COUNCIL BANS INSERTION OF HATE FLIERS.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Upset by a series of incidents in which racist fliers were slipped into the packaging of products in Los Angeles supermarkets, the City Council approved a measure Tuesday prohibiting such tampering.

Under the ordinance adopted by the council, it will be a misdemeanor to insert any writing into the packaging of a product offered for sale without the permission of the store where it is sold.

City officials said the ordinance applies to all written material, to avoid the problem of determining what constitutes hate mail.

Ann Bradley of the American Civil Liberties Union said her group would not oppose the enforcement of laws prohibiting product tampering.

"The First Amendment doesn't give me the right to tamper with a product," Bradley said, adding that there is a public safety issue involved in tampering laws.

However, she questioned whether the new city law is necessary, given the existence of state and federal tampering laws.

City Councilman Joel Wachs of Studio City proposed the measure after receiving complaints from constituents who found literature containing racial cartoons and statements in cereal and snack food packages.

Wachs said existing state law prohibits tampering with packages in ways that break the seal on the product, but added that hate fliers are being slipped under the lids of boxes without breaking the seal.

"This is going to close a loophole that exists in state law, which has made it impossible for the police to prosecute people who put hate mail in packaging in stores," Wachs said.