FDA Was Aware of Dangers To Food

Source: Washington Post

Outbreaks Were Not Preventable, Officials Say
The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.

Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents.

Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply.

FDA officials conceded that the agency's system needs to be overhauled to meet today's demands, but contended that the agency could not have done anything to prevent either contamination episode.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201551.html?hpid=topnews

children.

funds and employees. This has been going on for years. Think of all the money they have garnered from cutting depts. to the bone. We will never know where it all went, but I am sure Swiss accounts are much fatter now.

...and he has done f*ck all to protect our FOOD SUPPLY.

THIS is one of the FIRST things that should have been secured and the FDA should have been fully funded and staffed to do it - IF

IF

bu$hit was REALLY serious about Homeland Security.

BUT

He's NOT. That was all just a bunch of pretentious hogwash - because there's been not a damn thing done to protect the food, water, power grid, etc. in this country. THAT is what Homeland Security IS.

It's a known known that the Bush admin's happy to starve the FDA of resources though. Less harassment for industry perhaps.

The admin of the FDA is against regulations of all kinds. Their current goal is to do away with most of the regulations they have.

They are saying now that there is nothing they could do to stop the contamination and they are right. Without setting up new regulations, there is nothing they can do since they will not set up any new regulations.

I know the FDA's been closing labs against Congress' wishes this year..

In my mind all the GOPers on the FDA payroll spend all their time killing everything the FDA does.

Soon the only duty FDA employees will have left is the one which pays them to go out and recruit GOP voters.

There is no Homeland Security with the bushit admin.

You can walk right into the Dept. of Homeland Security parking lot if you want. How's that for security? They fucking can't even protect THAT.

Already got one plot planted, and I'll have the other one started after my paper's done tomorrow.

Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and right down to Bush -- it has been Republican policy to MAKE SURE our government fails us. This is NO accident, and this is on them.

The FDA used to be able to do its job, just like FEMA used to be able to do its job. It was Dr. Frances Kelsey of the FDA who blocked the entrance of thalidomide into the US in the 1960s, for gods' sake.

Hekate
:argh:

While giving up oversight of our health protections.

All of these recent melamine, E. Coli, etc disasters SERVE *Co goals to privatize US Government programs. These people are sadistic killers, saboteurs of democracy, torturers, and anti-Constitution.

Tagging *Co with the term "incompetent" only covers up and apologizes for an insidious intentionality of "making arguments (for privatization) Congress cannot refuse" by demonstrating the "unreliability of government," facilitated self-fulfilling by Norquist's radical fiscal "policies" of "draining of the US Treasury" (via Iraq/perpetual wars) and tax cuts to "starve the beast" of funding capabilities for and performability-proficiency of "government" programs. The widely-held-illogical "surge" in Iraq might merely serve to drag out as long as possible the continued waste of government resources (life not important, just like as per "neocon-government response" to 9/11 and Katrina and, now, E.Coli and melamine "threats"). Another thought: Why weren't Saddam's explosives bunkers -- eventually "looted" of 800 tons of explosives (to later become main source of IEDs killing and maiming under-armored US soldiers) -- destroyed along with other precision-targeted sites during the Shock-and-Awe bombing phase? "Fog of war"?..."oversight"??..."incompetence"??? Also, U.S. ports remain unprotected.

FDA == Neocon-FDA
EPA == Neocon-EPA
USDA == Neocon-USDA
etc etc

And "these people" are in office via election fraud: See today's Did Bush Commit Election Fraud?

http://tinyurl.com/QKK23

utterly completely vile.

can't we grow enough in the U.S. to feed ourselves?

:eyes:

Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

company completely in charge of overseeing food safety. The FDA is just not up to doing the job.



:sarcasm:

The same food safety net that couldn't catch poisoned pet food ingredients from China has a much bigger hole.

Billions of dollars' worth of foreign ingredients that Americans eat in everything from salad dressing to ice cream get a pass from overwhelmed inspectors, despite a rising tide of imports from countries with spotty records, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal trade and food data.

Well before contaminated shipments from China killed 16 cats and dogs and sickened thousands more, government food safety task forces worried about the potential human threat - ingredients are hard to quarantine and can go virtually everywhere in a range of brand products.

When U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors at ports and border checkpoints look, they find shipments that are filthy or otherwise contaminated. They rarely bother, however, in part because ingredients aren't a priority.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6579962,00.html

That agency has become so freaking worthless.

The source of the e-coli? No, it wasn't "wild pigs". It was idiots who decided to flood the fields with partially treated sewage water.



http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/10/e_coli_why_mont.html

Chocolate giant facing prosecution over salmonella scare
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2474844.ece

The confectionery giant is accused of placing "unsafe" chocolate products on the market, Birmingham City Council said.

The company will also be prosecuted over an alleged failure to "immediately inform" the authorities about the contamination.

Cadbury Limited will also be prosecuted under a third charge of failing to "identify hazards" from chocolate bars contaminated with salmonella and of failing to identify "corrective actions".

Each of the three offences carries a maximum penalty of unlimited fines and/or two years in prison, Birmingham City Council said.