NYT- U.S. Health Chief, Stepping Down, Issues Warning

[maddezmom]

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: December 4, 2004



WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, announced Friday that he was resigning, and he expressed grave concern about the threat of a global flu epidemic and the possibility of a terrorist attack on the nation's food supply.

"For the life of me," he said, "I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do."

~snip~

Mr. Thompson, freed from the constraints of administration policy, gave candid, unexpected answers to questions posed to him at a news conference at his department.

He said he wished Congress had given him the power to negotiate with drug manufacturers to secure lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. The White House and Republicans in Congress have insisted that the government should not have that power because it would lead to price controls, reducing the revenues that drug companies need for research.

~snip~
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/04/politics/04health.html?hp&ex=1102222800&en=119916d35da95708&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Qanisqineq]

1. Mr. Thompson says: "Food supply easy to attack. Hint, hint, Osama"

Isn't that what his comment boils down to? Good grief. Why doesn't he tell them the best way to do it and give them the biological weapons to use against us?

[maddezmom]

2. no shit...hey guys why haven't ya tried killing us with food

Although the government has increased inspections of imported food, Mr. Thompson said he worried "every single night" about threats to the food supply.

"We are importing a lot of food from the Middle East and it would be easy to tamper with that," he said.

He called for better technologies to detect contamination.

[DS1]

15. Although I'd be somewhat amused if we all ended up eating imported French

cheese :-)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. Yes, but...

I remember the media saying something about that right after 911. They also mentioned water supplies, dams, bridges and a plethora of other things. Enough to keep any wack job (domestic or imported) busy for decades.

[HereSince1628]

4. It struck me as an odd something to say, unless

Thompson's attention on that issue had become a problem and he felt a need to defend that publicly ...perhaps with Thompson being seen as spending too much effort on that and letting things like alternative sources for the contaminated flu vaccine slip through the cracks...

As Gov Thompson had a physician in charge of the state's communicable disease unit who was very noisy about the potential for huge outbreaks from mass processed ready-to-eat products such as mini carrots and salads. And of course their was the HUGE waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidium during Thompson's tenure in office.

I personally wonder if that didn't pre-condition Thompson to the issue of food terror. You know republicans can be dogmatic and a fear in one circumstance could easily have be transferred onto homeland security issues.

[cornermouse]

5. And coming at a time when Congress is trying to

remove country of origin from labels... Sort of makes you wonder whose side Congress is on, doesn't it?

[maddezmom]

8. and loosening of trade restrictions..

The arrival of the Mexican-grown fruit in California, scheduled to begin in 2007, could reduce prices for consumers. But it could also slash state growers' sales by as much as 20%, according to federal estimates.


Under new rules issued Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) said it would allow Mexico to ship avocados to all 50 states year-round.


Previous regulations limited Mexican avocados to 31 Northern and Midwestern states far from the nation's avocado-growing regions. What's more, imports were confined to between Oct. 15 and April 15, when the population of insects that could damage the U.S. crop thins out.


Officially, the ban on Mexican avocados was based on a fear of the pests hitching rides into the U.S. on imported fruit. But Mexican growers charged that the restrictions were merely a form of economic protectionism and a violation of free-trade agreements.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20041202/ts_latimes/mexicanavocadostoreturndespitestategrowersfears

[cornermouse]

9. I'm getting really serious about my garden next year.

[Florida_Geek]

6. Sounds like he is covering his ass

and has tried to tell Bushie and friends about this and got pushed off.

[R Hickey]

7. Thompson's right about one thing...lot of big eaters over here.

Gluttany kills off more Americans each year than a hundred Oswama's combined.

What the Arabs need to do is invent a sixtuple-cheeze burger, and watch our voracious citizens eat themselves to death.

[xchrom]

10. stop that, damn it!

this is serious and you made me laugh!:evilgrin:

[rodeodance]

11. as the governor he always liked to be in charge--giving orders then

went to Washington and found lot of the WH gang had more power than he did. I say keep him there--I, for one do not want him back!!
As I recall he has a huge 'war chest"!!


...Asked if he might run for governor of Wisconsin, Mr. Thompson said: "It's entirely possible. I happen to love politics. Why would I say no?" Also, "there's a Senate seat open," he said, alluding to the seat now held by Herb Kohl, a Democrat.

The terms of Mr. Kohl and the current governor of Wisconsin, James E. Doyle, also a Democrat, expire in January 2007....

[Flammable Materials]

12. I see this as pre-emptive, leading up to food-import restrictions ...

... on any nation that dares oppose Generalissimo Bush.

Because if there's one thing Americans know how to do, it's eat.

"Want French cheese? French wine? Then move to france, fuckers!"

[NashVegas]

13. Our Food Supply IS Under Attack!

by Monsanto.

[leesa]

14. What an idiot! And of course all the deregulation of our food supply

industry wouldn't be an attack by the terrorists in the WH.

[Pale_Rider]

16. Gets my vote for idiot of the year!

With his open invitation ...

"I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do."

... maybe Thompson will be free-lancing and working to make sure that the 'terrorists' were informed.

[OETKB]

17. The Pharmaceutical Industry Record

The drug industry spends less on R&D than they make in profit. Further out of some 300+ new drugs introduced of which 40 to 50 were of any significant use, only 7 were the product of industry research. The rest came from university and government sponsered research laboratories. Who are they kidding? The American people, of course.