Feds to Stop Calling Midget Raisins ‘Midget’

Feds to Stop Calling Midget Raisins ‘Midget’ | Washington Free Beacon:
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a regulation on Thursday to stop referring to midget raisins as “midget” after an activist group called the term offensive.
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) issued the proposed rule, announcing the U.S. “Standards for Grades of Processed Raisins” would eliminate all five times the word midget is used. Midget has long been used to describe the differences in sizes of California raisins.
“The action would clarify AMS grade standards by eliminating the use of the term ‘midget,’ while consistently using the term ‘small’ for raisins graded in that category,” the USDA said in the proposed rule.
...The government said the change was prompted by a request from the Little People of America, a nonprofit membership organization for people of short stature.
The group wants to eliminate the word “midget” from society, and zeroed in on the raisin classification, although they said it was a benign use of the term.
...Removing the word midget is the first regulatory action taken by the USDA regarding raisins since the Supreme Court sided against them in June, ruling that they can no longer seize raisins from producers to make prices go up, striking down a New Deal-era program in the process."