Group Forms To Beat
"Veggie Libel" Laws

WASHINGTON — A coalition that includes consumer gadfly Ralph Nader, fellow attention-grabbing activists and a journalists' group is embarking on a campaign to overturn or block "veggie libel" laws like the one Texas cattlemen tried to use to sue Oprah Winfrey.

The new Foodspeak Coalition claims the laws on the books in 13 states and pending in many others are intended to muzzle vigorous public debate about food safety and protect the profits of the food industry and agricultural interests.

"It seems corporations want to do what King George, foreign dictators and bad political bosses were unable to do; that is, shut up the American people," Nader told reporters last week.

The laws arose after apple growers unsuccessfully sued CBS' "60 Minutes" over a 1989 segment about alleged health effects of the spray Alar. The Alar scare turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by an environmental activist group, but apple growers who lost millions of dollars during the scare lost their court battle because of lax product disparagement laws written with non-perishable products in mind.

Farmers and food companies quickly mobilized after the loss to push for more appropriate protection against unsubstantiated claims that can scare consumers and cost producers millions of dollars almost overnight.

In the Winfrey case, Texas cattle producers demonstrated that false and inflammatory comments on her popular television talk show about so-called "mad cow" disease triggered a drop in cattle futures prices. A federal judge forced them at the last minute to try their case under the same sort of laws that failed the apple growers, but Winfrey has been sued again in a Texas state court.

The anti-producer coalition includes the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Science in the Public Interest, an outfit that has generated scare campaigns against everything from popcorn to Mexican food.

States with "veggie libel" laws are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.