http://vtdigger.org/2012/03/20/bill-would-mandate-home-efficiency-disclosure/

Lawmakers ask FDA to mandate labels on genetically modified food

Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter

Published: Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Fifty-five lawmakers yesterday called on the Food and Drug Administration to require food makers to label their product if it contains genetically engineered ingredients.

In a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, the lawmakers — 54 Democrats and one Republican — said the current labeling protocols are "inadequate" for so-called GE, or genetically modified, products.

"We urge you to fully review the facts, law, and science, and side with the American public by requiring the labeling of genetically engineered foods as is done in nearly 50 countries throughout the world," the lawmakers, led by Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), wrote in a letter. "FDA has a clear opportunity to protect a consumer’s right to know, the freedom to choose what we feed our families, and the integrity of our free and open markets with this petition."

Specifically, they are asking the FDA to adopt a legal petition submitted by more than 500 public health organizations and companies such as Stonyfield Farm that calls for a labeling requirement.

The JustLabelIt.org campaign submitted the proposal in October, and the public comment period expires at the end of the month. So far, more than 900,000 comments in support of the measure have been submitted, according to a campaign spokeswoman. The campaign’s goal is 1 million by the deadline.

Polling has shown that Americans, the lawmakers wrote, are surprised that GE foods are not identified on labels and want the government to identify these products.

They also said that labeling doesn’t imply there is anything wrong with the food.

"The FDA requires the labeling of over 3,000 ingredients, additives, and processes; providing basic information doesn’t confuse the public, it empowers them to make choices," they wrote. "Absent labeling, Americans are unable to choose for themselves whether to purchase GE foods."

There are also GE labeling efforts under way in Boxer’s home state of California. Activists are collecting signatures to put a initiative that would require GE labeling on the November ballot (Greenwire, Feb. 16).

The members also said the labeling measure is particularly important as FDA continues its long review of whether to approve a genetically modified Atlantic salmon. If approved, it would be the first biotech animal on U.S supermarket shelves (E&E Daily, Dec. 16, 2011).

Click here to read the letter.

The 2013 Best Grad Schools rankings were released by US News today. Vermont Law School placed among the nation’s top programs in a number of areas, environmental law (ranked 1st), dispute resolution (ranked 16th), and clinical training (ranked 23rd).

The Vermont Law School Board of Trustees announced today the appointment of Marc Mihaly as VLS’s eighth president and dean, effective August 1:

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

It is my great pleasure to announce that, after an eight-month national search, the Board of Trustees has selected Marc Mihaly as the next president and dean of Vermont Law School, effective August 1, 2012. We are confident that he will provide the vision, strategic leadership, and integrity to guide this institution.

Marc, who joined VLS in 2004, is an inspiring leader who grasps the shifting legal landscape. He comes with tremendous institutional knowledge, enabling VLS to react swiftly and strategically. As a proven entrepreneur, fundraiser, and communicator, he will be well positioned to take advantage of new opportunities.

Marc received his BA degree from Harvard College and his JD degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. He is spending the 2011-2012 academic year on sabbatical at the University of Seville School of Law, one of the top-ranked universities in Spain.

A news release will be available shortly. I hope you will join me in warmly welcoming our next president and dean.

Best regards,

Edward C. Mattes, Jr. ’83, Chair
Vermont Law School Board of Trustees

Vermont Law School is seeking a Director for its recently established Center for Agriculture and Food System.

The link to the job description is here:
http://www.vermontlaw.edu/About_VLS/Employment_at_VLS/Director_VLS_Center_for_Agriculture_and_Food_Systems.htm

While I earlier reported that my book was reviewed by Oxford University Press, I have now gotten my hands on the entire review, and am sufficiently excited about the review that I must share the final two paragraphs:

"Czarnezki’s central challenge, therefore, appears to lie in the promotion of ideas that
can generate, first, traction, thence demands for reform and, thereafter, widespread
commitment to securing change. The ultimate message is an endorsement of the
power of law to promote such change: here, specifically, to produce mechanisms that
challenge cultural resistance, as well as making the implications of eco-friendly choices
better understood and (here’s the rub), often both easier and cheaper to boot.

This excellent, provocative book is largely concerned to lay down markers, alert
to both the possibilities and the constraints that regulatory frameworks can offer.
It offers a fund of ideas with which policy makers and environmental lawyers can
usefully engage."

My book Everyday Environmentalism was reviewed in Oxford University Press’ Journal of Environmental Law. It reads:

“The premise underlying this fascinating volume is that public policy can affect individual behaviour; and, more importantly, there is a significant role for government and law to play in addressing the more intractable environmental problems that are driven by aggregate behavioural choices. This requires the development of a new generation of regulatory mechanisms, to shape individual consumption decisions in accord with efforts to change social and cultural norms on grounds of sustainability. The search, therefore, is for not only technical but also cultural solutions, and in this, the overall objective is perhaps an anthropological equivalent of the butterfly effect on hurricanes (by a flapping of wings). Thus, the author emphasises the importance of ‘individual, seemingly insignificant, choices that, taken in the aggregate, can have potentially enormous effects’ (p 1).

There are two introductory chapters. Chapter 1 traces the (New World) exploitation of nature as a matter of ‘manifest destiny’, and its modern day evolution into the bloated modern trends of consumption. The author draws a withering comparison with the ‘wilderness’ writings (Thoreau, Muir, etc) and the loss of an ideal of resource stewardship. The narrative thereafter develops in numerous, separate but inter-locking contexts, concerned with cause and effect implications of an increased cognitive consumer severance from the environment. The reviewer was reminded here of the (hopefully apocryphal) footballer who, when set to play in New Zealand and upon finding his favoured breakfast unavailable, bewailed: ‘How come in a country with eight million sheep you haven’t any bacon!’ Chapter 2 completes the introduction, identifying a range of threats posed by climate change. This, he suggests, offers a ‘unique window for understanding why environmental regulation of cutting-edge problems remains difficult’ (p 14): for cutting-edge, we should surely read ‘chronic’ or, perhaps simply, ‘dire’.”

See here, but unfortunately you need a subscription to see the whole review.

I had heard that Basel is one of the more underrated tourist destinations in Europe. After arriving on the City Night Line train and spending all day walking around, I would certainly agree. The Old Town is fabulous with quiet, winding, small, cobblestone streets and old churches and squares. And our small boutique hotel in Old Town, De Teufelhol Basel, is quite nice. The electric trams on the streets are fantastic. And though I’m annoyed that I bought 2-day tram passes when the hotel gave us a set for free upon arrival, it’s good I did because, like Paris, Basel’s mass transit works on the honor system with undercover plain-clothes transit police looking to give out huge fines for folks without tickets. Guess who magically appeared on the #3 tram, but such an officer ready to give me a $100 fine. (Though I’m now more annoyed do to the following info that I just learned from wikitravel: "All hotels in Basel, including the youth hostel, offer each registered guest a free "Mobility Pass" upon check in. This gives free unlimited travel in Basel and suburbs (including to and from the airport) for the duration of their stay. This is easily worth the price of a lunch every day you stay. If you have written confirmation of a hotel reservation you can also use this to travel from the railway station or airport to your hotel.")

Since my partner keeps encouraging me to write about my travels (though she does a much better job at it), I thought I’d do so. We spent the day in Copenhagen, a lovely city, where last night we simply wandered around the pedestrian-only streets. In walking distance of our hotel (the conveniently located but not too fancy Hotel Danmark), we spent the day at Christiansborg Slot, seeing the Royal Reception Rooms, ruims of the old castle, armory and royal stables. While it was slightly chilly and somewhat rainy, it was a very enjoyable day with the kids.

After living a China for a year, Europe is of such a smaller and lesser crowded scale. I often assume things will be difficult and crowded when they simply aren’t. For example, as I write this I’m on the City Night Light train from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Basel, Switzerland. I assumed the Copenhagen Central Station (København H) would be packed. I was decidedly wrong. A spacious train station with few people, at least compared to China.

On the way to Basel, we’ll pass through essentially all of Denmark and Germany. We currently stopped in Kolding, Denmark. We’re in a four-person sleep couchette. Some tips for train travel thorough Europe: (1) Carry a lot of food and drink with you. But a note: if you love sausage, potatoes, cheese, beer and chocolate, you need not every carry any food as these things are found in great abundance in Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, and on this particular train. (2) Carry cash in many denominations. Shockingly (but maybe not given Germany’s relationship to the Euro), the City Night Line only takes Euros and Swiss Francs, and I had to do a bit of a song and dance when we stopped in Odense to get Danish Kronor from an ATM, and convince someone to let me buy something in Kronor and get change in Euros so I would have Euros on the train. (3) Bring a map of Europe with you so you can see where you are. (4) The lighter you pack the better, something we fail to given that my kids can’t carry all their bags. I can’t wait to say: “You can bring what you can carry.”

In other news, my sabbatical has just hit a turning point, where a feel I finally have the time to simply write. Article paragraphs and grant proposals are being typed with more speed. After this post, I’ll move to work on a article tentatively titled, “Global Environmental Law: Food Safety and China.”

Last week I took the high-speed train to Stockholm to attend a conference on Baltic Salmon, but also to meet with my colleagues from Uppsala University to discuss our upcoming workshop in China on comparative approaches to the intersection of environmental law and public health. While in Sweden, I’m also collaborating with the Uppsala Faculty of Law on comparative research about environmental quality standards and working with Kristianstad University on approaches to using regulation to create more sustainable lifestyles. On the China front, I’m building on this Op-Ed, as well as this one, to further explore FDA involvement in China, consumption, issues of global food security, and some soil and water pollution cases studies in China that impact the food system.

Meanwhile it’s "Sportlov" in Sweden (the "sports week" winter beak). While most Swedes go skiing, we’re taking the kids on a train trek through Europe. (Did I mention that I love train travel?) I’m currently in Copenhagen before we take the overnight train to Basel, Switzerland, which we’ll tour before taking yet another high-speed train to Milan to see friends. After Milan, it’s Zurich. For train geeks out there, I must highly recommend this website. (FWIW, I’m sort of a travel planning geek. My partner keeps insisting that I should start a separate travel blog and advise folks about travel, so if you ever need to find an awesome boutique hotel in Bangkok, family friendly and cheap digs in Hong Kong, or a cute place in the old part of some European city, just let me know. Perhaps in 20 years, my next career will be specialized travel planning.)