to the letter, the bill is so broad that it could potentially cover “false advertising claims against food purveyors, lawsuits seeking to address aggressive marketing of junk food to children, and lawsuits concerning serious, sometimes fatal, side effects of certain supplements, like ephedra, marketed as weight-controlling substances.” (Ephedra was banned by the FDA in 2004.) It would “even restrict lawsuits by Attorney Generals brought to protect the citizens of their state,” according to the groups.
The letter states, “Given the number of problems facing this country today, we urge you not to waste precious time on a faulty legislative solution in search of a problem.” A copy of the letter can be found at http://centerjd.org.