FDA Failing the American People Over Food Safety, Regulation

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health • Interview with "Kevala" Karen Parker, master raw foods chef • Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising Sign the Health Revolution Petition Join the call for genuine health freedom in America. End FDA tyranny and Big Pharma corruption. Watch the video and sign the petition here.

(NaturalNews) The FDA lacks sufficient funds to properly monitor emerging technologies and threats, and as such is unable to properly regulate new technologies, drugs and foods, according to a report by the agency's Subcommittee on Science and Technology.

The FDA's resources are going mostly into responding to crises, the report said, leaving the FDA unable to be proactive about emerging threats.

"Crisis management in the FDA's two food safety centers ... has drawn attention and resources away from FDA's ability to develop the science base and infrastructure needed to efficiently support innovation in the food industry, provide effective routine surveillance, and conduct emergency outbreak investigation activities to protect food," the report said.

The report cites nanotechnology as an example of an area where the FDA has failed to monitor rapidly emerging science. Although nanotechnology is fundamentally different from prior technologies, the FDA has failed to regulate it any differently.

The subcommittee recommended the formation of a department dedicated to liaising with groups involved in new technologies.

The FDA has also fallen short in its responsibility to inspect the U.S. food supply, the report says. Funding for food inspection has dropped over the past 35 years, leading to a 78 percent reduction in the frequency of inspections. Currently, food manufacturers are inspected only once every 10 years, and retail establishments and farms are never inspected. At the same time, the report notes, the food industry has rapidly expanded, and so have food imports.

Even in the area of crisis management, the report says, the FDA has still fallen short, particularly with new and emerging threats.

For example, when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow disease," first appeared in Europe and the FDA imposed new regulations on animal feed, the government denied the agency funding to implement those new rules. According to the report, this allowed BSE to infect U.S. cattle.

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health • Interview with "Kevala" Karen Parker, master raw foods chef • Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/023613_food_the_FDA_food_safety.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/023613_food_the_FDA_food_safety.html">FDA Failing the American People Over Food Safety, Regulation</a>