GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: Food safety czar pleads for Congress to take up proposal

• 42384
  

  If FDA, USDA and EPA would worry more about the real environmental and food safety risks, those with a high probability of actually harming the average American, instead of supporting NGOs and the media when they scream the sky is falling, then they might get more public support.

  Example, we just had another media blast about mercury in seafood. No one can actually demonstrate a direct health impact of eating seafood above the federal standard in mercury. In fact epidemiological studies indicate the more seafood one eats the less problems with some of the major illnesses facing modern America, e.g., circulatory illnesses, depression, autoimmune diseases, etc.

  While lead is a problem and should not be on toys, any kid playing with their grandparents antique metal toys or in an old house will be exposed to as much lead has from any of the toys coming from China.

  Far more critical are such issues as the increases in the "wild", that is outside hospitals, of resistant bacteria. Bacterial species, like strep and staph, that just two generations ago were documented to kill more people, especially children, than all the exposure to lead, mercury and other heavy metals combined in the 20th Century.

  The often "incestous" relationship between bureaucrats and near single issue NGOs make sure the real issues that may be affecting the health of Americans are not addressed by the federal bureaucracy. Often the lobbyists and executives for the NGO, which is a not for profit organization protected by federal law, make more than the bureaucrats their are lobbying.

  Edwin W. Irby, Jr. Posted January 28, 2008 11:43 AM