NO NEED FOR SPECIAL PROTECTION FOR FARMERS

It isn't often this newspaper finds itself in agreement with organizations like the Sierra Club. But when it comes to a proposed Missouri law aimed at heaping extra punishment on anyone who "defames" farmers or their products, freedom of speech is seriously imperiled.

Call it the "Oprah Law," if you will. The well-known TV talk show hostess, Oprah Winfrey, is defending herself in a Texas lawsuit after saying on the air that she would never eat another hamburger after the outbreak in England of mad-cow disease.

There are plenty of laws regarding defamation, slander and libel already on the books. The effort to make the punishment more severe in cases involving farmers is little more than a knee-jerk reaction to one highly publicized incident in another state.

What next? Special laws to protect used-car dealers, phone companies or newspapers from being the butt of some heartfelt spewing?

Let Missourians have their free speech, whether it is hamburgers or hat boxes they want to sound off about. And if Oprah's comment caused Texas cattle futures to take a dive, how do you explain the still-strong sales of Big Macs and Whoppers?