FDA wheels coming off, American lives at risk
Hmmm...and all the better for the Bushies to keep the FDA from interfering with drug company profits...
It's shameful that our children have toys with leaded paint, our pets die from poisoned food, there is poison in our water, our fruits and vegetables can kill us, and the imports coming into this country are not being examined prior to entry.
A new 60-page report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's science board was released last week--"FDA Science and Mission at Risk." It states that increasing demands and a lack of resources are putting the safety of the public at risk.
It says that basic food system inspection and enforcement is severely eroded, and it can't respond to outbreaks in a timely manner...and doesn't have adequate means to prevent future problems.
It says there is a low inspection rate...that they can't sufficiently monitor either products manufactured domestically or imported products. During the past 35 years, we have decreased FDA funding and forced a 78 percent reduction in food inspections.
And get this--"FDA estimates that, at most, it inspects food manufacturers once every 10 years, and cosmetic manufacturers even less frequently. The Agency conducts no inspections of retail food establishments or of food-producing farms."
Here's the fda.gov site:
The problems in the FDA have been caused by the Republican Congress' cutting funds and Bush's policies easing regulation.
Before the Bushies try to privatize the FDA, we need to tear it down and rebuild it as an Independent Health Agency. Maybe it's time to turn the FDA back into what it was supposed to be in the first place--an agency that protects us from dangerous food and drugs, not a champion for private industry.
Today it is just a revolving door between agency and cartels.
We started getting into this big mess back in the Reagan years when he decided to get government out of our lives...including important agencies like the FDA, whose job it is to protect us from bad food and drugs. How crazy was that?
You just have to remember arch-conservative Grover Norquist's infamous quote about reducing government to the point it could be drowned in a bathtub.
See, conservatives think industry can be trusted to police themselves, and furthermore, should be left alone by government, because they will do the right thing to protect we the people.
Excuse me while I fall over laughing!
Like insurance companies will never shirk on claims payments? Credit industry will never raise rates on those who pay on time? Tainted toys? Poisoned pet food? Meat recalls? Deadly spinach? Drugs rushed to market lacking adequate safety testing?
All these examples of corporations NOT policing themselves just prove how dangerous it is to trust that they will protect us from harm on their own.
