Consilience Productions

« Goodbye Capitalism | Main | Beating the market. »

Big biz buys the FDA and costs consumers hundreds of millions
July 27, 2008 3:36 PM

For a perfect example of how this country is owned by corporations, you need to look no further than the recent outbreak of salmonella in the tomato industry:

The food industry pressured the Bush administration years ago to limit the paperwork companies would have to keep to help U.S. health investigators quickly trace produce that sickens consumers.

The White House also killed a plan to require the industry to maintain electronic tracking records that could be reviewed easily during a crisis to search for an outbreak's source. Companies complained the proposals were too burdensome and costly, and warned they could disrupt the availability of consumers' favorite foods.

The apparent but unintended consequences of the lobbying success: a paper record-keeping system that has slowed investigators, with estimated business losses of $250 million. So far, nearly 1,300 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada have been sickened by salmonella since April.

How do we know that the FDA was bought off?

A former member of Bush's Cabinet and three former senior officials in the Food and Drug Administration told the AP that government food safety experts did not get the strong record-keeping and trace-back system originally proposed under a bioterrorism law to cope with a major foodborne illness.

"In retrospect, yes, if they (the regulations) had been broader and a bit more far-reaching, it could have helped with this," said Robert Brackett, senior vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. "It wouldn't have hurt, for sure." Brackett formerly was a top safety official at the FDA.

Did you get that? The proposed system was part of a new bioterrorism law created to track attacks on this country by terrorists using food-borne illnesses. And our money-driven culture allowed Big Business to buy off our safety:

According to government records reviewed by the AP, business groups met at least 10 times with the White House between March 2003 and March 2004, as the FDA regulations were under debate. Food industry lobbyists successfully blunted proposals using arguments familiar in other regulatory debates: The government's plans would saddle business with unnecessary and costly regulations.

"The FDA's strong proposed bioterrorism rules were significantly watered down before they became final," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. The private advocacy group obtained the White House meeting records under the Freedom of Information Act and provided them to the AP.

Even then Health Secretary, Tommy Thompson, acknowledges that the government was bought off:

"We went in with the larger package but knew we had to compromise," Thompson told the AP. "I was satisfied with this being the first step. It's always better to be a Monday morning quarterback. We could have ended up with nothing. If we had more, would it help the situation now? Yes."

And why exactly did they have to compromise? Because the following food companies were buying off our officials so that they would dilute the new paperwork-tracking system, thereby saving these corporations money:

Participants in the meetings included companies and trade groups up and down the food chain, including Altria Group Inc. (MO) and Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT), when Altria was Kraft's parent; The Kroger Co. (KR); Safeway Inc. (SWY); ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG); The Procter & Gamble Co. (PG); the American Forest and Paper Association; the Polystyrene Packaging Council; the Glass Packaging Institute; the Cocoa Merchants' Association of America; the World Shipping Council; and the Food Marketing Institute.

This story is just one of many that shows how our devotion to a profit-driven society can easily lead to our own destruction.

We're lucky that the current salmonella outbreak is not of a nefarious origin. We may not be as lucky next time.


Join the discussion: Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Email Link to a Friend
Permalink to post: http://www.cslproductions.org/money/talk/archives/000657.shtml
Receive an email whenever this MONEY blog is updated:   Subscribe Here!
Tags: , , ,

Share | | Subscribe




Add your comment

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.

Support the "dialogue BEYOND music!"

Because broad and informed public participation is the bedrock of a free, democratic, and civil society, your generous donation will help increase participation in the process of social change. 100% tax deductible.
Thank you!


SEARCH OUR SITE:

Co-op America Seal of Approval  Global Voices - The world is talking, are you listening?