Reply #12: Chaos and Disaster are opportunities for *Co to promote/"sell" their Privatization "argument": [View All]

[tiptoe]

(1) by demonstrating through bad performance how unreliable and inefficient (*Co's own) "US government" operations can be,...

(2) abetted by

    (a) guaranteed underfunding of gov't agency budgets as direct consequence of deliberate US Treasury drain via Norquistian "starve the beast" tax cuts for the wealthy and "perpetual war(s)" (...a domestic spending purpose for foreign-wars-based-on-lies?) and
    (b) agency-personnel-appointments, whose "performances" both analysts and victims of government-"run" operations (like *-FEMA's response to Katrina-chaos, or *-SBA's non-response to 9/11 with emergency loans) have attributed to "incompetence" (...even as * hands out "heckuvajob" acclamations)

Example of a current-developing "disaster opportunity" (in addition to the mentioned potential "weather disaster opportunity"):
FOOD FEARS: Is America's Food Supply Safe? - PBS

BETTY ANN BOWSER: So let's get into all this, this is all seafood, fish, right? Shrimp, seafood, some kind of dip. Tell us about these.
WILLIAM HUBBARD: Betty Ann, FDA's had tremendous concerns about imported Asian seafood from countries like China and Vietnam. They will often raise the fish in heavily polluted water and the fish are subject to fungal infections and bacterial infections. So the farmers will add illegal antibodies called fluoroquinolones or an anti-fungal agent called malachite green. And then that fish will arrive here in the United States with these illegal chemicals in them. And FDA has found tremendous problems with those. These are illegal drugs that are a big problem for human health and should never be in our seafood. But FDA has many times found problems with those. The same is true with shrimp.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Wait a minute, let me stop you. Are these chemicals that have been given to these shrimp and fish, are they on this label anywhere?
WILLIAM HUBBARD: Oh absolutely not. These are illegal chemicals and drugs that are not allowed for use in the United States, but are used in these foreign countries to keep the fish from dying before they can send them to us. And then unfortunately they can be in the tissue of the fish when we eat them and FDA has found that problem repeatedly over many years. But it cannot go back to the foreign country and say you must stop sending us this tainted food.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Why not?
WILLIAM HUBBARD: FDA has to keep looking and keep finding it. FDA has no authority to say to a foreign country, you continue to send us unsafe food, we're not taking anymore. Don't send it anymore until you'll fix the problem that you're in. FDA cannot do that.
...Shrimp has been a particular problem. Imagine the shrimp coming up from a hot Indian Ocean deck, put on a boat hours before it gets into port. And then it, it decomposes and it smells so bad you dump sodium saccharin all over to hide the odor and then ship it to the Americans. That's not something people want.

...

GAO Report in February: Federal Oversight of Food Safety

"Food safety — a High RISK Area...with...
   Inconsistent Oversight
   Ineffective Coordination
   Inefficient Use of Resources...
Food Poisoning — 76 million Americans contract food poisioning EACH YEAR ...resulting in about 5000 deaths"

David Acheson (FDA) says until Congress gives FDA more money and more regulatory authority...MOST OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR FOOD SAFETY WILL CONTINUE TO FALL ON THE SHOULDERS OF FOOD PROCESSERS [i.e. "private"]. IN THE PAST THAT HAS LED TO DISASTER: In March, 1000s of pet deaths were blamed on imported wheat gluten and rice protein, both contaminated with melamine. They were imported from China, by 100s of American companies that manufacture dog and cat food. Then weeks after its initial finding, the FDA said testing showed wheat flour [disguised as wheat gluten] containing melamine was the problem.
...
Sentiment is growing on Capitol Hill to create one SUPER AGENCY -- with twice the money and twice the personnel -- TO POLICE THE US FOOD SUPPLY. BUT SO FAR PASSAGE OF DEFINITIVE LEGISLATION IS NOT IMMINENT.
...
JIM LEHRER: On the domestic supply front, this week an Ohio company recalled its animal feed products because they contained melamine. The FDA said the levels were too low to pose a health hazard to humans, BUT IT'S INVESTIGATING WHY THE COMPANY WAS ADDING THAT BANNED SUBSTANCE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Extended Interview: FORMER FDA Official Discusses Food Safety

(Originally Aired: June 8, 2007)
William Hubbard is a former associate commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He spoke with NewsHour correspondent Betty Ann Bowser about his concerns about the FDA's ability to inspect foreign foods.

WILLIAM HUBBARD: I don't think people need to worry today that the food they're eating is unsafe. But they need to be worried that the regulatory system that protects them from someone who may send bad food is almost nonexistent. The FDA has had 10 straight years of budget cuts. They are incapable of protecting us. Plus Congress and the administration have cut their budget steadily.
...
"...in fact, it's really difficult to even find the processed food today that doesn't have foreign ingredients. So virtually everything we're eating is coming from foreign countries. The real question is: Can FDA screen those foods to make sure they're safe?
...
"FDA only has about 300 import inspectors to manage 13 million shipments of foreign food each year. So the real issue is will Congress beef up the FDA and allow it to check these foods out before they get to us?

BETTY ANN BOWSER: How would they do it?

WILLIAM HUBBARD: Well the first thing you do is you open the containers and sample them and examine them. And of course you can also do things like ask the other country to take more steps to protect the food before they send it here. USDA could do that for meat, but FDA cannot do that for the product it regulates.
...