Each day brings something more hideous that Bush and his political appointees have helped to dismantle. Given the current pet food recall which continues to expand daily, as well as criticism of the FDA for failing to act expeditiously or even have procedures in place to even document its magnitude, it is quite a shocking development.
This cannot be allowed. It is not just our beloved animal companions at stake here. It is all of us that will be adversely affected.
FDA to defy Congress by closing food safety test labs
Denver, Detroit, Philadelphia, SF and KC Labs on chopping block
WASHINGTON, D.C. —Shrugging off congressional objections, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will immediately move to close more than half of its laboratories across the country, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The closures will be completed during the next few months, before the new Congress can act to block the shutdowns through the appropriations bill for the next fiscal year ...
FDA specialists have argued that eliminating laboratories will slow agency response time to outbreaks or attacks, as samples may have to be transported long distances. In addition, closing laboratories located near ports or large food distribution centers may reduce the agency’s ability to uncover contamination or other hazards before the effects ripple deeply through the country’s food chain.
Michael Fox, D.Sc., Ph.D., B. Vet. Med., MRCVS has just written a powerful article, LARGEST PET FOOD RECALL EVER: A Genetic Engineered Food Disaster?
... My suspicion is that the FDA was aware that the gluten came from genetically engineered wheat that was considered safe for animal consumption.
I could be wrong. But a greater wrong is surely for the pet food industry to use food ingredients and food and beverage industry by-products considered unfit for human consumption; to continue to do business without any adequate government oversight and inspection; and for government to give greater priority to agricultural biotechnology and the patenting of genetically engineered crops and animals, and not to organic, humane, ecologically sound and safe food production.
I believe that there is evidence of gross negligence, not simply on the part of the pet food industry, but by all who are responsible for food quality and safety in the global market that is clearly dysfunctional. The Pet Food Institute should start an emergency fund to compensate all veterinary expenses incurred as a result of this---and any future---mass poisonings of people’s beloved animal companions.
I am the founder of a nonprofit foundation that is working to promote holistics and comparative oncology, the study of cancers that occur similarly in people and companion animals. I speak to the relationship of our questionable agricultural practices being related to the amount of cancer (which reaches the same levels in both people and companion animals), and have discussed this further at my own blog.