US Food Safety might be in the hands of two INDUSTRY guys. Um, NO.
Guess who is up for FOOD SAFETY jobs at Department of Agriculture,
right when we are in the middle of a record food safety crisis?
1. Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto executive whose career literally fits the d
efinition of the revolving door between government, lobbying and corporate interests. Before serving on the Obama ag transition team, Taylor made a name for himself rotating in and out of law firms, Monsanto, the USDA and FDA. While at the FDA he helped write the rules to allow rBGH into the American food system and our children’s milk.
2. On Monday, Secretary Vilsack is set to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Osterholm, a food safety expert, to lead the Food Safety agency at the USDA. According to Food & Water Watch, Osterholm has been “a zealot in promoting th[e] controversial technology (of irradiation) as the panacea to contaminated food.” Irradiation allows food processors to nuke disease from contaminated food at the end of the production line, while ignoring the root problems that create unsafe food. For Osterholm, the recent peanut butter fiasco apparently was just another example of how irradiation could save the day.
“Clearly it’s a problem where the raw peanut butter or paste is consumed and not cooked,” Osterholm said. About the magnitude of America’s most recent food safety crisis, Osterholm said, “The recall has reached a level that is far beyond what’s necessary.” Try telling that to the relatives of the nine people who died and to the over 600 sick individuals across the country.
The problem, Osterholm doesn’t take constructive criticism of his favorite technology lightly. In 1999 he wrote an editorial calling food safety advocates who questioned the safety of irradiation terrorists. This doesn’t sound like the type of leader that the USDA needs right now.
Would you like to help defend America’s food supply?
Write Secretary Vilsack ( AgSec@usda.gov ) and tell him to stand strong on food safety.
Join Food Democracy Now! in calling for true reformers to be placed in positions at the USDA, FDA and beyond. We need a food safety system with some teeth – one that is independent of corporate interests.
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/
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