B-b-BUT! The sainted Ronald Reagan said Government wasn't a solution to the problem of tainted PBJ sammies; it IS the problem! And since the FDA has been shrunk to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub, is there actually anyone around to investigate the agency?!
RainbowPhoenix
· 9 months ago
Someone from outside the agency?
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 9 months ago
where's brownie these days?? he probably needs a job.
oh wait, that was the LAST administration.
my bad.
ndtovent
· 9 months ago
thats great that he wants a full review, but the bottom line is: FDA doesn't have the staff to inspect all of the food processing plants on a regular basis. It is severely underfunded in that dept and has been for many years. No matter how much strict regulation is passed, it doesn't mean a thing unless more inspectors are hired and federal safety/sanitation laws are fully enforced. This issue has arisen before -- every few years it' "a full review of the FDA, ,etc.," FDA says " we're underfunded, and only have a small fraction of the inspectors we need to fully enforce safety regulations." the issue is then dropped, and it's business as usual - without the full compliment of inspectors being hired/trained.
kladinvt
· 9 months ago
How about lifting the ban on gays giving blood?
ndtovent
· 9 months ago
I agree with that one. I'm all for rigorous testing for diseases, but banning ANY man who's had sex with another man even once since 1977? That's insane. they also have a regulation banning anyone who's spent more than 3 consecutive months in Europe since 1980 because of the potential for mad cow. Sheesh! They need to get real.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 9 months ago
I'm with you on this one as well... testing ALL the blood drawn is what should be going on.
think about it, how many closet cases out there (Mehlman?) probably give blood... you think they answer the question truthfully?
they CAN detect it in blood, and they SHOULD test all of it... screw the ban.
same with sperm donation... they can test it, DO IT!
Zorba
· 9 months ago
I agree, Soundboy. Test all the blood. I don't give blood myself, because I had Hepatitis A when I was a child, and was told that I could never give blood, so I don't. But I'm sure there are people who are positive for hep A (or other types) who may not know that they cannot give blood, and do so. Are they testing for that? I'm also sure there are people, both men and women, who do not carry any of what they call the "risk factors" (IV drug users, men having had sex with men), who are HIV positive, have no symptoms yet, and give blood. Test it all.
Brad
· 9 months ago
Blood should be first treated with ozone to kill existing pathogens (virus, nasty bacteria,) and to relieve the burden of the recipient of oxygenating it.
nicho
· 9 months ago
If they lift the ban, there's a chance HIV could be transmitted that way.
I believe the chances are that there would be one case every 5,500 years. Meanwhile, people die all the time because blood isn't available.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 9 months ago
Imagine... a President who cares about this country?
freaky.
of course, the repugnicans will scream about how this will wind up closing down businesses due to over regulation... if a few people die, whatever... don't touch the corporate wallet!!!
/snark
Older_Wiser
· 9 months ago
One way to get around the "underfunded" meme by the FDA and to provide more inspectors: Butcher the number of mgmt types that bloat the agency. Fewer bureaucrats to fuck things up and/or hide problems, more inspectors hired who will do actual work.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 9 months ago
FDA first... next up? EPA.
gotta clean up years of cronyism and corporate pandering.
Older_Wiser
· 9 months ago
BTW, OT, but I heard on MSNBC this am that Michael Steele, the Stepin Fetchit of the Rethuglicon Natl Cmte, says his strategy going forward will be to make the party into "obstructionists" to destroy the agenda of the Dems, come back in 2010 and sweep the House.
Isn't that special?
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 9 months ago
I keep saying it...
insane.
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results: insane.
aquarius2
· 9 months ago
Well, all I can say is it is about time the Dems take action both in the Congress and on the air waves. You know the Republicans are in the minority so WHY or HOW can they obstruct unless the Dems let them.
fds
· 9 months ago
Thank god. Hopefully Obama won't feel a pressing need to "negotiate" w/ Repubs when it comes to fumigating the FDA....
Asterix
· 9 months ago
Since deaths are involved, bring manslaughter and racketeering charges against management, and seize the assets of the firm Time to get tough.
Corporations exist at the people's pleasure, not the other way around.
HelenaMontana
· 9 months ago
Ah, what a difference when it might affect your own child.
Brad
· 9 months ago
Sasha can take probiotics to minimize the risk of salmonella infection.
Compare the threat to life that the FDA poses.
They put our dollar to work to actually undermine the hard-won grassroots US law, DSHEA, that insures our access to nutritional supplements and information, because they balk at losing regulatory power.
FDA is illegally clawing back that power, by sending reps to international CODEX Ailimentarius meetings, to write up new, paltry limits to the safest edibles on the market-- vitamins. Our economically challenged country would be subject to trade sanctions, if we do not comply by "harmonizing" our law, against the expressed will of Americans.
Compared to the FDA's record of protecting citizens from being killed and injured by following prescriptions correctly, resulting in pharmaceuticals being, at the very least, one of the top four leading causes of death for US citizens,
--this issue really is PEANUTS.
bbock
· 9 months ago
While he's at it, I wish he'd look into the mercury in my coke. High Fructose Corn Syrup is here to stay and it's in a LOT of things. It's even in baked goods to promote browning. There's no reason for it to contain mercury.
Brad
· 9 months ago
FDA want to regulate safe vitamins, but seem ok with us eating mercury, transfats, fluoride. Reboot the FDA.
All Comments
oh wait, that was the LAST administration.
my bad.
think about it, how many closet cases out there (Mehlman?) probably give blood... you think they answer the question truthfully?
they CAN detect it in blood, and they SHOULD test all of it... screw the ban.
same with sperm donation... they can test it, DO IT!
I believe the chances are that there would be one case every 5,500 years. Meanwhile, people die all the time because blood isn't available.
freaky.
of course, the repugnicans will scream about how this will wind up closing down businesses due to over regulation... if a few people die, whatever... don't touch the corporate wallet!!!
/snark
gotta clean up years of cronyism and corporate pandering.
Isn't that special?
insane.
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results: insane.
Corporations exist at the people's pleasure, not the other way around.
Compare the threat to life that the FDA poses.
They put our dollar to work to actually undermine the hard-won grassroots US law, DSHEA, that insures our access to nutritional supplements and information, because they balk at losing regulatory power.
FDA is illegally clawing back that power, by sending reps to international CODEX Ailimentarius meetings, to write up new, paltry limits to the safest edibles on the market-- vitamins. Our economically challenged country would be subject to trade sanctions, if we do not comply by "harmonizing" our law, against the expressed will of Americans.
Compared to the FDA's record of protecting citizens from being killed and injured by following prescriptions correctly, resulting in pharmaceuticals being, at the very least, one of the top four leading causes of death for US citizens,
--this issue really is PEANUTS.