Opening Statement: House Committee On Energy And Commerce, Subcommittee On Oversight And Investigations: Can The FDA Assure The Safety And Security Of

Statement

Opening Statement: House Committee On Energy And Commerce, Subcommittee On Oversight And Investigations: Can The FDA Assure The Safety And Security Of The Nation's Food Supply? --Part 2

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D-IL): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing on FDA's ability to secure the nation's food supply.

This serious public health issue brings into sharp relief our reliance on other nations to keep our food safe. Recent high-profile cases of tainted food have brought this issue that has been lurking in cupboards and cabinets to the public's attention. Poison toothpaste, antibiotic-laden seafood, and toxic pet food have brought FDA testing practices and the vulnerabilities of our system into American homes and lives.

Although I was happy to see that the FDA stopped imports of certain seafood from China, unfortunately it appears that action occurred only after this committee and members of Congress sounded the alarm on the issue of tainted fish.

All too often the FDA is only reactive and does not catch dangerous products before they cause illness or even death.

Every year 76 (sic) Americans suffer from food-borne illness. Of those individuals, approximately 325,000 will be hospitalized and more than 5,000 will die. If lax inspections and disjointed oversight continue, if we continue to allow imported ingredients to enter our markets without inspection, we could see those numbers skyrocket.

Tainted imports enter our borders from countries around the world, but recent cases of food and product poisoning point to China in particular as a repeated source of poisoned food and ingredients, and we can't rely on China to come up with a solution.

As Newsweek documents in their July 23rd special report, China lacks, quote, "the will to overhaul a political structure that gives party officials, down to even the smallest villages, huge influence over many facets of economic life," unquote, which has led to the problems we're facing today.

A few high-profile executions of agency heads in China will not reform a system plagued by corruption or where enforcement of food regulations is left to local governments who are susceptible to buy- offs from local businesses.

In order to get a handle on this problem and protect Americans from dangerous products, we must change the way we inspect imported food and ingredients.

In February of this year, the general accountability -- the Government Accountability Office deemed federal oversight of food safety as, quote, "high-risk," unquote, to the economy and public health and safety.

We need to change our regulatory system so that it can effectively screen for dangerous substances and products. We must insure that the FDA has the resources and authority it needs to increase inspections of imported foods and drugs.

Finally, we must make sure that the FDA has access to sophisticated testing techniques to help inspectors identify adulterated imports. As the investigations by the subcommittee have shown, the FDA is a bureaucracy that is not responsive to investigators in the field.

The FDA uses outdated computer programs to determine which foods are high-risk. There are gaping holes in the FDA policy that allows importers to get around regulations. The agency is planning to close seven of its labs instead of working actively to reduce the risk of food-borne illness. The FDA has become almost totally reactive.

I look forward to hearing the testimony of FDA officials, investigators and food safety advocates to get answers to questions about the factors that have allowed unsafe foods to make it to our kitchen tables.

It is time that we act to insure that our food supply is safe.

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