It's pretty clear that the FDA is a troubled organization. The Food and Drug Administration is chronically under funded and has staffing problems, but does that mean that it should be split into two separate organizations?
According to The Packer.com, one Congressman thinks it should be. Apparently Representative Rosa De Lauro of Connecticut is planning on calling for the split. She wants to create a Food Safety Administration that would be part of the Department of Health and Human Services. That would leave the drug and cosmetic oversight functions in their own organization.
Though a shake up might not hurt, I'm not sure that folding food safety into DHHS would do much to help. The FDA can't possibly keep up with its responsibilities because it is so underfunded. If that problem could be fixed, then maybe the FDA, as it stands now, could do the job of protecting our food.
9-29-2008 @10:40AM Big John said... To me, this reads as a way to increase overall funding to the DHHS. Moving the food safety oragnization into its fold would serve to increase funding over there, and they can always use more funding. As a liberal I support this but I believe this should wait at least until the next Administration is formed and the fiscal plans become more clear. You're right in saying the FDA could use more funding, and it certainly could get such from the next President. This feels like a reactionary measure in wake of the Chinese food safety concerns lately.
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9-29-2008 @10:45AM Bear Silber said... This wouldn't be a bad idea. It seems that the FDA isn't really too concerned with the nation's health but more so in making it easier for the producers (as long as it doesn't cause a national outrage.) They definitely need to be run and regulated better.
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9-29-2008 @1:14PM Liz! said... The real problem with the FDA is that they don't actually pay attention what is good for people. It's too inundated with the politics of who can give the biggest bribe.
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9-29-2008 @12:54PM Michael Schmitt said... If one takes a look at food illnesses over the last year ( http://www.cdc.gov/foodnet/ ) they'll see that the majority of food related illnesses are from raw or undercooked foods that the FDA cannot control without exotic means ( high pressure pasteurization, irradiation, etc.). These exotic means aren't "acceptable" by vociferous groups of Americans, but alternatives have not been found as of yet. Our meat supply is regulated and monitored by the USDA, and they have an inspector in the plant at all times that a plant is running, but even then, food safety issues come up.
Growing your own fresh and raw food may or may not reduce your risk of food borne illnesses. Unless you can guarantee that no animals go through your garden (cats increase the risk of toxoplasmosis, deer increase your risk of E.coli, turtles and chickens increase your risk of Salmonella, Listeria is naturally found in soil…), your risk of food borne illness from home-grown raw foods may be as high as buying from the store.
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9-29-2008 @5:31PM Greg said... The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition is one of six centers within FDA. The FDA is an agency under the Department of Health of Human Services, so what's the change as far as who Food Safety reports to? Splitting into two distinct agencies is probably a good thing, although I'm sure both agencies would continue to operate under DHHS.
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