Congress's right-wing assault on consumers

Today's San Jose Mercury News: Congress' assault on consumer laws must not stand. Legislation aims to undermine strong state laws.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a noxious piece of legislation this week that would obliterate decades-old food health and safety protections in California and around the nation.

A model of special-interest legislation, the bill is called the National Uniformity for Food Act. A more honest moniker would be the Bring Back Arsenic in Water Act or the Bring Back Lead in Supplements and Candy Act. The Senate should show better sense and dump this bill in the trash.

The bill would gut virtually all state food-safety standards that are more protective than federal regulations. More than 150 laws in 50 states would be eliminated. Its biggest target may well be California's Proposition 65, which voters passed in 1986 to require warning labels on products containing ingredients that may cause cancer or birth defects. ...