Posts Tagged ‘FDA’

A Safer U.S. Food Supply Is In The Works

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Illness from eating contaminated food isn’t the number one threat to our national well-being. But just like any medical problem, the costs associated with treating these illnesses hit poor Americans the hardest.

hospital-bed.jpg
credit: YODCOX!

Until yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wasn’t allowed to recall tainted food. All they could really do was ask businesses to voluntarily recall their e.coli-burgers.

But President Obama just signed a bill into law that gives the FDA much more power to monitor food safety. They’ll be able to issue mandatory food recalls, inspect facilities more often, and tighten regulations on the riskiest fruits and vegetables (like spinach).

  • The law will cost taxpayers $1.4 billion over the next five years – but health care costs related to contaminated food add up to tens of billions of dollars every year.
  • One out of every six Americans gets sick from contaminated food each year. 180,000 are sick enough to go to the hospital, and 3,000 are sick enough to die.

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credit: Mike Licht

* Popular candidates for e.coli and salmonella include peanuts, eggs, and produce. (Twinkies are still safe, though you will eventually end up in the hospital if you replace your fruits and veggies with them.) Meat and dairy are also good candidates for disease, but because they’re monitored by the Agriculture Department, they won’t be affected by the new law.

Best Quote:
“Fiscal responsibility does not necessitate abandoning or neglecting the need of American consumers for safe food.” – Tom Harken, the Democratic Senator from Iowa who sponsored the bill

Frankenstein Fish About To Be Approved For Human Consumption

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

A company called “AquAdvantage Salmon” wants people to believe its product is safe. So does the burgeoning genetically-modified food industry.

  • On September 19th, staff from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are expected to deliver a report that says AquAdvantage – a genetically-modified salmon – is as safe as regular Atlantic salmon and should be approved for human consumption in the U.S.
  • The AquAdvantage fish was created with DNA from another, eel-like fish, and added growth hormones from a different species of salmon. The resulting creature grows twice as fast as a normal Atlantic salmon.
  • Critics say the approval process doesn’t allow the public (including independent scientists) to fully understand the implications of allowing this genetically-modified fish into the U.S. food supply. They are also concerned about the potential ecological risks posed by a fish created in a lab.

Facts & Figures

  • The University of Guelph in Canada wants the FDA to approve their genetically-engineered “Enviropig,” which is purported to produce “environmentally friendly manure.”
  • The United States has already approved the cultivation of genetically-modified corn and soybean crops.

Best Quote

“If these genetically engineered salmon are approved, it will be setting worldwide precedent because salmon is a global commodity. It will be the first genetically engineered animal approved for human consumption and for wide-scale farming.” – Anne Kapuscinski, Professor at Dartmouth College and international expert on the safety of genetically modified organisms