Obama’s New Safety Cops

[ProSense]

Obama’s New Safety Cops

After years of lax standards, the Food and Drug Administration is getting tough.

By Lester Feder | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Aug 13, 2009

On July 31, 12 federal agents raided a facility in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, seizing $2.7 million dollars worth of finished product and numerous 55-gallon barrels of raw materials. These were not narcotics officers taking down a meth lab, however. The raid was led by the Food and Drug Administration, and they were after skin-care products.

Actually, it was hand sanitizer manufactured by Clarcon Biological Chemical Laboratory Inc., including the brands CitruShield Barrier Lotion and Mom Nature Vastly Superior Sanitizer for Hands. In June, Clarcon voluntarily recalled several of its brands when the FDA discovered that they included "extremely high" levels of bacteria that could cause serious infections that might require "medical or surgical attention." But Clarcon refused to destroy the products after the recall, so the FDA sent in U.S. Marshals to ensure that the recalled sanitizer didn't find its way back onto the market. (Clarcon did not return messages seeking comment.)

Then, on Aug. 7, the FDA sent U.S. Marshals out yet again, this time to seize tuna-salad sandwiches manufactured by Southern Belle Sandwich Co. of Baton Rouge, La., whose Web site describes the company as a family-owned business that supplies convenience stores along the Gulf Coast. (Southern Belle also did not respond to a request for comment.) According to the agency's press release, "Recent FDA inspections found evidence of widespread and active rodent and insect infestation, filthy conditions, and poor employee practices, such as allowing food-processing utensils to lie on the floor near live insects."

The FDA only made eight such raids in all of fiscal year 2008, so executing two within one week is something of an enforcement bonanza. Under the previous administration, FDA enforcement actions of all kinds declined by roughly 50 percent, even though the number of problems identified by field inspectors remained steady, according to a report by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee. To underscore just how serious the FDA is about cracking down on offenders, President Obama's new FDA commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, made a speech last week putting manufacturers on notice.

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[JayMusgrove]

1. Good ! Another part of the "change" I voted for. n/'t

[ProSense]

2. Obviously, someone voted for Bush and the status quo's version of the FDA. n/t

[demigoddess]

3. Hallelujah!! It is about time.

Pro-lifers my ass, they didn't mind poisoning children, and pregnant women, and mothers, and fathers, and grandma, and grandpa.

[hedgehog]

5. It's not about companies setting out to deliberately poison people,

it's about individuals who are so ignorant that they won't believe they are poisoning people. If you try to tell them, obviously you are lying to them to forward your agenda. Thus, someone who warns against carbon dioxide contributing to global climate change is really anti-American and trying to destroy Our Way of Life.

[hedgehog]

4. Has anyone seen similar changes at OSHA?

OSHA gave Crucible Specialty Metals a pass for years. Last January, a man was killed because he was working on equipment that should have been locked and tagged. They didn't even have it shut off. Osha came down on them with 71 major violations and fines.

http://www.syracuse.com/today/index.ssf/2009/07/crucible_faces_large_fines_for.html


Some here maintain that OSHA is jumping on a corpse since the company is in bankruptcy. On the other hand, if OSHA had forced the company to eliminate safety hazards years ago, the company would have been forced to hire people who knew how to make steel and might have turned a profit!

[rasputin1952]

6. There is no such thing as "jumping on a corpse" when it comes

to safety violations. The companies I've worked for before all watch safety issues and OSHA actions knowing that a company can be destroyed by OSHA actions if they come down the pike.

It is better to avoid and alleviate problems before some tragic event occurs. Under bush, OSHA was seen as an enemy to business, they took the teeth out of OSHA. With things changing, even a company in bankruptcy proceedings is noticed by other companies and things change w/in the companies that see the "handwriting on the wall".

There will always be companies and people that could care less about the employees they have...but the majority do care, and work hard to provide a safe environment in which to work. Every time an OSHA "triggering event" happens, it is a reminder to others to keep up a standard.

[KakistocracyHater]

7. I hate minutiae, BUT people that could care less/ couldn't care less

& yes my butt is backwards, where it belongs & comfortable to sit upon.:+ <I feel like that fer saying....

[rasputin1952]

8. I'v

worked for saome pretty crappy companies where mgmt did nothing for it's employees...it was all about cash flow, period. One of them had a death because lockout/tagout meant nothing to them. They were heavily fined, went out of business and started another business immediately after they went down; OSHA was not impressed, and they were in the new company every week, no harrassment, just noting violations, and the goomer that ran the place finally figured out that a few changes, to become compliant cost them a lot less than what could have happened to them again.

Another thing I found out...if gas tanks aren't tied down, and the company winds up on TV or a commercial shows the tanks not chained, they are liable for a citation and fine, even wehen OSHA people don't physically enter the fascility. I'm not sure I agree w/that policy, but it keeps owners/managers on their toes...:hi:

[jesus_of_suburbia]

9. Oh God... that article was disgusting... the FDA cracking down is a VERY good thing,

I support even more inspections and crackdowns.


"The FDA only made eight such raids in all of fiscal year 2008"

That quote is VERY scary, but not surprising considering the Republicans were in charge for such a long time (we've had less than 3 years, and less than 1 year in the Presidency).

[Kdillard]

10. Excellent :) Finally the FDA can get back to doing it's job.

[SpartanDem]

11. K&R

[TheKentuckian]

12. Another case of the "there's not a hair's breadth between the parties" types needing to

wear a dunce cap and suck their thumbs with their britches around their ankles.

The Republicans running the show for 3/4 of the last forty years has raped and pilaged the courts and maybe even more so the BUREAUCRACY.

Sane management counts a hell of a lot more than many will ever admit.
Sure, I'd love to see a much wider gap (or a rational opposition) but that's rather difficult when you have a two party system and one goes completely off the rails. We have absorbed all the moderates and the sane Republicans and now it is pro versus anti-democratic governance/corporate friendly versus cede it all to the corporations.

Those might not be the differences I wish to be focusing on in the 21st century but only a complete fool can't understand the life and death contrasts.

[krispos42]

13. Good government in action.

If the laws are enforced fairly, they affect business equally, and thus no competative advantage is gained or lost. But the company that can disregard regulations while its competition doesn't has a business advantage that is unfair.

[depakid]

14. Meanwhile, Stewart Parnell and others at Peanut Corp. are walking around scot free just laughing

They must be thinking- "sweet, the Justice Department isn't interested in criminals like us. Good thing we knowingly violated federal laws, killed and sickened people for years and made our money before the FDA got back on the ball."