Terrorism's on the menu, literally
Published on: 12/28/04
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The manifold failures of the FDA to do its job are well-known by now. This year's severe shortage of flu vaccine might have been averted if the agency had simply followed up on initial reports of contamination and unsanitary conditions at a key manufacturing plant in England. Instead, the FDA trusted what turned out to be empty promises from the company to correct the problems on its own.
Also, the safety of popular prescription drugs such as Vioxx, Celebrex and Paxil has been called into question because the agency didn't require drug manufacturers to share information about the health risks those medications posed. The potential dangers pharmaceutical companies chose to conceal from their customers range from increased risk of stroke and heart attacks to suicidal ideation in children.
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Despite recommendations by the World Health Organization that such a system was critical, the FDA kowtowed to the wishes of various industry trade groups that registered their displeasure with an all-too-compliant White House. As a result, the goal of establishing an effective traceback system has been dashed. The agency also scrapped an eminently reasonable proposal requiring certain businesses to identify a "responsible individual" whom the FDA can contact when a suspicious food item is discovered.
The threat of terrorist assault on our food is neither rhetorical nor far-fetched. Before leaving his post as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson warned ominously: "I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do."
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http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/1204/28food.html
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