Bill Description: Senate Bill 1310 would require manufacturers to label any product containing or developed using human fetal tissue.
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Does it promote the breakdown of the traditional family or the deconstruction of societal norms? Examples include promoting or incentivizing degeneracy, violating parental rights, and compromising the innocence of children. Conversely, does it protect or uphold the structure, tenets, and traditional values of Western society?
Senate Bill 1310 would create Chapter 69, Title 39, Idaho Code, to require that “all products that use any ingredients or additives that have been subjected to the use of human fetal tissue in the testing or production phase shall include explicit labeling indicating inclusion of human fetal tissue in the research, production, or development of the product.”
The bill further says that this requirement applies to “any vaccination or medical product that includes human fetal tissue and shall apply to products where testing was performed on the final product, or its components or materials, or to the specific production lot or batch of the product, or its components or materials.”
To the extent that this bill would require manufacturers to disclose what information they have about the use of human fetal tissue to the end consumer, it is consistent with upholding traditional values. Many people have deeply held religious and moral beliefs about this matter and take great pains to avoid using or consuming products containing or developed using human fetal tissue.
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Does it give government any new, additional, or expanded power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate activities in the free market? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce government intervention in the market?
Unfortunately, the construction of this bill would effectively require manufacturers to label products with information they might not have, yet they could face severe penalties even for unintentional omissions.
The bill says, “Manufacturers shall be strictly liable for a violation” of the labeling requirement, but “retailers shall be liable only if they had actual knowledge that the product required labeling … and failed to do so.”
The standard applied to retailers here is reasonable; it requires that they have actual knowledge that the product requires labeling. But manufacturers are provided no such grace.
While most manufacturers would probably know if their product contained human fetal tissue, it is unreasonable to assume that they would know exactly how every ingredient, component, or material involved in making the final product was originally researched or produced. Some relevant research may have taken place in years past or in other countries, and the exact processes may not have been reliably tracked or recorded.
Moreover, if a final product contains commercially available ingredients that might contain human fetal tissue, but which come from a state or country with no labeling mandate, how could the manufacturer accurately label the final product?
Many medications (including OTC drugs like Tylenol and Aspirin), cosmetics, and even certain foods and flavorings have been developed over the years using research and testing that included derived cell lines such as HEK-293 (created in 1973). Under the terms of this bill, all such products would potentially require a disclosure label.
Enforcement would be handled by the Attorney General, who “may bring an action to obtain injunctive relief and civil penalties of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) per violation or up to five percent (5%) of the gross revenue derived from the sale of the violating product in this state while such sales were in violation.”
The bill also says, “It shall not be an affirmative defense that the manufacturer or retailer is not based in this state.” It is unclear how manufacturers or retailers in other states (or even foreign countries) would even know this labeling requirement exists.
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