Republicans Continue Fight To Kill Food Safety Laws During Deadliest Food Illness Outbreak In A Decade
Are you confident in the food industry’s ability to police itself? You shouldn’t be. Despite claims that the industry can self-regulate, they are failing horribly. And the consequences are deadly.
America has suffered much from foodborne illnesses these past few years. Just recently, we have seen contaminated eggs, peanut butter, and ground turkey recalled. And now, it’s cantaloupes. This latest outbreak has sickened 72 and has killed 16 across several states, making it the deadliest outbreak in a decade. But Republicans still believe the industry is capable of policing itself and are seeking to end food safety regulations.
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In June, House Republicans tried to gut the first major upgrade of food safety laws in the past 70 years, which was signed into law by President Obama. And they are still trying to destroy it. The policies have not been put in place because Republicans refuse to fund it. As reported earlier, Michele Bachmann has called food safety regulations “overkill.” The real overkill is the current wave of foodborne illnesses that food safety regulations are designed to protect the American people against. But Republicans don’t care. They are waging war against the USDA and FDA in an effort to bring the government to its knees. They have already managed to cut the strength of both of these agencies and have cut funding to both as well. All in the name of saving corporations money.
The problem with this agenda is that it actually costs America money, a staggering $152 billion annually, which is way more than it costs to implement the regulations. It also costs lives which Republicans are not willing to save. 3,000 people die because of food illnesses each year. These deaths could easily be prevented if Republicans actually did their jobs to protect the American people instead of corporations. But Republicans are more interested in cheering for the deaths of those who get sick, rather than lift a finger to prevent illness in the first place. Until Republicans are thrown out of office, we can expect more illness and death. Americans must wake up, or you or a loved one could be the next to die because of Republican irresponsibility. Think about that next time you eat.
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Depending on business ethics is the same as depending on the fox to have eaten before guarding the hen house. Nothing is more important to companies than the bottom line; consumers aren’t customers any more–the are the suckers you can get to buy overpriced, mass-produced, drugged foodstuffs.
I like natural foods but I depend on the USDA to protect us against the business “ethics”(now THERE’S an oxymoron!), of rapacious and conscienceless businesses who care nothing for their customers. If there is a move afoot by the GOP to kill the USDA, you can bet that there is corporate money behind it. Ditto for the FDA. Can anyone say ‘thalidomide’?
This article is dead on the mark. The vast majority of regulations in the meat and poultry industry are merely the standardization and codifying of what companies would do anyway. It is a myth that regulations are hurting companies. I know this from my nearly 20 years in and around the meat and poultry industry.
If you like the penny-wise, pound-foolish approach to food safety, by all means, support the GOTP but if you prefer a proactive approach, write you Senators and Representatives and tell them to quit attacking our food safety laws.
I’m no republican, but these food safety laws have nothing whatsoever to do with food safety. It’s all about control. Those food safety laws would outlaw the only healthy foods we have left. Don’t turn this into a political thing and choose a side based on that. Nature and bacteria are not our enemies. Big Food corporations are and they are the ones who have paid for all of the junk science to pass laws like this.
Now this is something that blows my mind. I thought that liberals cared about organic and natural. I thought that liberals were the back to nature types who cared about being able to acquire organic healthy fresh raw foods, yet if these food safety laws are passed, there won’t be anything left for us to eat but processed toxic gmo foods. Get politics out of this and learn the facts….this is how raw almonds and in some places raw honey got banned… here is the real truth about food safety that you’ll never hear on mainstream… http://www.gaia-back-to-the-garden.com/food-safety-tips.html