Various articles come out every few months with some jaw boner speculating on this or that aspect involving what-might-happen. None ever state the obvious: America wasn't that safe before 9-11, just lucky. These days, luck -- like common sense -- seems to be in short supply.
And if you grasp that public safety means a great deal more than planes flying into buildings, you're getting a glimpse of how unprepared and how unresponsive the US government is.
What are we talking about? The food supply. Produce now comes with warnings. Not processed food, raw produce, grown and shipped, now comes with warnings. And where the hell is the US Congress?
The US Food and Drug Administration exists for a reason. As they proclaim at their website: "The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. The FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines and foods more effective, safer, and more affordable; and helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health." They are doing a lousy job.
They have been doing a lousy job. And this is not a new thing.
Summer 2006, the country saw the spinach scare. Raw spinach could make you sick. The FDA was slow to respond and their 'response' was so awful that the only 'change' in the country came at various fast food franchises where spinach was dropped from the menu. (The Subway chain was one of the worst and is still reluctant to offer spinach on their sandwiches or in their salads.) The 'response' meant that spinach went off the menus and iceberg lettuce reigned supreme. Iceberg lettuce is among the worst sources of nutrients in the green and leafy world. Spinach, by contrast, is rich in Vitamin A -- in fact it has more Vitamin A, more vitamin C, more iron, more calcium and more potassium while also offering Vitamin E. And not just 'traces' of more or a little more, with Vitamin A, spinach has 25 times as much Vitamin A as does iceberg lettuce. Who benefits as spinach remains off the menu at many franchises while iceberg lettuce is readily available? Not the consumer.
If the FDA's non-response and non-action was dismaying, so was the response of the US Congress, elected to represent the people. In March of 2008, the House Committee on Oversight and Government finally got around to releasing a report [PDF format warning, click here]. Over a year-and-a-half after the E-coli outbreak that resulted in spinach being pulled from stores and food places, Congress finally had a 'report.' The report noted the FDA findings (not enough inspections of plants that package spinach, "objectionable conditions during 47%" of the limited inspections, no enforcement, "repeated violations" ignored and "In eight cases, packaged fresh spinach facilities denied FDA inspectors access to records or other relevant material."
In just those findings -- the FDA's own findings, the government was failing the people. In a country that eats far too much processed food, the people should be able to expect a degree of safety when eating raw produce. When you shop for yourself or yourself and others, you should be able to pick up produce without worrying that it may make you or others sick. These are supposed to be 'natural foods.' They aren't processed, they're supposed to have no additives (they have chemicals -- even some labeled 'organic') and the public should be able to trust that an apple or a tomato or any produce -- foods that are good for them -- will not result in sickness or death.
The cause of the E-coli outbreak was never officially identified. It's thought that waste -- at some point -- contaminated the food supply. In October 2006, Ava and C.I. did a three-part series for the gina & krista round-robin where they spoke to growers, farm labor, distributors and stores. Among the most appalling revelations about produce was that, in Texas, one distributor (who supplied restaurants) spoke freely about how heads of lettuce often contained dead rats when it arrived. Search in vain for that from the FDA's 'findings' or Congress. As Ava and C.I. explained then, you're going to find all kinds of vermin on farm land. That's not surprising or shocking. But lettuce transported to a distributor with dead rats in it?
What killed the rats? This was not a one-time occurrence, it happened over and over with each shipment. It wasn't lack of food. Maybe it was being crushed under the weight of the produce. But how safe is it to transport raw produce that people will eat (usually raw) with dead rats when you have no idea how the rats died?
Congress didn't focus on that aspect. Even though it is widely assumed that waste in the growing stage was responsible for the E-coli outbreak in spinach, Congress chose to ignore that aspect and focus solely on facilities that 'packaged' spinach (put it in plastic bags). Day laborers Ava and C.I. spoke with were very clear as to how human waste could be an issue in the fields. They do not have adequate breaks (some get no breaks), they do back breaking labor and are paid pennies (based on how much they pick) so the easiest thing in the world when you need to go to the bathroom to step aside and go right there in the field. The laborers Ava and C.I. spoke with could all provide examples of workers who did just that. And, if you were forced to work in those conditions, paid pennies and offered little or no rest breaks, you probably would as well.
On page nine of the Comittee's twelve page report, the committee finally got around to feces:
In March 2007, the California Department of Health Services and FDA issued a report of a comprehensive investigation into the causes of the 2006 outbreak of E. Coli 0157:H7 in spinach. The investigators determined that the most likely source of introduction was in the field, an area FDA does not routinely inspect. The investigation found no obvious sources for introduction at the processing facility, but did find multiple factors in the facility that could have contributed to the spread of the pathogen, such as invalidated methods for testing wash water and incomplete records.
The causative E. coli DNA fingerprint was found in feces from nearby grazing cattle, feces from wild boars that had apparently gained access to the fields, and river water. The most likely route for this E. coli to contaminate the spinach was probably the contamination of water outside of the plant, either contamination of irrigation water or contamination of the water used to process the spinach, or both.
None of the 199 inspection reports reviewed by Committee staff contained any observations from practices in the fields. [. . .]
Wild boor? It's possible. It's also possible that you saw what labor activists who speak to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office receives: No response, lack of concern. So much tidier to blame wild boor than if the government had to actually do their job and start inspect the working conditions for farm labor. Produce is big business and how nice that a wild boor or two can be blamed for the fecal waste.
The government includes Congress. Well after the fact, the US Congress finally issued a 'report.'
It wasn't much of a report. They do have staff. They have staff that can investigate. Before they began 'researching' their report, they knew waste was being blamed and they knew it was thought to arrive in the fields where the spinach grew. Not only does the report ignore that for two-thirds of its limited pages, it did no research on the matter. It took a state and US government report and summarized those findings.
Congressional staffers are supposed to research and that entails more than visiting a library. The Committee's report concludes that E-coli was introduced in the field and that there need to be more field inspections -- and yet no Congressional staffer visited a field to write the supposed report.
In 2004, John Bachir asked Ralph Nader to reflect on the changes in consumer advocacy and Nader replied, "Decades ago it was full of victories in the sixties and seventies. Full of victories. You know, regulated the lack of safety in motor vehicles, flammable fabrics, Product Safety Commission, all kinds of -- going after usury interest rates for the poor and many other pieces of legislation. But now it's purely defensive. It's trying to hold the gains of the sixties and seventies and that's become a losing fight because the Democrats are not going after the Republicans on this issue, even in this campaign. The Republicans are terrible on consumer protection and the Democrats are not fighting back."
True in 2004, true today.
Thursday the US Food and Drug Administration issued an announcement noting: "FDA is updating its warning to consumers nationwide concerning the outbreak of Salmonella serotype Saintpaul. As of today, FDA officials believe that consumers may enjoy all types of fresh tomatoes available on the domestic market, without concern of becoming infected with Salmonella Saintpaul. The agency is removing the warning that has been in place since June 7, which states that consumers should avoid certain types of fresh tomatoes due to a potential connection to the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak. Consumers may resume enjoying any type of fresh tomato, including raw red plum, raw red Roma, and raw red round tomatoes. While we are changing our consumer guidance about tomatoes, we reiterate our guidance to consumers that those in vulnerable populations (infants, the elderly, and immune-compromised people) should avoid eating jalapeno and serrano peppers as the investigation continues."
And now it's tomatoes. How are you supposed to feed yourself (or your family) if you can't even trust that the food supply is safe? Again, we're not talking about processed foods. We're talking about raw produce, supposedly the best thing for you in terms of nutrients, minerals and fiber. Who especially needs those things in the population? The elderly, the immune-compromised people and infants. They most need the nutrients, minerals and fiber and they're being warned off certain produce.
How is that acceptable? How is acceptable that the United States is getting used to warnings and alerts on fresh produce?
The FDA has foot dragged on this issue as well. As has Congress.
June 7th was when the FDA issued their warning on tomatoes. And last week you finally got some public statements from members of Congress. Statements, not actions while, as Jim Downing (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Americans have continued to get sick -- at a rate of about 20 people per day". US House Rep Diana DeGette issued a statement Thursday: "It is absolutely outrageous that we are 90 days into the salmonella outbreak and the FDA and CDC still cannot determine the source of contamination. Currently, over 1200 cases of salmonella have been reported, hundreds have been hospitalized, while the outbreak has affected 41 states, including Washington, DC and even Canada. The salmonella outbreak continues to spread, with nearly 30 cases a day, because we do not have a national, comprehensive food traceability system that would quickly track our foods from the field to the fork. . . . Now the FDA is saying that tomatoes are safe, but only because they have a short shelf life. We still don't know the source of the contamination and that is inexcusable."
DeGette is correct, it's inexcusable. She's incorrect in only pinning the blame on the FDA. Congress has done nothing on this issue. Friday, Stephen J. Hedges (Chicago Tribune) quoted a letter Senator Tom Harkin sent to Michael Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, "It seems highly unlikely that tomatoes harvested in April would still be consumed fresh by consumers in late June." Harkin's correct. The warning's been removed only because the produce is now off the shelves.
And where was Congress?
Public safety involves far more than protection from planes flying into buildings. How would the government respond to a terrorist attack?
With the issue of the tomatoes, we're seeing they would respond slowly and indifferently. Having released a report (March 2008) on the spinach, why is it taking them so long to respond on the tomatoes? Shouldn't they have been outraged? Shouldn't they have immediately called hearings? Where is the oversight?
Democrats make a show at holding the line for what's already been accomplished and Republicans just don't care? That's what it looks like. But we live in a changing world and 'holding the line' just isn't good enough.
Congress got some press on a report they issued recently. It was exploring the lies told by Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. We don't know what they thought they were going to accomplish by revisiting those topics; however, we know what the end result was. No blame, no culprits, no prosecution. But the message: Oh, those bad Republicans.
So excuse us if we see it as yet another use of tax payer funds so the Democratically-controlled Congress can try to self-promote during an election year.
Meanwhile people were getting ill from eating fresh produce. And where was Congress?
Their own March report demonstrated that the FDA was not remotely doing their job. They attempted to pin it off on maybe the FDA didn't have enough funding. Should that be the catch-all for any investigation into the latest threat to public safety, Congress should be asked why they didn't up the funding already.
Public hearings should have been called immediately and FDA officials should have been forced to testify. In addition, they should have sought public testimony from people who know something about the issue: growers, laborers, labor activists and journalists like David Bacon. Instead it was weeks and weeks of inaction after the June 7th FDA alert. The answer was, apparently, don't eat tomatoes. That's no answer and it provides no public safety.
There's plenty of blame to pass around. Panhandle Media either ignored the issue or played like the 'reports' in Tim Burton's Batman where repeating public warnings passes off as reporting. Strongest example of bad 'reporting' would come via the July 9th broadcast of Democracy Now! ("As Global Food Crisis Tops G8 Summit Agenda, World Leaders Enjoy Lavish 18-Course Banquet") where Frances Moore Lappe demonstrated that not only did she fail to grasp how to dress for TV (horizontal stripes?) but also that there was no point in interviewing her. As she droned on and on about 'food,' she never once noted that tomato alert, she never once called out public safety in terms of nutrition or in terms of safety.
She couldn't stop talking about how there is more than enough food in the world. Awareness tells you two things. First, the quantity of food is meaningless if it can't be eaten. Second, outrage is building in the US over the continued failures in our food supply. When outrage builds over any product in the US -- regardless of the product -- what generally happens is not an elimination of it. It's no longer sold in the US; however, it does become big as an export. So you cannot talk about the global supply of food without noting the repeated alerts on produce.
Everyone has a right to believe that the food they eat is safe. The lack of response from the FDA and Congress on this issue may very well be the best demonstration of how they will mishandle and ignore public safety in the future. And you didn't have to talk 'weapons' or 'terrorists' to figure that out.