05/19/05 Wine sale ruling; Making the case

The full effects of this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling lifting bans of direct-to-consumer sales of Northwest wines in twenty four states will not be known right away. So says Bill Nelson of lobbying group Wine America. Nelson says the High Court found that the bans were discriminatory to out of state wine sellers, and therefore unconstitutional. NELSON: And what the court said that's very significant is that if you're going to let the local guys have a certain type of avenue to sell their product, you basically have to have the out of state guy have that same avenue. But to prevent future discrimination under the Supreme Court ruling, legislatures in states with the bans must adopt "all or nothing" laws, meaning either allowing both in state and out of state direct to consumer wine sales or not. U.S.D.A. Secretary Mike Johanns says enough is enough. JOHANNS: It is time I believe for us to come together and present the cold, hard facts about the beef industry, and talk about safety of beef both in Canada and the U.S., and to examine the economic impact of the closed borders on the U.S. beef industry. Which led to Johanns' announcement of a U.S.D.A. sponsored roundtable discussion on such issues June Ninth at the University of Minnesota  St. Paul. Specific topics for the discussion also include U.S.D.A.'s case for success in its enhanced BSE surveillance program. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: As the organic movement grows in to big business it continues to be wrought with hypocrisies. Once dedicated to social and environmental causes the organic industry is morphing into a monetary movement that champions the almighty dollar. It is unfathomable that California organic growers are the ones leading the fight against legislation that would ban hand weeding. The welfare of farm workers, who spend hours stooped over their organic crops is sacrificed to insure that consumers receive a continuous supply of specialty products that require extensive hand weeding. One sociologist, Aimee Shreck from UC Davis recently pointed out the double standards of the organic movement in an environmental newspaper by commenting "seeing organic farmers fight a human rights issue raises questions about the promise of the organic movement." Cesar Chavez' worked relentlessly to reform the plight of the farm worker in the 1970's, and today in the year 2005 his efforts are undermined by a movement that was founded on social consciousness. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought.