Well, this will make ya sick
Food Safety in the US: We’re on Red Alert
The United States once had one of the safest food systems in the world, but now, 70 million Americans are sickened, 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die from food-borne illness every year. It is a sad fact: since 9/11, far more Americans have been killed, injured or hurt because of our lack of a coordinated food safety system than by terrorist acts that challenge our Homeland Security system.
The culprits in this assault on American wellbeing aren’t shadowy terrorist figures, but rather, they are what most consumers would identify as wholesome – not harmful – foods. Peanuts, lettuce, pistachios, spinach, hamburgers sold to Boy Scout camps, peppers, tomatoes, and pepper-coated sausages are among the foods that have sickened and killed Americans in just the last few years. Our children are most at risk from these food threats, with half of all food-borne illness striking children under 15 years old.
The Bush administration constantly claimed it was protecting Americans from potential security threats, yet it completely failed to protect the public from the clear and present danger of deadly food.
Due in part to that administration’s cuts in funding and staff, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently inspects less than 25% of all food facilities in the U.S. More than 50% of all American food facilities have gone uninspected for five years or more. During President Bush’s last term, regulatory actions against those companies selling contaminated food to Americans declined by over a half (Office of the Inspector General: FDA’s Food Facility Registry. Report: OEI-02-08-00060, December 2009).</em>
GOP “leadership” 101. Out of power, yatter about how government doesn’t work. When in power, prove it, and let your bidness buddies rake it in.
Who cares if people die?
