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Child Safety: Are FDA Decisions Made In America?

By Steve Lombardi

Are FDA decisions MADE IN AMERICA?

We’ve been talking about melamine poisoning in the food supply. Melamine is a man-made product that was introduced into the food chain in China. It’s poison to humans, causing kidney stones and can cause kidney failure. Americans have been assured by the FDA that it’s not in American products or on our shelves. Quietly since September the U.S. government has been testing foods.

With this quiet testing being done the FDA continued to issue advisories telling us there was nothing to worry about; an advisory tone that would naturally lead people to believe melamine wasn’t in the United States.

The FDA didn’t tell us about these test results and with what the FDA reported it would seem there were no concerns for the American consumer. Mothers feeding baby formula to their infant child didn’t need to worry. The public didn’t know the results of the government tests until the Associated Press obtained that information and disclosed that melamine was detected in baby formula within the United State.

“FDA finds traces of melamine in US infant formula

Nov. 25, 2008

By Martha Mendoza and Justin Pritchard

Associated Press Writers

Previously undisclosed tests, obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the FDA has detected melamine in a sample of one popular formula and the presence of cyanuric acid, a chemical relative of melamine, in the formula of a second manufacturer.

Separately, a third major formula maker told AP that in-house tests had detected trace levels of melamine in its infant formula.

The three firms—Abbott Laboratories, Nestle and Mead Johnson—manufacture more than 90 percent of all infant formula produced in the United States.

The FDA and other experts said the melamine contamination in U.S.-made formula had occurred during the manufacturing process, rather than intentionally.”

The way this has been publicly disclosed raises very serious questions and concerns about why the FDA chose not to disclose that melamine was in the baby formula in the United States, how it was introduced and whether we can trust the FDA to tell us the truth.

While in college I had a wall poster that showed a squiggly man looking out from over a wall with the inscription “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they are not out to get you.”

Is melamine in the American food chain? Obviously it is. What is disturbing about all of this is that the FDA did test baby formula from products already in the United States and determined it was present in baby formula; then promptly did nothing.

There is obviously something odd going on with children. On October 28, 2008 a New York Times article discussed kidney stones in American children are on the increase. We do know that melamine causes or does something medically that leads to kidney stones.

“While there are no reliable data on the number of cases, pediatric urologists and nephrologists across the country say they are seeing a steep rise in young patients. Some hospitals have opened pediatric kidney stone clinics.”

A Rise In Kidney Stones is Seen In U.S. Children

Lately the Chinese government raised the estimates for the number of children affected by the melamine poisoning.

“December 2, 2008 - BEIJING — Chinese officials on Monday issued a higher estimate for the number of children affected by tainted dairy products, saying that as many as six babies might have died and nearly 300,000 were sickened after consuming contaminated milk powder.

In its last update, in mid-September, the government set the death toll at three infants, with 50,000 others made ill after consuming milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastics and fertilizers. The substance, which has also been found in eggs and animal feed, was added to thicken watered-down milk to fool tests that measure protein content.”

Is bad news known by the FDA being purposefully withheld from the American public? In other words is someone stalling while contaminated food works it’s way though the system and out of the food chain?

“December 2, 2008 - The Ministry of Health issued a statement saying that 860 babies who drank tainted milk were still hospitalized with kidney or urinary-tract problems; 154 of those were described as being in serious condition. “Most of the sickened children received outpatient treatment only for small amounts of sand-like kidney stones found in their urinary systems, while a part of the patients had to be hospitalized for the illness,” the ministry said. “

The FDA says melamine isn’t and won’t get into the U.S. food supply; well that was before the AP published FDA tests that showed melamine, a man-made chemical used in plastics in baby formula; formula that was already in the United States.

Are there FDA officials with conflicts of interest that influence FDA policy?

We know from the past it’s happened.

“October 17, 2006 - WASHINGTON - Former FDA commissioner Lester Crawford pleaded guilty Tuesday to conflict of interest and falsely reporting information about stocks he owned in food, beverage and medical device companies that he was in charge of regulating.

Crawford appeared before U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson and admitted falsely reporting that he had sold the stock when he continued holding shares in the firms governed by FDA rules.

The charges — conflict of interest and false reporting — are misdemeanors and each carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

As head of the Food and Drug Administration, Crawford oversaw regulation of products that account for an estimated 25 cents of every dollar spent each year by U.S. consumers.”

Many of us want to believe our government does work and that if food contamination existed a warning system would actively protect us. There is a food contamination warning system in place, but it’s not the best of systems and doesn’t always work. We have a one out of three chance it will fail.

“October 13, 2006 - WASHINGTON - A warning system meant to alert food companies in the event of a food poisoning outbreak failed one-third of the time in a recent government test.

The Food and Drug Administration was able to reach an emergency contact for a food facility in every two out of three cases.

Developed in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, the system is supposed to help the government track the source of an outbreak of foodborne illness and help notify companies that might be affected.”

The manner in which melamine contamination in baby formula was disclosed sets a dangerous precedent. The FDA has made a mistake and should admit it along with disclosing who in the FDA made the decision to keep it from being reported. We need to have trust in the FDA and without transparency that trust is seriously questioned.

All test results should be produced online for the American public to read. Like the UPC Coding systems transparency is missing in country of origin product information. The public needs to know from where products originated. What is the country of origin? Consumers need to be able to determine on store shelves the country of origin, country of manufacturer, country of packaging and country where products were compounded. Keeping us in the dark is not a solution.

As I’ve previously written, the product labeling that currently exists might as well be written in Chinese.

“Identifying country of origin for drugs and foods are the most critical. In this blog I’m dealing only with food products. Food products are the toughest. The older I get the more it appears the most obvious problem is the reason for the problem or the answer to the motivation that created the problem. In this case the most obvious problem is the consumer can’t determine the country of origin. That is the motivation, at least in part, for this coding system. If consumers can’t tell the country of origin they are unable to select products based on country of origin. Is this the intention of the Republic of China Free Trade Agreements?

In the end the bar-coding system may as well be written in Chinese.”

The American public wants to trust it’s government, and to be assured that it’s Made in America.

We've been told to not turn to the government every time our nose runs, well then help us to help ourselves. Come clean FDA. Tell us what those test results showed. Change the labeling requirements to clearly show country of origin. Make decisions that restore the faith of the American people that in fact decisions that affect our health, safety and welfare are being MADE IN AMERICA.

“Crawford, a veterinarian and food-safety expert, abruptly resigned from the FDA post in September 2005 but gave no reason for leaving. He had held the job for two months, following his confirmation by the Senate. He had been acting head of the agency for more than a year. He currently works for Policy Directions Inc., a Washington lobbying firm.

Former FDA chief Lester Crawford will plead guilty for failing to disclose a financial interest in companies his agency regulated, his lawyer said Monday.”

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on December 05, 2008 (boomark / email).