Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Be Prepared for alot More Gastrointestinal Problems

House Republicans do not want to fund a new law meant to cut back on food born illnesses.   Furthermore, if that wasn't bad enough they also want to cut an additional $87 million from the FDA's budget, expect to hear about a lot more people getting sick from the food they eat.

While the whole Washington Post article is worth a quick read, here are some of the repercussions of not funding the law and cutting the budget:

"The proposed budget cuts would also hinder the FDA’s ability to increase scrutiny of imported foods, according to food safety advocates. The new law requires the FDA to create a system of third-party certifiers to ensure that food coming into the United States meets the same safety standards as food produced domestically. Without additional funding, the FDA cannot create that system, said Erik Olson, director of food and consumer product safety programs at the Pew Health Group, part of a coalition of public health advocates and food makers.

“These cuts could seriously harm our ability to protect the food supply,” said Olson, who is hoping the money will be restored by the Senate, which has not proposed its spending plan.

The House subcommittee also proposed a $35 million cut to the Food Safety Inspection Service at the Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for the safety of meat, poultry and some egg products."
Hey, I get it--we're in the middle of a deficit crisis and money has to be saved.  By why subject millions of American citizens to disease and possibly death, yet refuse to touch the military budget?   Or how about that aid to Americans farming abroad (talk about sending jobs overseas!!), that was mentioned in the Post? 

1 comment:

  1. Really sad isn't it. Their priorities are all screwed up!!

    ReplyDelete