WASHINGTON, July 18, 2007
Bush Creates Import Safety Panel
Cabinet-Level Panel To Report Recommendations To President In 60 Days
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President Bush gestures in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 during a meeting with the Import Safety group on to discuss ways to protect all imports coming into the U.S. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)
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"It's important for the American people to know their government is on top of this situation and constantly reviewing procedures and practices," Bush said after his first meeting with the Import Safety Working Group. The panel would report its recommendations to the president in 60 days.
The White House denied the effort was aimed primarily at China, the source of a variety of imports that have recently been identified as tainted or compromised.
Bush said the administration would work with countries that export products to the United States as well as companies that import products.
"This is a serious issue — food safety and consumer safety is a serious issue. We take it seriously," Bush said. "The American people expect their government to work tirelessly to make sure consumer products are safe. And that's precisely what my administration is doing."
He said his administration would "make sure our food supply remains the safest in the world."
The new panel is headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. Other members included the secretary of state, treasury secretary, the attorney general, the White House budget director, the U.S. trade representative, the EPA administrator, the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Transportation and Homeland Security.
Leavitt told reporters, "The world is changing a great deal and Americans have an expectation that the products they buy are safe."
The Food and Drug Administration's ability to monitor the nation's food supply has come under sharp criticism from Congress and others amid a string of high-profile cases of foodborne illness, including E. coli-tainted spinach and salmonella-contaminated peanut butter and snack foods, as well as concerns about drug-laced, farmed fish imported from China.
"This is not a slap at China," White House spokesman Tony Snow said earlier when asked if he thought China would be offended by Bush's action. "This is in fact a normal piece of business. We get food imports from 150 countries around the world. It's important to monitor them all."
Members of Congress have criticized the FDA's plan to close half of its laboratories.
Bush created the new panel with an executive order.
Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, called the formation of the panel "a wonderful step. The administration is moving aggressively to address the issue."
Earlier, she told a Senate hearing that the rapid growth of imports is putting a strain on her agency. The intense pressures on regulatory agencies was also emphasized by officials from the FDA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at the hearing by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who chaired the Senate hearing, was skeptical about the president's executive order, saying it was more important to fund existing agencies adequately than to create a study group.
"We need to have oversight of our marketplace," said Pryor. "I don't know if you need another panel looking at this."
Bush took the action as China announced that teams of food safety officials from the U.S. and China would meet in Beijing at the end of this month to discuss the safety of China's seafood exports. The FDA announced last month that it would detain Chinese catfish and several other categories of fish as well as shrimp and eel after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs that have not been approved in the United States for use in farmed seafood.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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What a joke, which lobbyist or crony needed the a job? I-r-r-e-l-e-v-a-n-t, literally QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK. Where is the country of origin food labels law that was passed why has it not been enacted?
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Well said!!
Posted by macusweil at 05:34 PM : Jul 18, 2007
DITTO: Well said!
Is it blah, blah, blah or is it yap, yap, yap or is it ***, *** ***?
Inquiring minds want to know, King George, The Terrible.
Here are a few more:
A department to oversee the weather across the country;
A department to review education;
A department for national security;
A department for social type security;
Oh, and how about some type of department for justice. . . the possibilities are endless. .
Its purpose: to do something about our trade deficit with the Chinese without appearing to approve of 'tariffs'. LOL.
WHAT A COMPLETE AND TOTAL IDIOT!
This administration is a daily disappointment.
Is he trying to make himself look good before he leaves office?
Helll it should be a kick in their azz.
This comes ONE day after it was announced that the FDA is shutting down 7 of it's food inspection labs??? Wow!! I can't even begin to understand the backwards thinking of the republican party. They'll never make sense to me.
"This is a SERIOUS issue %u2014 food safety and consumer safety is a SERIOUS issue. We take it SERIOUSly," Bush said.
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Bush majored in Valley Girl Speak 101.
Posted by generey at 05:54 PM : Jul 18, 2007
Well said! And I also like to add that "czar" (or "Tsar")was Originally, and indeed during most of its history, the title tsar (derived from Caesar) meant Emperor in the European medieval sense of the term, i.e., a ruler who has the same rank as a Roman or Byzantine emperor.
So what does that said about this adminstration? I guess one day Bush will just declare himself Czar of America!!
Thanks fascistusa for this posting.
-With all this I'll never be able to sleep without having the American People remove this tyrants' spokesperson whom I called from the beginning the George Walking-Liar Bush.
Again ZEITGEISTmovie.com just copy paste in your URL.
Thanks fascistusa for this posting.
-With all this I'll never be able to sleep without having the American People remove this tyrants' spokesperson whom I called from the beginning the George Walking-Liar Bush.
Again ZEITGEISTmovie.com just copy paste in your URL.
This comes how many years after they started letting a communist country feed the US????? I guess it was in the interest of the American people he is going to close numerous labs too? How many want to make a bet this will be just one more useless do nothing department who collects a paycheck weekly???? What a joke! I really feel better about the food I eat knowing this bumbling idiot is on top of it!
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by terrapin78
July 19, 2007 9:50 AM PDT
- If the clowns Bu$h appointed to this commission don't support Country of origin labeling, then they are again only lobbyists for the food industry!
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