Word: fda
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...couple of weeks for the tobacco lobby. First, a Senate panel approved a 61-cent hike in federal taxes on all packs of smokes, and next week a second committee is expected take up legislation to have tobacco regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA...
...shortcomings listed were legion. Despite a marked uptick in imported food, the amount actually inspected by the FDA has fallen precipitously, said Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat and chair of the oversight and investigations subcommittee. "While FDA inspects less than one percent of all imported foods, only a small fraction of that is actually tested for contaminants," said Stupak. Furthermore, food that is suspected of contamination is typically tested by private labs that the FDA has no jurisdiction over and which importers have learned to manipulate. There are also not enough staff members to give shipments more than...
...Some attempted to draw a link between the FDA's deficiencies and the potential for domestic terrorism. "Who needs al-Qaeda when you have E.coli," quipped Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee, of Washington. Others were more specific. "The wheat gluten incident (in which imported pet food was discovered with poisoned wheat flour) drew a road map for anyone who wanted to attack us maliciously," said Nelson. He feared that the large holes in inspection coverage that would leave the country open to sabotage, saying, "They just have to find the [products] that are not being reviewed at all." William Hubbard, former...
...After several hours of hearing lobs thrown at his agency, Commissioner von Eschanbach got the chance to respond, though he was short on specifics and long on general pronouncements about the need for the FDA to start using "21st century science." It was a phrase that he used often as an explanation for the lab closures, referring to them as necessary consolidations and saying that they were "intended to bring FDA's laboratory infrastructure into the 21st century." To demonstrate the future, von Eschanbach pulled out a large, gun-like device that could be used to immediately identify whether bottled...
...John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said he planned to introduce legislation within the next week that would provide more authority to the FDA. It would likely include a user-fee similar to the one Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois-who has long lobbied for food safety reform-introduced in a bill last week. In that legislation, companies wanting to import food into the United States would have to pay a fee, the revenue of which would pay for greater inspection capabilities and research into food safety technology. If passed, it would increase the number of food shipments inspected from...