Strengthen the FDA

Posted on July 25, 2007
by Maureen Keene

Food and drug imports are increasing dramatically every year, yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, charged with keeping us safe, has not kept pace.  Only 1% of food imports are inspected (and only .5% are actually tested in labs).  The increase in food and drug ingredients coming from China has been exponential.  This is of particular concern as recent media reports have illuminated the lack of quality and safety controls in China, the overwhelming problem of counterfeiting, and the rampant use of chemicals that have been banned in the U.S.

In the past few months there has been one scandal after another regarding dangerous imports, especially those coming from China:  wheat gluten made with melamine, outlawed antibiotics in seafood, deadly chemicals in toothpaste and cough syrup…the list goes on.  Now is the time to make significant improvements in the FDA, before there is a crisis in human food or medicine to rival the recent massive pet food recall.

Consider the thousands of cats and dogs who have been sickened or killed by poison wheat gluten from China to be the canaries in the coalmine of our global food supply chain, and tell your representatives in Congress to take immediate action to strengthen the FDA, including increased funding, mandating a modern risk-based approach to inspections, and tightening control over foreign manufacturing facilities.

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