I’ve complained about an unscrupulous EPA before, showing that some of its exiting hierarchy was tied to the oil industry. I’ve also tried to get the point across that the Bush administration has dismantled the federal government in small increments handing out contracts to for-profit corporations to do the work our agencies used to do, while cutting the budget drastically in many departments across the board. Sound alright? A lot of people think so—less spending. But do we know who is doing the work instead, how the contract was awarded, who is responsible if something goes wrong, or how much the contractor was actually paid for the job?
Cuts are going to happen. We must pay for the war. But we just don’t know all the things that have been cut, until it’s too late that is. Just last year around this time, the Bush administration planned to cut some $500 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and was met with fierce opposition in congress. The complaint was that it would shortchange vital environmental programs and was unacceptable. Do ya think?
Now it’s the FDA. The cover of the April 2008 Reader’s Digest asks “Can We Trust the FDA?—Must Read Special Report,” and reveals the Food and Drug Administration is in crisis. Most of the article is about the drugs we take, but the department is responsible for regulating $1.5 trillion in food, as well as, animal feeds and drugs. The article stated that insiders say, “it’s [FDA] woefully underfunded, dangerously understaffed and fractured by bitter internal tensions.” I immediately suspected feuding within the department exists because some people have ethics. In 2004, the FDA came under fire for silencing a staff scientist about antidepressants causing suicidal tendencies in teens. Ditto for the EPA, when scientists testified before congress last year that they were tired of being suppressed, and their findings/reports compromised.
The FDA receives only $2 billion in funding, which sounds like a lot but as the article says “is about what Fairfax County, Virginia, pays for its public schools.” It’s really frightening to read words like “chilling new report” in reference to the department in charge of our food and medicine. Worse yet the “chilling” report was commissioned by the FDA’s own advisory Science Board that also describes it as “nearly out of control.”
Congress has just begun to help shore up the FDA, increasing their funding by $145 million, but hey compared to billions, that’s a drop in the bucket. Of course about a quarter of that went to the drug review branch, another reason to read this story to see how much conflict of interest there is within the FDA relative to the drug industry. But special interests and conflict of interest on the food side of this equation cause an equal amount of damage. We start seeing problems like tainted food, beef, and chicken recalls, lax inspection of CAFO’s and runoff from them that may make its way into our tributaries, and of course really lax inspection of imported food. I watched a program where farm raised shrimp in an Asian country were swimming in polluted water with feces from farm animals. I check what I buy now. I steer clear of imports. I know the FDA isn’t checking.
The article said the public needs to weigh in. Weigh in? Scream for Pete’s sake. This is our bread, this is our health and it’s being handled shabbily. This type of decision-making and ethics is repetitive in the EPA, and more than likely throughout our federal agencies at this point. As I read the five key problems in this industry, they were similar to the EPA’s problems:
· The FDA suffers pressure from industry to speed decisions, and soft-pedal problems.
· Safety of New Drugs. Safety decisions are many times based on inefficient industry studies.
· Sloppy Record Keeping
· Conflicts of Interest
· Muzzled Experts
This list just about says it all doesn’t it? From the looks of things, we’re on our own.
Read the article: http://www.rd.com/national-interest/special-reports-and-surveys/problems-in-the-fda/article55513.html
Hi Ria,
I loved your article – as usual it scares the hell out of me and with all the crap (and I mean CRAP) coming out of China, one has to wonder whether the Chinese are trying to kill us off or are they just stupid? And Where is the FDA in all this?
Enough is enough! How long are we going to allow China to kill us off? Are we really this naďve? Let’s review the past year incidents which have been highly publicized:
Tainted cat and dog food….resulted in over 8,000 deaths
Tainted toys – UNBELIEVABLE!!!! From Matel
Tainted medicine – heparin users BEWARE!
Tainted dumplings in Japan (thought to be intentionally tainted)
Defective tires – China “forgot” to put an important gum strip between the steel belts which resulted in the tread and/or belts separating from the tire. This affected 500,000 tires!
Tainted toothpaste – in May, a poisonous ingredient known as diethylene glycol was found in Chinese-made toothpaste sold in Panama, Australia, and the U.S.
Tainted cough syrup – At the end of April, at least 365 Panamanian patients died after consuming cough syrups containing diethylene glycol. 100 of these deaths have been confirmed as poisoning.
Why can’t we just boycott all products from China? Surely there must be some top secret reason that affects our national security…
From By Debbie Howlett, USA TODAY 2/18/2002 (yes, 2002), states, “The Bush family’s ties to China go back to 1974, when President Nixon named George Bush ambassador to China. The college-age George W. Bush spent two months in China visiting his parents during his father’s two-year stint. Seven years after his brother left the ambassadorial post, Prescott Bush made his first trip to China. He later joined with Japanese partners in 1988 to build a golf course in Shanghai, the first in China. He met Jiang, who was then the mayor of Shanghai. Prescott Bush, now 79, also developed a close working relationship with Rong Yiren, a former trade minister and vice president, who in 1993 introduced Bush to a group of Chinese business leaders as “an old friend.” In 2000, Forbes publications reported that Rong, who has retired from government, was the richest man in China”. So, Bush is invested heavily in oil and China, hmmmm, if we boycotted China products, how much would Bush and his family stand to lose?
Many publications report that factory owners in China bribe inspectors on a regular basis. If they didn’t, their products would never pass inspection. How unethical?! You bet, but these inspectors don’t earn much more than the factory workers that make about 50 cents per hour. If they reject the products, they’ve done their jobs; however, if they let them through, they get around $2,500 for turning their heads. What do they care? The products will go to the US – not to their families.
I will not buy anything made in China again. I urge you to do the same. I also urge you to write to your representatives and demand a boycott and export embargo on all Chinese products. Will this hurt some American companies? Absolutely! But it will also create more factory jobs because the products will have to be made here. The investors will have to live with a bonus of $100,000 instead of $200,000 million each year. Perhaps our US government will open their eyes and use the 12 Billion per month spent in Iraq and the Billions that will be given to Bear Stearns (for bailout) to put Americans back to work and back in their homes (Where is Roosevelt?). Hey, maybe we can even reduce the national debt.
Bring our troops home – then close and secure our borders! If America cannot support itself without “help” of other Countries, then we have done a huge disservice to our founding fathers, our children, grandchildren and ourselves.
And by the way, WHERE IS THE HELL WAS THE FDA DURING ALL THIS CRAP?
Many of the duties of the federal agencies are now in the hands of for profit contractors. There are more for profit contractors in Iraq than soldiers. I don’t think we’ll be coming home any time soon either no matter who is in office. I read a very brief article that Halliburton has a contract for 12 or more military bases over there.
Besides doling out work to contractors, there have been many cuts in all departments of the federal government across the board. As the federal government dismantles there is no continuity from state to state as far as water, habitat, wildlife, and so forth. Many conservatives like states rule not realizing every time we cross a state line the rules could end up changing drastically. Many bodies of water, national parks, streams and tributaries flow over state lines also, and likewise pollution.
What I’m concerned about is the full out slaughter going on against animals that should still be on the endangered species list like the wolves. There are also wild horses being rounded up, and lately 1100 buffalo have been slaughtered. Idaho and Wyoming have been pushing for states rights in order to do this and using false excuses. One of my blogs talks about what I see as a connection between the slaughter and mining, oil, lumber, and coal interests moving into some of our biggest forests. They don’t want to have to tippy toe around habitat or animals, so they’re just getting rid of them right now in one big mass while people are so concerned about electing a new president.
I think the Bush administration is in a hurry to get their foot in the door for many things we will regret, but once it’s started it will be hell to stop. You know what I mean? We threaten to drill in the Arctic refuge but haven’t even implemented a federal conservation plan. Do you see any speed limits lowered? Do you see bottled water manufacturers joining the ten cent refund crowd like pop and beer? Tell me they haven’t made as much money as Pepsi. They’ve been bottling up filtered tap water for Pete’s sake. There are no ingredients to purchase. Yet these same bottled water companies whine it will cost to much to have refundables. Wonder who was bought off?
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