An FDA fig leaf
In the wake of numerous cases of poisonous Chinese goods making their way onto store shelves (including toxic pet food sold in the US), the FDA has decided to initiate what it hopes will be perceived as a bold step:
Under fire for not having the resources to better protect consumers at home, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is deploying staff members abroad to work directly with importers and foreign regulatory agencies to guard against contaminated animal feed, counterfeit drugs, toys made with lead paint and dairy products containing melamine.
On Wednesday, the FDA will open it first overseas office here in China, whose growing role as an exporter of food and drug products to the United States has combined with several recent food safety scares to prompt the change in strategy.
That sounds promising, but the FDA is only sending thirteen employees to China to oversee $320 billion worth of goods flooding our markets from their poisonous factories.
That's all; just thirteen employees to oversee thousands of plants.
Gee, I feel better already.
Even some in China think it's pointless:
Jiang Weibo, a professor at China Agriculture University's School of Food Sciences, is skeptical that the challenge can be met.
"The FDA can never find all the potential poisons in Chinese-exported food products," Jiang said. "There are dozens of pesticides used. Each product might have more than a thousand different poisonous possibilities."
During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to take a second look at NAFTA and other trade deals. I certainly hope that second look extends to GATT, which is the agreement permitting poisonous Chinese goods to land on our store shelves. Globalization has resulted in a mostly unmonitored flow of food and pharmaceuticals into our markets from God knows where, using God knows what ingredients, and with no significant consequences for the perpetrators.
We need a complete renegotiation of GATT that imposes sanctions for violations of consumer safety. Enough is enough.