Congressional Food Safety Caucus Hosts Panel Discussion With Victims of Food Borne Illness

Congressional Food Safety Caucus Hosts Panel Discussion With Victims of Food Borne Illnesses

WASHINGTON - The Congressional Food Safety Caucus today hosted a panel discussion with victims of food borne illnesses to raise public awareness on the dangers with our food supply. The event was entitled "Three Perspectives on Food Borne Illness" and was moderated by Dr. Pamela Russo of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3), co-chair of the Food Safety Caucus, opened the discussion. Following are her comments as delivered.

"Hello, I am Congresswoman DeLauro, co-chair of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus and would like to welcome you to today's panel, which will give us three perspectives on food-borne illness. Before I introduce our moderator, I would like to first thank Safe Tables Our Priority-STOP-for all they have done to help raise public awareness on the dangers of food borne illness. In the process, they have provided us with critical data that has fueled our efforts to secure our food supply. So, today we thank them.

"Every year, millions suffer from the effects of food borne illness in this country. The CDC estimates that 76 million people become ill annually, with about 5,000 of those people dying. Such figures are startling - and tell us securing our food supply should be a priority for this Congress.

"But this effort is not about statistics, numbers or trends - it is about lives. Food borne illness has touched all of us in some way. But today, we have with us families whose lives have been forever altered by food borne illness - who have learned that inadequate protections of our food supply can have tragic, heartbreaking consequences.

"Tragedy is what brought Barbara Kowalcyk here today - her son Kevin died from complications brought on by E. coli. It is what brought Ann Koesterer here today - her daughter Katelyn was almost killed by complications brought on by E. coli in a hamburger. And it is what brings Sarah Moynihan to us - her sister was also seriously stricken by E. coli.

"Three healthy people with their entire lives ahead of them - all afflicted by the very same lethal pathogen. Their stories and others like them are the reason we come together today. Their courage inspires us - their stories call us to action.

"Their courage called on us to form the Food Safety Caucus, to educate Members on food safety issues from the farm to the table. With 29 bi-partisan members, we are hoping to provide a venue in which we can discuss these issues with the public and private sectors and, ultimately, inform legislative efforts that keep the public safe. That means discussing what happens on our farms, in our food processing establishments, in our supermarkets, our restaurants, our homes and in other places food is handled.

"Today's forum is part of that effort. These families have dedicated their lives to reducing the number of people with food borne illness, and we want to work with them achieve that goal.

"Now let me introduce our panel moderator. Dr. Pamela Williams Russo is the team leader of Public Health for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is showing a real commitment to the issue of food safety. There, she is the senior program officer for the Health and Society Scholars Program and the Young Epidemiology Scholars Program, dedicated to improving public health practice, accountability and advocacy.

"Dr. Russo came to the Foundation in November 2000 from the Cornell University Medical Center in New York City, where she was associate professor of medicine, director of the clinical outcomes section, and program co-director for the master's program and fellowship in clinical epidemiology and health services research.

"She has earned an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and completed her residency in primary care general internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, followed by a fellowship in clinical epidemiology and rheumatology at Cornell University Medical Center and the Hospital for Special Surgery. She also earned an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health and a B.S. from Harvard College.

"We are delighted to have her with us today. I give you, Dr. Pamela Williams Russo."