Over the objection of domestic producers, a U.S. trade commission has removed anti-dumping duties that had been imposed on Brazilian imports:
The United States on Wednesday said it will eliminate an anti-dumping duty on some orange juice from Brazil, alarming U.S. citrus growers.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), by a 6-0 vote, found that revoking the measure would “not be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.”
A major Florida orange growers' group did not agree.
“Florida Citrus Mutual is extremely disappointed with this decision and we will review next steps including an appeal,” Michael Sparks, who leads the group, said in a statement.
Credit: Marcos Issa / Bloomberg
Heath advocates may also have cause for concern. The FDA recently halted orange juice imports when a fungicide was detected:
On Monday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to halt all imports of orange juice into the U.S. after a juice manufacturer alerted the agency to small amounts of an illegal fungicide in both their products and those of competitors.
The decision immediately raised prices of orange juice futures, but left a more pressing question unanswered — is it safe to drink OJ?
According to the FDA, the Coca-Cola company, which makes Minute Maid and Simply Orange, notified the agency on December 28 that some Brazilian growers of oranges that are used in the company’s juices had sprayed their trees with carbendazim. Carbendazim is used in some countries to control a fungal infection in crop plants. “In the United States, however, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not approved carbendazim for use as a fungicide on oranges, nor has it established a tolerance or an exemption from the need for tolerance for carbendazim in orange juice in the United States,” wrote an FDA official in a letter to the Juice Products Association alerting the industry to the concern. About one in six glasses of orange juice consumed in the U.S. is produced by Brazil, according to CitrusBR, a Brazilian industry association.
A backlash over links between carbendazim and birth defects caused it to be banned in the U.S.:
THE chemical linked with fish abnormalities and a possible cancer cluster on the Sunshine Coast has been at the centre of a storm over genetic defects in children born overseas.
Manufacturer DuPont withdrew its fungicide Benlate from the US market in 2001 after it was forced to defend hundreds of law suits over the product's link with serious health issues, including a child who was born without eyes.
In 2000, DuPont was ordered to pay Ecuadorian shrimp farmers more than $US10 million after Benlate run-off from banana plantations contaminated water supplies and poisoned shrimp stocks.
Benomyl, the active ingredient in Benlate products, breaks down when sprayed and produces a fungicide, carbendazim, which Sunshine Coast macadamia farmers use.