Two U.S. senators recently introduced legislation to amend a government program so it recognizes forest products as biobased materials.
Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced the Forest Products Fairness Act of 2012 on April 25. The amendment would change the definition of biobased materials in the USDA's Biobased Markets Program, which was established in the 2002 Farm Bill to help consumers identify and use biobased products. Products with as little as 25 percent biobased content are recognized under the program's current implementation guidelines, while many traditional wood products that have up to 100 percent biobased content are not, according to the American Wood Council.
"I applaud Sens. Pryor and Blunt for recognizing and taking steps to correct a blatant deficiency with the USDA's Biobased Markets Program," said American Wood Council President Robert Glowinski. "It's difficult to imagine how some wood products could have been excluded from the program in the first place since they are all made from biobased sources."
If enacted, the new bill would recognize forest products as biobased and ensure a competitive marketplace for all products with biobased content, including wood. After it was read on the Senate floor, the bill was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
