Let's Hear It for a Stronger FDA to Restore the Food Chain

Am I being paranoid when I see there's a newly prominent Washington organization with the name, "Coalition for a Stronger FDA" and it makes me think dark thoughts? 

It's the handiwork of several former secretaries of the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, so it looks all blue ribbony. It's getting a lot of attention because of the handwringing about E.coli getting into our vegetables with increasing frequency.  

So here are some of the dark thoughts I think. First off, it's being mentioned in the context of a growing clamor for more regulations covering the handling of produce, as if this is the magic bullet to solve the problem of people being infected with E.coli. Yet when I think of more regulations, I somehow find myself envisioning federal agents policing farmers markets, closing down stands because the produce isn't wrapped correctly, or kept cool with a commercial system. Maybe even sting operations to catch small farms using the wrong kinds of knives or disinfectants. This is before we even talk about the causes of the E.coli outbreaks and the best ways to address the problem.

Then I think about the organizations sponsoring this coalition. They all look perfectly respectable. The American Heart Association. The National Kidney Foundation. The Parkinson's Action Network. Now I don't know a lot about these organizations in particular, but I do know--and here I' aware I'm treading into dangerous territory--they all want to see Big Pharma come up with miracle cures for the diseases they represent. Perhaps more than they want to see a focus on holistic approaches to prevention. Of course, The Biotechnology Industry Organization is a pretty transparent sponsor--it wants a bigger FDA so as to get its new drugs approved more quickly.

And finally, I just think about the mindset whereby an organization that tramples the rights of small farmers, holistic practitioners, and producers of nutritional products--despite whatever budget cuts it's endured--is going to solve the problems of an imploding food chain. Isn't that a little like adding more foxes to guard the chicken coop?

Comments

[Linda Diane Feldt]

David,
I appreciate your alert, as well as suspicions. They are justified. And it is tremendously frustrating that those of us who are involved in some real solutions are under increasing attack and suspicion. I don't want the FDA to regulate produce for the same reason I don't want them to regulate herbs and supplements. The knowledge and understanding isn't there. At least a fox knows something about hen houses from long hours of careful observation.
I'm spending part of my afternoon reading a few more chapters in "Hopes Edge" by Frances Moore Lappe (Author of Diet for a Small Planet). It does give much hope, and investigates progressive and experimental movements all over the world - unique approaches to hunger, erosion, distribution, land use, and other issues. Lovely to read, inspiring to consider. Exactly the sort of innovative thinking we need - not more of what doesn't work.

[Steve Bemis]

The New York Times has recently editorialized the need for more resources for the FDA. My comment, sent as a letter to the editor which (predictably) has not been published, was as follows:

While they are missing spinach, onions and other problems, FDA seems to have plenty of resources to harass farmers who produce unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk. Hundreds of consumers of real (raw) milk in Illinois and Michigan have had our milk supply interrupted by coordinated "sting" operations of state and FDA authorities. The targets are our co-op farmers, including (gasp) an Amish farmer whose cows' milk is tied to no sickness and while still raw, exceeds pasteurization standards. Following a six-month undercover operation, the post-bust investigation is more than two months old, and no charges have been brought.

[Mac]

Here is an interesting article regarding cattle feed and e. coli O157:H7.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Sept98/acid.relief.hrs.html

Read it and make your own conclusions but to me it sounds as if you banned grain fed cattle and dairy cows it would solve a lot of the e. coli problems.

[David Gumpert]

Steve, NY Times response not surprising. It tends to see the world from the "official" viewpoint. If the officials say they don't have enough resources, it understands. If you say you were doing something the officials disapproved of, it doesn't understand. Moreover, it sees itself as the nation's gatekeeper of information, hence its motto, "All the news that's fit to print." Anti-establishment news has to be pretty shocking to overcome such obstacles, and stings on farmers just don't do it for Times.