Friday, May 21, 2021
CapitalPress.com 7
United States dairy industry urges
stronger action against Canada
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Nearly 70 U.S. dairy com-
panies and associations are
urging U.S. Trade Represen-
tative Katherine Tai to hold
Canada’s feet to the fi re in
its market access obligations
under the U.S.-Mexico-Can-
ada Agreement.
They want the ambassador
to initiate a dispute settlement
case with the Canadian gov-
ernment over its administra-
tion of dairy tariff -rate quotas
if there is not an immediate
positive resolution reached in
consultation.
Canada agreed to new
market access for U.S. dairy
products through TRQ allo-
cations in the USMCA, but
Canada is circumventing its
obligations, the groups said in
a letter to Tai.
Canada has awarded the
vast majority, 85%, of TRQs
to processors — in many
cases ones that are compet-
ing directly against the type
of products the U.S. wants to
ship to Canada, Shawna Mor-
ris, vice president for trade
with U.S. Dairy Export Coun-
cil and National Milk Pro-
ducers Federation, said in a
podcast.
“The way Canada is han- mission meeting this week do
dling its market access under not result in immediate reso-
USMCA is likely to result in lution, the groups are calling
fewer shipments and lower for additional enforcement
value shipments than we had action.
anticipated we’d be able to get
The dairy industry wanted
under USMCA,” she said.
to send the letter ahead of
Canada’s
TRQ
this week’s meeting
allocations
are
to make sure it was
designed to discour-
clear the industry is
age the full utiliza-
eager for enforcement
tion and value of the
action to move for-
TRQs, limiting U.S.
ward, she said.
dairy imports, accord-
It’s hard to know
ing to the U.S. Dairy
how the meeting will
Shawna
Export Council and
turn out, but every
Morris
National Milk Pro-
time there is a session
ducers Federation.
— particularly led by
With the bulk of TRQ the U.S. trade representative
access reserved for proces- — there’s a strong possibility
sors, only a small amount is of success, she said.
left for distributors and retail-
The U.S. dairy industry
ers are cut out from TRQ worked with the U.S. trade
access, Morris told Capital representative’s offi ce and
Press.
Congress to secure strong
“It’s these latter two enforceable dairy provisions
groups that we think have the in the USMCA, and knew
strongest incentives to actu- proper implementation and
ally purchase U.S. dairy prod- enforcement would be criti-
ucts, and we want to make cal, said Krysta Harden, pres-
sure they have a greater role ident and CEO of the Dairy
in the process,” she said.
Export Council.
The U.S. Trade Represen-
“This is why we need
tative’s offi ce requested con- USTR to take bold action to
sultation with Canada over ensure the U.S. dairy industry
the issue in December. If fully benefi ts from the hard-
ongoing consultation and a fought wins included in the
USMCA Free Trade Com- USMCA,” she said.
Federal law doesn’t pre-empt
$25 million glyphosate verdict
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Federal law does not pre-
empt legal claims that gly-
phosate herbicides cause
cancer, the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals has ruled
in upholding a $25 million
judgment against Monsanto.
A jury determined in 2019
that exposure to glyphosate
in Roundup products had
caused plaintiff Edwin Hard-
eman’s non-Hodgkin’s lym-
phoma, awarding him $80
million in damages.
That amount was knocked
down to $25 million by a fed-
eral judge, who decided the
original amount was uncon-
stitutionally excessive.
Monsanto — a major
seed and chemical producer
that has since merged with
Bayer — challenged the ver-
dict before the 9th Circuit,
arguing that Hardeman’s
claims shouldn’t have even
reached the jury.
The Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide
Act pre-empted the lawsuit
because the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency
determined that glypho-
sate doesn’t require a can-
cer risk label, according to
Monsanto.
The allegation that Mon-
santo was liable for a “fail-
ure to warn” about cancer
risks under California law
must fail because that state
imposes labeling require-
ments that are diff erent from
FIFRA, the company said.
However, the 9th Circuit
has now rejected that inter-
pretation, ruling that Califor-
nia law doesn’t confl ict with
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals has upheld
a $25 million judgment
against Monsanto for sell-
ing Roundup herbicide
without a cancer warning.
FIFRA in regard to warning
labels.
“We conclude that Har-
deman’s
failure-to-warn
claims based on Roundup’s
labeling are consistent with
FIFRA and thus are neither
expressly nor impliedly pre-
empted,” the 9th Circuit said.
The EPA’s approval of
Monsanto’s label for gly-
phosate doesn’t necessarily
prove the company complied
with FIFRA — it’s merely a
“rebuttable
presumption”
that can still be overruled by
a judge or jury, the 9th Cir-
cuit said.
Likewise, it would not
have been impossible for
Monsanto to warn of gly-
phosate’s cancer risk under
FIFRA’s labeling rules, the
ruling said. “Because Mon-
santo could comply with
both FIFRA and California
law, FIFRA did not impliedly
pre-empt Hardeman’s state
failure-to-warn claims.”
The 9th Circuit’s ruling
contradicts the legal position
of the EPA, which argued the
pesticide registration process
pre-empts lawsuits against
products whose labels have
been approved by the agency.
The pesticide indus-
try, represented by Croplife
America, claimed the judg-
ment against Monsanto
sets a dangerous precedent
“well beyond Roundup and
glyphosate.”
“The district court’s deci-
sions under review raise
the fundamental question
of whether specifi c pesti-
cide labeling requirements
imposed by EPA in the exer-
cise of expert scientifi c judg-
ments under FIFRA can be
overridden by the verdicts
of lay juries under state law
across a wide array of regu-
lated pesticides,” the organi-
zation argued.
Aside from the question
of federal pre-emption, the
9th Circuit ruled that expert
testimony regarding the link
between glyphosate and can-
cer was properly admitted in
the lawsuit.
The original punitive
damages awarded by the jury
were “grossly excessive,”
but the reduced amount
didn’t violate Monsanto’s
due process rights, the rul-
ing said.
“Ultimately,
evidence
of Monsanto’s conduct —
downplaying concerns and
failing to fully assess Round-
up’s safety after being alerted
to possible risks — supports
that Monsanto acted with
‘indiff erence to or a reck-
less disregard of the health
or safety of others,’” the 9th
Circuit said, citing case law.
Capital Press File
Members of Congress are asking the attorney general to provide an update on the
investigation of major meatpacking companies.
Lawmakers urge movement
on meatpacker investigation
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
On Monday, 16 mem-
bers of Congress prodded
Attorney General Merrick
Garland to update them on
the investigation into the
four meatpackers that dom-
inate the U.S. market.
Sen. John Thune and
Rep. Dusty Johnson, both
R-S.D., led 14 of their col-
leagues in urging Garland
to continue the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice investiga-
tion into the meatpackers.
The letter also requested
that DOJ update Congress
on the probe, according to a
press release from Johnson.
Nearly a year ago, DOJ
sent civil investigation
demands to the meatpack-
ers, but no results have
been made public.
In fact, the lawmakers
said in the letter, there is
no information to even sug-
gest whether the investiga-
tion has concluded.
“It is critically important
that producers have fair and
transparent markets for the
commodities they produce.
We urge the DOJ Antitrust
Division to continue vigi-
lance and where possible
ers face signifi cant busi-
ness challenges, said Ethan
Lane, NCBA vice president
of government aff airs.
They are contending
with high market volatil-
ity, drought and high input
costs, and they can’t cap-
ture the value they deserve
for the high-quality product
they supply, he said.
There’s a large supply
of cattle at one end and a
high demand for U.S. beef
at the other, but the middle
is being choked by the lack
of processing capacity, he
said.
“It’s in the best interests
of both producers and con-
sumers for the Department
of Justice to get to the bot-
tom of the current market
dynamics and assess why
they seemingly always
result in producers getting
the short end of the deal,”
he said.
“Cattle
producers
deserve to know whether or
not the price disparity that
has plagued our market is
the result of anti-compet-
itive or other inappropri-
ate practices in the packing
sector,” he said.
NCBA hopes to see
results from the attorney
general soon, he said.
provide updates of fi nd-
ings,” the lawmakers said.
They cited the mar-
ket disruption from a 2019
fi re at a beef processing
plant in Kansas and pan-
demic-disrupted markets
and plant closures. Huge
spreads between fed cat-
tle prices and the price of
boxed beef sprang from
those events.
“With a tight supply
chain, any change in pro-
cessing capacity can have
a dramatic impact on cattle
prices, preventing produc-
ers from capturing margin
from boxed beef rallies,”
the lawmakers said.
In May of 2020, former
President Donald Trump
asked DOJ to investigate
the large price disparities.
“While black swan
events do not always prove
wrongdoing,
additional
attention can reinforce con-
fi dence in the system,” the
lawmakers said.
National
Cattlemen’s
Beef Association hopes the
lawmakers’ request will
be met at DOJ with the
urgency it warrants.
Despite strong consumer
demand and the economy
reopening across much of
the country, cattle produc-
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