Poisoned food - pet AND human is what you get without regulation and inspections

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

That Republican canard - regulation and oversight is bad for business. Not as bad as poisoning thousands of pets and killing off tens of brands is going to be.

THEY DO NOT HAVE THE MORAL FORTITUDE TO REGULATE THEMSELVES!!!!

Greed and profit will always out.They will always prefer to have a smaller payroll and higher CEO pay. Screw quality, regardless of what their tail wagging, swelling music, and folksy sounding narrator commercials claim.

How hard would it have been for the Peter Pan peanut butter people to do a batch analysis? How about the spinach people? The lunch meat people? The pet foods just brings this to the nth degree. These were millions and millions of cans that were produced for so many different brands over a sustained period of time. Didn't one single company in all that time look at their product to see what they were selling the American public?

What would prevent a malicious person from purposefully contaminating a product in the American food chain? One popular product eaten by millions of Americans? How many would have to die before someone, somewhere made the connection?

This, my friends, is why we NEED regulation and government inspections. The companies will not do it themselves as they have proved time after time after !@#$ing time.

[Junkdrawer]

1. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair....

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1884365302.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Jungle-Uncensored-Original-Upton-Sinclair/dp/1884365302/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8812610-8311165?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174742631&sr=8-1

Must we repeat all the mistakes of history????

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. yes, everything old is new again.

Complacency sets in and we forget the lessons of history.

[izzie]

3. When one thinks in a laissez faire style of govt. it is hard to

stay with the 'some control' by the people kind of govt. You end up being called a communist when all you want is just what you said some control on how you live. It is always the same people who want all the control that seem to get that power by the same rules the people put in in the first place. Govt. by the people is an endless quest. Greed and power are something that never seems to go away.

[zanne]

4. We knew it would happen with these clowns.

I just hope the American public learns from this, too. All the people who grumble about OSHA regulations, saying they're bad for business should be noticing the rise in industrial accidents in this country. I used to trust the FDA, back when its' purpose was to protect the American public from danger and contamination. No more. And the drug companies seem to be testing out it's new medications on the public now. The thing is, these megacorporations can afford to pay restitution for a few dozen dead people without hurting their bottom line. I guess "It's just business".

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. Regulations are for a reason - to protect the public

from things they are unable to protect themselves from.

Most people don't know that this crappy government FORBIDS a small meat packer in Colrado from voluntarily and at thier own expense testing every single cow in their packing plant for mad cow! Why? Because it would set a de facto standard by example that the meat industry is not voluntarily willing to do on their own. This company I am speaking of was trying to open an export market with Japan which would have required this testing. The government refused to sell them the necessary testing kits!

Our current government only looks out for the "haves" and the "have yachts".

[Stargazer99]

6. there will be more deaths and illnesses just wait

Unitl the Demos shove inspection and responsibility down Republican throats. I view it as capitalism being the problem. Capitalism is based on eliminating the expenses or outsourcing them to the taxpayer so the bottom line is larger and larger every year. This responsibilty conservative Republicans rant about seems only to apply to the lower social strata. If Republicans truly valued responsibility there would be more and intense investigations of business. Presently the administration wants Mexican vehicles to go farther and farther into the US to deliver products. Mexicans vehicles are not inspected like the semis in the US, who gets killed next all for the worship of business and capitalism?

[riverdeep]

7. One good thing to come out of this

and I mean no disrespect to those who have had pets affected, is that dems and pubs share one thing in common. We both love our pets. Seriously. It's the one thing that makes me think all hope with them is not lost. They might realize in a personal way why regulation is necessary. Personally, if the gov doesn't have to be involved in the regulatory process, then it shouldn't be. If private industry can set up a regulatory entity, like Underwriter Laboratories, then fine. If not, or in interim, the gov should step in. But it is needed.