Idaho's New Laws & WTO on COOL
Idaho’s New Laws & WTO on COOL plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
On Sunday it became illegal in Idaho to text while you drive. The new law had been passed earlier in the year. Idaho now joins Washington and Oregon in making it a primary offense meaning that an officer may cite a driver for texting without any other traffic offense taking place. Some 342 new bills were passed in Idaho this year with most new laws being fairly unnoticeable. You can now use your smart phone to provide proof of insurance and massage therapists now must be licensed.
The World Trade Organization issued their ruling regarding the U.S. Country of Origin Labeling law. Earlier - the trade group ruled in favor of Canada and Mexico who had challenged COOL as being trade distorting. The U.S. then appealed that decision. U.S Cattlemen’s Association’s Jess Peterson says WTO decision was mixed.
Peterson: That the statute, the label, the right for consumers to know where there food is from is completely upheld and completely permissible vis-à-vis WTO standards. However, what they did rule against and they continue to uphold what the first panel said is the implementation. Again the implementation or the segregation of how packers are treating Canadian/Mexican cattle so that will need to be worked out.
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
It’s that time of year again, the fire up the grill for hot dogs and hamburgers time. That also means that all the anti-meat, and hot dog haters come pouring out of the woodwork as well. Get ready for a whole new barrage of articles on “what’s really in your hot dog”, or how “eating meat destroys the environment”. Somehow these article are supposed to make all of us who enjoy consuming hamburgers, or the occasional hot dog, immediately turn vegetarian. Just an FYI, hot dogs have been under attack for decades, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped people from eating and enjoying them. In fact, it’s estimated by the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council that Americans eat 20 billion hot dogs annually. And I don’t believe America’s love affair with the hamburger will be going away any time soon either. Which means, those of us who do enjoy grilling and serving up hamburgers and hot dogs this summer will have to endure a little extra pressure from the “no eating meat” crowd. You have to give anti-meat activists credit though, they’re not anything, if not tenacious. Kind of like a dog with a bone.
Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
