Lincoln – Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led 18 States in asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enact a rule that would create uniform labeling requirements across the country and preempt California’s Prop 65. Last summer, a coalition of States led by Nebraska and Iowa proposed the very uniform labeling rule that the EPA is now considering. Currently, States can require manufacturers to label products with health information that is inconsistent with the EPA’s findings about a product’s health effects. California’s Prop 65 requires manufacturers to label products containing glyphosate as likely carcinogenic even though the EPA has concluded the herbicide does not present a risk to human health.
“California is trying to impose its ideologically driven views on essential farming products on the rest of the country,” said Attorney General Hilgers. “Our request of the EPA is to institute a common-sense uniform labeling rule that will advance the rule of law, lift regulatory burdens on farmers and industry, and ensure that California doesn’t dictate labeling rules for the rest of the United States,” stated Attorney General Mike Hilgers.
The current system of patchwork labeling requirements has led to needless, years-long litigation. It has also left manufacturers and farmers unsure about their legal obligations and the health effects of certain products. Since the states proposed the uniform labeling rule last summer, the federal courts of appeals have reached different conclusions about how manufacturers are required to label their products. The states’ proposed rule would clear up the confusion around labeling requirements and help keep the costs of farming down.
In addition to Attorney General Hilgers, attorneys general from the following states joined the petition for rulemaking: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
