Throwing Stones

Here we are in one of the wealthiest countries the world has ever known, and we have virtually no regulation of chemicals and people still get sick -- sometimes very sick -- from food and drugs that have been marketed as safe.

The Food and Drug Administration is pathetic, right? Well, perhaps, but the FDA isn't responsible for all the things in the paragraph above.

Chemicals are divided between it and the EPA -- ostensibly depending on their use, but in practice, sometimes defying logic.

And meat, which is certainly food -- however much some vegetarians wish it weren't -- is overseen by the USDA, which might well be the most industry-entangled government agency the world has ever known.

The FDA, at least, is attempting to give itself a friendlier public face, sending its special adviser for food safety, Michael Taylor, off to -- it had to come to this eventually -- blog for the Atlantic.

Taylor used to be the Under Secretary of Food Safety at the USDA. Is it strange, then, that his introductory post talks up safety in produce and peanut butter, but never mentions meat? Tom Laskawy thinks so.

I'm not convinced: It's not politically savvy to cast cyber stones at other agencies -- even when they really, really deserve it.

But Laskawy makes another, more damning point: Taylor beats the drum for better communication and coordination in food safety, but fails to mention increasing inspections, which were gutted under the Bush administration; requiring more evidence of product safety from pharmaceuticals and food processors; or hitting companies with more than a slap on the wrist when they repeatedly violate regulations.

Photo credit: Mackarus