U.S. manufacturers seeking total protection from lawsuits

NY Times today has the story of how US drug manufacturers are pushing for a Supreme Court decision that would protect all manufacturers of products certified by the government.

So, we want to be WORSE than the Chinese.

The current case is a drug which was approved by the FDA, but in practice was stronger than it was supposed to be, resulting in complications. The Bush administration, as always, is trying to protect corporate interests from the public instead of vice versa, and so is taking the side of the company. The doctrine is called pre-emption, and it could be employed in a variety of cases, not just drugs, and regardless of carelessness or dishonesty.

China Chides U.S. Over Food Imports

U.S. importers share the blame for the recent tainted food scandals, Chinese officials say, because they seek the cheapest products regardless of quality.That, at least, is the Chinese government and industry response to growing concerns that Chinese products fail to meet basic safety standards.

The list of tainted products showing up overseas grew yesterday, when Chinese frozen fish products, labeled as monk fish, was found to contain puffer fish. Puffer fish have a natural
deadly poison that makes them ill suited for eating, and the sickening of two people in Chicago led to the latest recall.

Not to mention the fact that our government doesn’t give a shit.

US admits melamine is a threat, releases contaminated meat anyway.

Authorities noted that a person who weighs 132 pounds (approximately 60 kg) would have to eat more than 800 pounds (approximately 363 kg) of pork per day before it would pose a health risk.

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This is not a joke, people. The dose of melamine and/or cyanuric acid required to induce tumors is not known. The FDA and Department of Agriculture under Bush are functioning only to protect the profits of meat packers, who have thousands of contaminated carcasses of pigs, chickens and fish on their hands. All the contaminated chicken, pork and fish is being unleashed on the public, without even being marked, so the consumer could decide.
DON’T BUY FARM FISH, or CHICKENS or PORK. Protect yourselves and your family, because it’s clear that the government isn’t going to do so.

Milk protein concentrate: the next gluten?

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Milk protein concentrate, which enters the United States as an industrial-grade ingredient to make adhesives and which has never been subject to consumer-safety testing or given Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) status by the FDA, is now found in hundreds of adulterated cheese products, candies, chips, nutritionaldrinks and other processed junk foods. For powerful corporations like Kraft, it is much more lucrative to import milk protein concentrate to make Velveeta, Mac n’ Cheese or Kraft Singles and hope pliant FDA officials turn a blind eye than to pay U.S. family dairy farmers a fair price for real domestic milk.

Responsibility for this latest food scandal lies with runaway globalization, as well as the corrupting influence of corporate agribusiness on government oversight.

As U.S. trade barriers came down and imports skyrocketed, corporations raked in unprecedented profits and consumers were left fearing the old Latin adage: “caveat emptor,” or buyer beware.

Poisoning of food by Chinese even worse than suspected

While the Bush administration cobbles together whitewashes and denials, reporters are finding out that this scandal is bigger and bigger. Look for another round of recalls.

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Three Chinese chemical makers said that producers of animal feed often purchase or seek to purchase a chemical called cyanuric acid from their factories to blend into animal feed.

Chemical producers said that it was common knowledge that for years cyanuric acid was used in animal and fish feed in China. In the United States, cyanuric acid is often used as a disinfectant in swimming pools.

Two of the chemical makers said feed producers here used it because it was high in nitrogen, enabling feed producers to artificially increase the protein reading of the feed.

The USDA and the FDA and Commerce have got to do something about these over-the-line Chinese imports NOW, as in yesterday.