The Peanut Corporation of America has been accused of shipping peanut butter lathered with salmonella, a bacteria that caused at least eight deaths, from a plant where corporate managers knew about the contamination but never reported those findings to the Food and Drug Administration. Spinach coated with animal feces spread by feral swine and contaminated with deadly E.coli 0157 bacteria, killing at least three people, came from a California ranch that wasn't following the agricultural practices promulgated by the FDA.
Even less regulated than U.S. corporate food production facilities are foreign sources such as the Xuzhou Anying Biological Technology Development in China where the toxic chemical melamine was intentionally mixed into the wheat gluten to bolster the apparent protein content of pet food, killing pet dogs and cats in America. What an excellent scheme for terrorists seeking to attack our nations food supply and kill millions of innocent citizens -- just poison foodstuffs to be imported and distributed in the United States.
The U.S. House of Representatives acted on Thursday to pass the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. It authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration to require country of origin labeling on food and annual registration of importers, to require implementation of a food safety plan, to establish a corps of inspectors dedicated to inspections of foreign food facilities, and to order an immediate cessation of distribution, or a recall, of food.
You won't read it in the local newspapers, but Congressman John Boozman (R-AR3) voted against it. Who does thus guy really represent? Who can we get to represent us for a change?
Do you think that some poultry giants in Boozman's district would be against increased inspections by the FDA? Do you think D_n T___n gives Boozman large amounts of campaign cash?
ReplyDelete"You won't read it in the local newspapers, but Congressman John Boozman (R-AR3) voted against it."
ReplyDeleteIt's on page 11A of Sunday's Morning News in the weekly column that wraps up how the Arkansas delegation voted on key bills. See http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/08/02/news/080209dcwashdigest.txt
I was glad to see the Springdale paper mention this, even if it was a day later than the blogs. Any idea why the reporter didn't bother to ask Boozman what he was thinking? That should have been an easy phone call to make for the Stephens Washington Bureau.
ReplyDeleteHey, we could live in Joisey!
ReplyDeletehttp://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/07/heres-what-my-congressman-voted-against.html
And, natch, he had 140+ colleagues who joined him. My guess as to why, is the unwritten rule of big bus.--externalize the costs (poisoned public, in this case) by any means necessary.
Citizen 1:36
ReplyDeleteInside baseball.
Until about 2002 -- as a "reportorial colleague" I could call Stephens Washington directly and ask them to look into anything I damned well pleased. By 2004 I had to submit questions via an internal process that determined whether my inquiries were "valid" or not.
I was also dissuaded from calling Boozman's office directly.
Sometimes a "simple phone call" is not a "simple phone call."
-k-