Dick Durbin on Food Safety

Dick Durbin on Food Safety


Food Safety


I have been fighting for improved food safety standards for more than ten years. The recent recalls of tainted peanut butter, spinach, seafood, and pet food are only the latest examples of today's broken food safety system. Authority for regulating our nation's food supply is split among more than ten federal agencies. Most of these agencies lack the resources necessary to ensure the integrity of the food we consume.

I am working to secure increased resources for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food safety program, and I am the lead sponsor of several pieces of legislation designed to improve our food safety system. Among these bills is the Safe Food Act, which would streamline our food safety structure, improving coordination by combining the disparate food safety functions spread across the federal government into a single agency based on scientific principles. We also need to establish a robust system for overseeing the safety of imported food. I introduced legislation to strengthen the FDA's ability to monitor and inspect goods that enter the U.S. from abroad by imposing a fee on companies and countries exporting food products to the U.S. Consumers often take for granted that the food they purchase will be safe whether it originated in the U.S. or was imported, but the standards of other countries and the lack of U.S. food inspectors monitoring imported food too often proves them wrong.

Brazil ups the ante on sugarcane ethanol

WASHINGTON, DC - As Earth Day approaches and Americans seek out environmentally friendly energy sources, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) today launched an expansive national awareness campaign to explain sugarcane ethanol's benefits.UNICA's education campaign will include a new website, SweeterAlternative.com, online, print and radio advertising, new research and a high-profile partnership with the Indy Racing League.

"We hope the Sweeter Alternative campaign will help Americans understand how sugarcane ethanol is a clean and affordable renewable fuel that could help them save money at the pump, cut U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and improve the environment," said UNICA's Chief Representative in North America, Joel Velasco.

Sugarcane ethanol is a renewable fuel produced from sugarcane, which is grown in the United States, Brazil and more than 100 countries. Like other forms of ethanol, it can be added to gasoline and used in all American vehicles at blends up to 10 percent ethanol. The Sweeter Alternative education campaign will highlight three key benefits of sugarcane ethanol:

• Energy Security. Sugarcane ethanol is one more good option for diversifying energy supplies and improving U.S. energy security, so Americans are not reliant on any one source or country.
• Economic. Americans could save about a dollar per fill-up off the price of regular gasoline by expanding the use of sugarcane ethanol. At an average price of $0.50 less per gallon than corn ethanol, sugarcane ethanol is one of the least expensive renewable fuels available.
• Environmental. Sugarcane ethanol cuts greenhouse gases by at least 60 percent compared to gasoline - better than any other biofuel widely produced today. The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed sugarcane ethanol's superior environmental performance earlier this year by designating it an "advanced renewable fuel." This important category of biofuels will make up 21 billion gallons of America's fuel supply by 2020, or about 15 percent of today's gasoline market.

Most sugarcane ethanol is currently produced in Brazil, a South American country with a democratically elected government and a long-standing trade relationship with the United States. Brazil has replaced more than half of its gasoline needs with sugarcane ethanol - making gasoline the alternative fuel in that country. Many observers point to Brazil's experience as a case study for other nations seeking to expand the use of renewable fuels.

"Unfortunately, Americans cannot fully benefit from this clean, less expensive alternative while Congress continues to maintain trade barriers against imported ethanol," Velasco continued. The U.S. government currently imposes a $0.54-per-gallon tariff on ethanol from most foreign countries, making sugarcane ethanol practically unavailable in the United States. By contrast, imported oil enters America duty free. The 54-cent import tax on ethanol will expire at the end of this year.

Last week, Brazil took an important first step to build an open and global biofuels marketplace by eliminating its tariff on imported ethanol through the end of 2011. UNICA is asking the Brazilian government to make the tariff elimination permanent if Congress will do the same and drop the U.S. tax on imported ethanol.

"Consumers win when businesses have to compete in an open market, because competition produces higher quality products at lower costs. The same principle holds true for the renewable fuels market where competition will create a race to the future and generate better alternatives for consumers. Americans will benefit from having the sweeter alternative - sugarcane ethanol - available as an option at the pump," Velasco concluded.