How Unhelpful
The President giveth, but mostly the President taketh away. Our Dear Leader has promised action on securing the safety of our imported food supply by appointing a cabinet level committee to look into the problem, but has also effectively cut the budget of the Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency created to ensure food safety. An editorial in today's NY Times points to the shell game being played out by the White House.
President Bush took a potentially useful step last week, appointing a cabinet-level committee to find ways to ensure the safety of imported food and other products. But his actions would be a lot more credible if the administration had not been cutting the staff and budget of food safety programs at the Food and Drug Administration while also planning to eliminate half of the agency’s laboratories.
Hearings before a House oversight subcommittee raised serious questions about the F.D.A.’s ability to protect the public against contaminated or adulterated foods. William Hubbard, a former top agency official who consults for a coalition of industry and consumer groups, told the committee that the F.D.A. has lost some 200 food scientists and 700 field inspectors over five years, exactly the wrong direction when food imports are skyrocketing. He also noted that the small budget increase the White House has proposed for food safety next year would be a decrease after accounting for inflation. [Emphasis added]
Congressional hearings have received testimony on the recent spate of questionable food being imported which details the problems. Shippers know which points of entry are the most lax in terms of testing, and also know which private labs the government uses can be bought off. Is it any wonder that even our toothpaste has been adulterated? Yet the only response from the White House has been to promise another committee closely tied to the current regime by its cabinet-level status.
We know what the problems are and some pretty good ideas of how to fix them. We already have an agency, it just needs adquate funding and adequate oversight. This is not rocket science.
President Bush took a potentially useful step last week, appointing a cabinet-level committee to find ways to ensure the safety of imported food and other products. But his actions would be a lot more credible if the administration had not been cutting the staff and budget of food safety programs at the Food and Drug Administration while also planning to eliminate half of the agency’s laboratories.
Hearings before a House oversight subcommittee raised serious questions about the F.D.A.’s ability to protect the public against contaminated or adulterated foods. William Hubbard, a former top agency official who consults for a coalition of industry and consumer groups, told the committee that the F.D.A. has lost some 200 food scientists and 700 field inspectors over five years, exactly the wrong direction when food imports are skyrocketing. He also noted that the small budget increase the White House has proposed for food safety next year would be a decrease after accounting for inflation. [Emphasis added]
Congressional hearings have received testimony on the recent spate of questionable food being imported which details the problems. Shippers know which points of entry are the most lax in terms of testing, and also know which private labs the government uses can be bought off. Is it any wonder that even our toothpaste has been adulterated? Yet the only response from the White House has been to promise another committee closely tied to the current regime by its cabinet-level status.
We know what the problems are and some pretty good ideas of how to fix them. We already have an agency, it just needs adquate funding and adequate oversight. This is not rocket science.
Labels: FDA, Food Safety, Hypocrisy
posted by Diane at 3:48 AM
1 Comments:
Pardon me, may I speak? I will assume conspiracy theory commentary isnt really appreciated and I can't say as I'm not with that to a degree. The "degree" or two I have on reservation relates alot to the phenomena of the quantity of what started out as nearly unbelievable or virtually impossible proclaimations, later to be better understood by more and more people until finally being accepted as correct from the start. That being said, this comes to mind, not from outfield but from an observance and informed vantage. The wheat formica and many many many other sub-standard products are the direct result of American Corporate investment. We've, (and yes I use that loosely because most taxpaying americans have no idea and wouldn't believe it if it was drawn on their garage in crayola), not only shown the asian people what we want done and how to do it but, this administration in particular and it's private sector K-Street lobby twin, have cleared large swaths of liability barriers to assure asian operatives they will not be caught, or if they are they will not suffer any consequence financial or criminal.
Case in point ... Carlisle Group investments puts together nonsense companies for 'chips' and H. W.'s son hawks useless "education" tools such as computer program bufoonery to distribute to loyalists and campaign contributors in educational positions in our country at an astoundingly high dollar which they justify as just money out of the lowly tax-burdened taxpayers pocket ... so hey no big deal and "who cares" once again. Besides ignorance is a good thing right? Well at least it's paying off for a few billioniares.
Next point ... Government sponsored foreign investment (welfare) programs turn taxpayer dollars into private funds for non-existent domestic agriculture companies who 'invest' no money of their own. These "global" wheat base supply distributorships who's insatiable thirst for what isnt their's (our money) further morph into fraudulent scams to cut products with fillers of any kind, (but mild poisons are better than very noticable ones). They too are assured no liability on their part and the display of the assurance is forming 'committees' of cabinet members who feign concern and meet to develop vacation plans for themselves and friends to exotic locations while the FDA and legitimate quality control is whittled from the inside out and then drown in a bathtub full of K-Street attorneys and loud liars screaming free enterprise and deregulation!!! You commie taxpaying libertines!
Just one more item then I'll go back to the corner and resume my inverted collander helmet of conspiracy theorist catatonia ... There's 'new' replacement parts at our local heating and cooling distributor. This isnt a hardware store. One must be a licensed HVAC to buy and order equipment, appliances, mechanicals, building materials, or any product. They've been trickling in replacement parts from china that are not configured to fit as a true replacement on appliances and mechanicals, (funaces and heat pumps and air-conditoning condensers and equipment), and I'll be darned if they arent almost exactly twice (that's X2 for those of you who can't interpret your math fix from other languages) the cost of the standard replacements that are inspected to make sure they are configured correctly and function. The gag is that the cost is merely passed on to the consumer in need of service so the parts are more or less costly throw aways. They come in neato new boxes with Carlisle group logo on them. For all I know it might be cabal code for ( *uck 'em and feed 'em buckwheat). Then again it's just another way of laundering those ill-gotten gains.
I return this portion of our program to rationality until next time I journey to The Outer Limits.
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