Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led an 11-state coalition petitioning 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. 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 presently requires manufacturers to label products containing glyphosate as likely carcinogenic even though the EPA has concluded that the herbicide does not present a risk to human health.
“One State should not be able to impose its ideologically-driven views on essential farming products on the rest of the country,” said Attorney General Hilgers. “If adopted, our proposed rule would streamline the labeling process, dispel consumer confusion, and ensure that those who help put food on our tables can do their jobs without getting caught up in the red tape of 50 separate States. Our proposed rule advances the rule of law and lifts a burden on the farming industry that drives Nebraska’s economy.”
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. The Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, and multiple federal courts of appeals have recognized that the EPA has the power to enact a rule like the one proposed in the petition for rulemaking.
In addition to Attorney General Hilgers, attorneys general from the following States joined the petition for rulemaking: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota.