Coalition Works to Block Food Disparagement Laws

VUNA VIEWS - July 1998

Coalition Works to Block Food Disparagement Laws

--by Judy Miner

While people who believe in free and open discussion of food-safety issues welcome the verdict clearing Howard Lyman and Oprah Winfrey of libel, they are not yet out of the woods, as the cattle ranchers are appealing the verdict and beef-industry groups are threatening and bringing more lawsuits. No court has yet ruled on the constitutionality of food defamation statutes, which must eventually be decided by the US Supreme Court on first-amendment grounds.

A broad coalition of free-speech advocates, writers and publishers, environmental groups, organic farming, health, food-safety, and public interest organizations, and animal-protection groups has formed Foodspeak, the Coalition for Free Speech. Their Web site at http://www.cspinet.org/foodspeak/ contains continually updated information on food disparagement laws and legal challenges to them, as well as links to in-depth information. Thirteen states have food defamation laws on the books, and the American Farm Bureau Federation is working to get more laws enacted in many other states.

As stated by Ronald Collins and Paul McMasters in a March 23 Legal Times article, "In the vast majority of the states with food disparagement statutes, food critics may be held to legal account if they cannot substantiate their claims by 'reliable scientific inquiry, facts, or data.'" The obvious question is who determines what constitutes reliable scientific inquiry, facts, or data? And what if the point of the criticism is to instigate such inquiry where it is lacking? Collins and McMasters point out that "food disparagement laws encourage lawsuits designed to intimidate food critics by the mere threat of we-can-bankrupt-you litigation, replete with gag orders from cooperative judges." To find out how to get involved in the campaign against "veggie libel" laws, visit the Foodspeak Web site or write to Ronald Collins, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20009.

Maintained by Judy Miner jwminer@accessvt.com