UNITED STATES.
BEFORE WE BEGIN..
CNN reported Jan 20 that in one of his first actions, President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had sent a memo to all federal departments to halt the implementation of rules issued during the final days of the Bush Administration.
The halt would allow for a full review by the Obama Administration, according to the CNN report. Key among those rules for agriculture are the final rule on mandatory country-of-origin labeling on meat and other food products and the Food and Drug Administration’s rule on genetically engineered animals -- both of which were issued last week.