Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

FOOD SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - July 29, 2009)

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Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, and commend Chairmen Waxman, Barton, Pallone, Dingell, Deal and Stupak for all of their bipartisan and extensive work on this important legislation.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act is a critical part of protecting the health and wellbeing of our citizens from food-borne illnesses and negligent food manufacturers. This bill strengthens the FDA's oversight of our nation's food supply by increasing inspections, improving traceability, and empowering the agency to order mandatory recalls when necessary.

The FDA is responsible for the safety of 80 percent of our nation's food supply, but only has the resources to inspect food-manufacturing facilities once every 10 years. Over the past several years we have seen an increase in outbreaks of Salmonella, resulting in recalls of tainted food, health problems, and sadly, deaths. The FDA under the Bush Administration failed to take the steps necessary to ensure the safety of our food supply, but this bill, which was approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee with bipartisan support, will change that.

I am pleased that the bill we are considering today also includes a modified version of my bill, the Ban Poisonous Additives--or BPA Act.

BPA is a ubiquitous chemical found in most food and beverage cans and many reusable plastic containers. It was also found in most baby bottles until recently, when major baby bottle manufacturers agreed to voluntarily stop using it because of concerns about its effects on health, which are many: BPA can be linked to increases in breast and prostate cancer risk, heart disease, liver abnormalities and diabetes; BPA can result in adverse impacts to reproductive health; BPA can be linked to increases in obesity, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, brain damage, altered immune function and other problems; BPA can be found at dramatically higher levels in infants than in the rest of the population, and is also found in placental tissue and umbilical cord blood; BPA has been found at higher levels in women with a history of repeated spontaneous miscarriages; and BPA has been shown to alter the effectiveness of chemotherapy in cancer patients.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 calls on FDA to evaluate the approved uses of BPA in food and beverage containers and to tell the Committee on Energy and Commerce whether each use is safe by the end of this year. If FDA finds that BPA isn't safe, it is additionally directed to tell Congress how it plans to protect public health--which could include banning the chemical as well as efforts such as placing warning labels on products that contain it so that the most vulnerable populations will be better able to avoid it.

Not all industries are as receptive to addressing health concerns as the baby bottle manufacturers were. In fact, just recently, the food and packaging industry convened a meeting in Washington at which they devised an expensive public relations claim to combat their consumer confidence crisis. They even concluded that their ``holy grail'' spokesperson would be a pregnant woman who could publicly extol the virtues of BPA, and thought about how to create fears that its removal would lead to scarce or unsafe food products.

Although the baby bottle manufacturers' voluntary action and a variety of State laws banning its use are helpful, what we really need is federal leadership on this vital public health issue, and I am pleased that the FDA has commenced a scientific review of all the data. The language in this bill will ensure that the review occurs quickly and that appropriate steps will be taken to protect public health.

I thank my colleagues for working with me to craft this compromise provision, and I urge support for the underlying bill.

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