Bill to Study ‘Veggie Libel’

Re your Aug. 20 story on “veggie libel” laws: State Sen. Jim Costa’s (D-Fresno) proposal that would require the state Department of Food and Agriculture to study the economic impact of citizens’ comments regarding food safety is part of a push by agribusiness lobbyists in Sacramento to pass a so-called “food disparagement” law. The purpose of such laws is to muzzle people’s concerns about food safety and protect corporate profits, not to ensure healthy food.

The most pernicious aspect of this bill is that it allows agribusiness to finance the study of this issue, which then could be used as the primary justification for passing a law criminalizing the dissemination of negative information about food. Under such “veggie libel” statutes, anyone who warned consumers about the danger of pesticide residues in food, or “mad cow” disease, could be sued for libel by the food industry, having a chilling effect on the free flow of information in the public interest. Even proponents of organic produce could be threatened if they imply that organically grown food is healthier than produce grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

JOHN P. LLOYD

Sierra Madre

* Just when I began to think that things couldn’t get any more stupid, up pops something that pushes idiocy to the next absurd level. This time it is the attempt by the state of California to criminalize the false denigration of fruits and vegetables--”veggie libel.” Now even vegetables have civil rights!

KEVIN B. POWELL

Torrance