DeLauro Challenges USTR on Seafood Import Regs Under TPP
Increased trade through the Trans-Pacific Partnership would further weaken the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of seafood imports, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., in a March 9 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here). DeLauro demanded an explanation from USTR on how the Obama administration aims to make sure FDA will have enough funding to protect Americans from harmful seafood imports, particularly from Vietnam and Malaysia. Those countries fall far short of U.S. regulatory standards, and the FDA has turned back hundreds of Vietnamese and Malaysian seafood shipments over the past year, said DeLauro.
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Even at the current level of seafood imports, the U.S. regulatory system can’t inspect nearly enough shipments, she said. “The volume of seafood imports has doubled over the past twenty years,” she said. “However our border inspection has not kept pace with this trend. Fewer than two percent of seafood imports are physically inspected at the border.” DeLauro said she raised these concerns, and others, in a late March briefing with Froman and other top cabinet officials, but the administration hasn't so far responded.
The FDA already lacks funding to fully implement the Food Safety Modernization Act, DeLauro added. The agency is still developing its FSMA regulations, including the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, the prevention of intentional adulteration, and preventative controls for food, and FDA officials will hold a stakeholder hearing in late February over that implementation (see 1503230023).
Proposals for the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism in TPP would also jeopardize U.S. regulations by allowing companies to sue the U.S. for threats to “future profit,” said DeLauro. “It is difficult enough for FDA to find and shut down the bad actors in our current food supply,” she said. “We should not lock ourselves into an international agreement that will deter our regulatory agencies from making necessary improvements and adjustments to protect our food supply.” A group of legal scholars rejected the argument that ISDS permits litigation strictly over profit losses in a recent letter to congressional leadership (see 1504080052). The investment mechanism, as shown through a recent TPP leak (see 1503260017), only allows legal challenges that involve discrimination against foreign investment, said the scholars.