Peter (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} hethatishere) wrote,@ 2008-11-30 06:12:00 |
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On Vox: Obama: Please Fix Our Broken Government Safeguards
Only a few months ago we had the egregious FDA decision endorsing the use of BPA in consumer products even though it is known to leech from the plastic into our bodies. and that utterly ignores the research that suggests this is quite bad for us. Only after a huge flood of negative press which noted the conflict of interest in the panel that made the decision and which pointed out the mounting evidence against BPA. Today we have the FDA telling us that small amounts of melamine in products for human consumption is okay so long as it is in tiny amounts.
Okay, fair enough tiny amounts don't bother me that much - except that you, the FDA, are charged with protecting us consumers against abuses and negligence on the part of corporations that have repeatedly shown zero regard for the health and well-being of their customers. You are the only line of defense we have. You keep showing us you constantly bow to the pressure from industry lobbyists, make decisions that lack enough evidence to be safely made and even ignore evidence to the contrary of your decisions. The BPA decision ignored more than 100 peer-reviewed studies noting that BPA leeches from plastics and that noted BPA's numerous connections to serious illnesses. Instead the FDA based their decisions on a handful of studies funded by the chemical industry. I've seen 5th graders with a more commanding understanding of the Scientific method and evaluating evidence.
There is no reason for melamine to be in baby formula, medicine, or food. None. Zero. It's called contamination, whether purposefully or not. So why is it that the FDA in all of its brilliance allows it to be present at all when there is not a damn reason why any product should have even the smallest amount of anything poisonous or dangerous in it (especially when it is unlisted) that is fit for human consumption.
The end result is an expensive and innefective Government bureaucracy that can absolutely not be trusted to do the very thing it was created to do. This is by our Government's own admission. The FDA's decisions equates to saying, that carelessness and abuse by Corporations is okay so long as it is barely noticeable or they stack our panels with people sympathetic to their cause, or they outright pay us to ignore it. We should not have to trust the capricious profit-oriented media to keep the FDA in check as they did with the BPA issue. They should be doing their damn jobs to begin with. Their jobs, which I might add, must also include regulating the "dietary supplement" market which has gotten away with misleading consumers and peddling dangerous products for years.
Our Government needs a serious overhaul and often in ways that are overlooked. The much-needed overhaul of patent law and removing the conflict of interest the U.S Patent Office has to approve junk patents so that they can have a bigger budget. The FCC sheer insurmountable incompetence in all aspects of protecting consumer rights, and maintaining a healthy and diverse market of competition that avoids media consolidation.
Please future President Obama: Save us from our own Government.
More Information:
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1
http://www.eyeonfda.com/
Originally posted on iheijoushin.vox.com
