US Panama Free Trade Agreement
Posted by Lee on April 23, 2007
I have been wondering about the entire US Panama Free trade agreement since it was announced, like so many other issues about which I have no control it vanished from my daily processing. Then I received the following email routed from Price Peterson, a long term Boquete resident.
“In view of the stories coming out about tainted US produced peanut butter, spinach, and now pet foods, I thought the following might be of interest.
As part of the pending Free Trade Agreement between the US and Panama, Panama was required to accept a side agreement that they would waive all sanitary requirements for US products and accept all US health and sanitary certifications without further testing or certification by Panama authorities. Initially, this was considered such an abrogation of Panamanian sovereignty that the then Minister of Agriculture resigned rather than sign such an agreement. His successor had no such qualms. So the agreement now exists and will come into effect if the Free trade agreement is ratified by the US Senate before Mr. Bush loses his ‘fast track’ authority.
As a result, Panama will have no recourse in the future but to accept all these great healthy products from the US.
The full text (in English) of the agreement on accepting US certification is at
http://webserv-mida.mida.gob.pa/MIDA/asset_upload_file186_10241.pdf
regards,
Price”
This agreement itself covers much more than agricultural inspections but this is a wonderful entree into discussing more of the document.
First a focus on the point raised by Price and the point raised in his subsequent email to me. That this particular document is free standing and might well apply even if the US Congress fails to approve the trade agreement as a whole.
What does this means to Panama?
In Chiriqui we have the opportunity to eat excellent food grown in this provence. I suspect that some immigrants here came for the quality of food a major component of the quality of life.
These are some things I have observed in domestic food production in Panama that contrast to domestic food production in the United States. (Caveat I am not an expert in food production so please comment if you disagree of know more than I do)
Pork: Pigs in Panama are grown in the open not penned and caged. They are not feed antibiotic laden feed as in the US.
Beef: Beef in Panama is free range grass feed. I speculate antibiotics are used only to treat specific diseases not added to feed. Cattle are not crowded together into feed lots where disease is rampant; more here. In the US we pay a premium for free range beef here it is all beef, except what is imported from the US.
Harris Ranch, California photo taken by the Sacramento Bee
Chicken and eggs: Much the same as pork. In the US chickens with the exception of those called free range are crowded in the cages and raised on antibiotic laden feed and never see the light of day.
Here we do have choices, if you visit a Toledano farm here in the Boquete area the chickens are what in the US is called free range; caged in massive buildings not cages. If you raise your own or find a Pollo de Patio they roam free until they meet their fate as dinner. Eggs of course come first or second depending upon your feeling in the chicken or the egg theory of life; still not from caged antibiotic feed birds.
Dairy: I know just a little thanks to Lamar and Laura at Las Estrellas. Dairy cattle roam free, eat grass and receive some supplemental feed with minerals. The grass is fertilized with their manure and antibiotics are given only if necessary.
Las Estrellas, Portorillos, Panama
In other words the dairy is pretty close to organic. No hormones to increase milk production, not overcrowded or caged in milking stalls.
Thanks to Farm Sanctuary for the images that are NOT from Panama
Vegetables: I wish I could say that what we buy in the market is pesticide free, it is not. A single visit to Cerra Punta on a spray day requires a respirator. I can say with impunity that the vegetables are fresh and not breed to survive a tortuous trip to market but actually have taste. Even better if you have a few square meters you can grow your own in this land of perpetual spring.
The reality is our local foods are better raised, better tasting and healthier than those from up north. A visit to most market will establish food are well maintained for retail sale.
Some Tales from the Mother Country:
Spinach and other vegetables contaminated with E coli. I used to eat Dole Baby spinach in “prewashed bags” before I moved to Panama. So did these people.
“SANTA CRUZ, Calif., April 22 — The companies that grew, processed and marketed contaminated spinach that led to a nationwide E. coli outbreak last year have settled lawsuits in the deaths of three women.
The lawyer for the families of Ruby Trautz, 81, of Bellevue, Neb.; Betty Howard, 83, of Richland, Wash.; and June Dunning, 86, of Hagerstown, said the women died after eating fresh spinach bagged under the Dole label.
“They just didn’t die immediately after eating it, but they got sick,” said Bill Marler. “But there’s no question that it came from Dole baby spinach, or else there wouldn’t have been a settlement.”
Federal officials announced a recall of bagged fresh spinach last September, as nearly 200 people were sickened after eating the leafy greens processed by Natural Selections LLC under a number of labels, including Dole.
Inspectors eventually traced the E. coli strain to cattle or wild pig feces found in the San Benito County spinach fields of Mission Organics, which grew the spinach.” Washington Post
In the US, one of the larger exporters of Wheat in the world, pet foods were contaminated by melamine treated wheat gluten imported from China?
“WASHINGTON — Imported ingredients used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally spiked with an industrial chemical to boost their apparent protein content, U.S. federal officials said.
That is one theory being pursued by the Food and Drug Administration as it investigates how the chemical, melamine, contaminated at least two ingredients used to make more than 100 brands of dog and cat foods.” Fox News Some of these foods did come to Panama.
I can go on with examples of E coli in beef, Peanut butter recalls etc.
My Conclusion
I need to respectfully disagree with Price; inspection is not the sole issue. I doubt that an inspection in Panama will uncover toxins in food until it is too late any more than a USDA or FDA inspection in the US can. I think the problem is broader; should food products from the US be allowed into Panama duty free?
The duty on food imports makes them too expensive for many Panama residents. With the duty lifted can local farmers, dairy producers, beef producers etc compete with Conagra, Tyson, ADM and the masses of factory producers in the US? I doubt it. If they cannot and US eggs, poultry, beans and rice etc be sold for less than local production local people will by US products. This is of course the US goal.
US foods will appear on the grocery shelves for lower prices than domestic production or with better marketing and competitive prices. Local farmers will lose market share and like most US family farms be forced out of business. Small local farmers and employees of domestic farms will not be able to afford to purchase any food at all.
The outcome will be greater unemployment, poorer quality of food and a very negative effect for Panama. Just look at what has happened to family farms in the USA. In addition the quality of food and life in Panama will suffer beyond any benefits I can see.
What do you think?
Comments
10 Responses to “US Panama Free Trade Agreement”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
Are you sure that US made items will be cheaper that Panamanian made items. I am little confused sine the Panamanian canned goods are cheaper than what I pay in the US for similar items. The US companies will not have to pay duty, but they will have quite a tranportation bill.
As for beef or other meat. Panamanian meat is far cheaper than what is paid in the US. How can US beef be cheaper with the transportation costs. Won’t the meat imported from the US have to be frozen?
I don’t know how this all works. I am asking.
Editor:
Beef might be less expensive but chicken, eggs, pork and many processed foods are not. As to freight I suspect that some items already move from coast to coast through a local canal, I could be wrong about this also.
I am no expert on Argra finance but one of the games of international sales is dumping product. John D Rockefeller made Standard Oil by moving into a new market and selling below cost until all local competitors were out of business and then raised his prices into profitable ranges. Even if it illegal under international law, if Tyson for example decided to own the Panama Chicken and egg market they could in theory do it and once finally ordered to stop would be the last hen house standing.
I would have to dissagree with you about the cost of eggs chicken and pork. They are all cheaper than what I was paying in the US. Even on sale I couldn’t get chicken breasts for $1 a pound. As for transportation of livestock. I find it difficult to believe that nay US livestock used for food in the US is sent through the canal. Most of the livestock is raised in the center of the country.
Editor: As I said I cannot be sure on shipping. In Arizona, where we came from Chicken, pork, eggs, rice, beans and dairy were less expensive than in Boquete. Still the bottom line is if this passes and if a US producer decides to own the market, they will own it. One of the major reasons this agreement was delayed is because the Panama agriculture industry objected strenuously. http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=6749
I would be more concerned on what effect the US push to manufacture ethanol from corn will have on prices, both in Panama and the US. $5-6.00 a bushell corn is NOT a good thing for the majority of people in either country. I can’t believe that Tysons care anything about the Panamaian market (or most other US manufacturers for that matter). The cost to import “fresh” food to Panama will keep US imports above Panamaian prices. Rice may be another story. And what about the corn to feed the Panamanian chickens? Most of it now comes from the US no?
I am against the free trade agreement with the US for all the reasons you mentioned. The foods here are much better than US foods, let’s leave it that way. The quality of food in Panama is one of the reasons I left the US. I certainly do not want US food sold here. Not to mention what it would do the the Panamanian farmers.
Bob
Can you tell me whether the law requires the pasteurization of milk and milk products in Panama?
I have been looking for a website regarding a article recently issued on purchasing property in Panama. It states that new/current residents will now have to pay taxes that in the past have been waived and that new develpoers are now relunctant to continue to build for any new comers? Is this something that raises interest to any of my neighbors in the Boquete area?
Please write your our Members of Congress to stop globalization. It’s bad for the farmer in entire developing world.
i believe meat cost to much
Adopting the FDA rules will introduce an endless list of requirements including
- sanitary standards for life stock,
- sanitary standards for production facilities,
- mandatory medication that can only be purchased from international companies at what ever they charge, and must be applied if needed or not, leading to a week immune system, which than will for sure run up the medical cost.
- Only FDA approved sod and fertilizer may be used, which could very well make absolutely healthy seeds an illegal product that must be destroyed. Start patenting the seeds now, if you still can. This line comes with best regards of MONSANTO, the company you would most likely have to buy seeds and fertilizer from.
- packaging requirements will add more cost and require pricey equipment
- registration requirement for a farmer to bring their own food to the market. Cost and red tape have discouraged US farmers to sell their own food
- Limitations on what you can produce for self-consumption, before you fall into the regulations of the FDA, making you a criminal for eating your own food.
- size standards may make it illegal to call this tasty apple food, if it falls through the measure table. And don’t you dare to offer this “non food” for sale.
- inspections for which the farmer has to pay
- mandatory improvements resulting from inspections
- hefty fines for violations of FDA requirements
- record keeping (every piece of life stock traceable and accounted for.
Where it all comes down to is the fact that these requirements will far exceed the means of small and medium size businesses, resulting in bankruptcy nearly as a default.
Once the regulations have killed the very last farmer that knows how to grow and produce relatively natural food, it’s a no contest for the international companies to establish their corporate models in Panama and charge what ever the market will bear. One thing is for certain, it will be higher than today’s prices. And if there is no local competition, it can possibly be much higher than the prices in the US.
The Tyson’s of this world will either increase US production and put the freight cost on top. Or a very small number of rich local farmers will be allowed spend all their money to build corporate standard compliant facilities on their own dime and slave for them. Not much labor needed. The slightest failure will nullify the contract, leaving the farmer with useless 200 Meter buildings on the lot and no way to ever recover the investment.
How can anybody think that a system that destroyed the values for the people in America can do any good for the people in Panama? FDA is good for large corporations and politicians.
By the way the FDA also requires all kids to be exposed to mandatory medication (shots) as a prerequisite to be allowed to visit a school. Don’t believe for a moment that their reach ends with animals.
And of course, if the FDA ever finds, that for any reason it would be advisable, they will issue regulations that make it mandatory to carry an implanted RFID chip, which than can be used to track our every moves. When the issue comes out it will be denied, that it will ever be used that way, but the fact is, if it can be used for that, it will be used for that. I would nearly bet that this is the main reason why the US has such an interest to push FDA rules into Panama. You are free to think what you want and kiss you freedoms away when it happens. For my part, I pray to be wrong, I just don’t have a track record of being wrong on those things.
My personal opinion: As a rule of thumb, entities carrying a 3/4 letter acronym do not work for the benefit of the people.