President Says Food Safety System “Health Hazard”

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Written by Healthy Newspaper

Friday, 20 March 2009 16:52

Washington, D.C., March 2009 – The nation's food safety system is a "hazard to public health" and overdue for an overhaul, President Barack Obama said recently as he filled the top job at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Obama used his weekly radio and video address to announce the nomination of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as agency commissioner and the selection of Baltimore's health commissioner, Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy. Consumer groups applauded the picks. The president is also creating a special advisory group to coordinate food safety laws and recommend how to update them. Many of these laws have not changed since they were written early in the 20th century, he said. Obama said too many agencies are responsible for food safety, making it difficult to share information and stop problems from falling through the cracks. The FDA does not have enough money or workers to conduct annual inspections at more than a fraction of the 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses in the country, the president added. "That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable. And it will change under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg," he pledged. Hamburg, 53, is a bioterrorism expert. She was an assistant health secretary under President Bill Clinton and helped lay the groundwork for the government's bioterrorism and flu pandemic preparations. As New York City's top health official in the early 1990s, she created a program that cut high rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis. She is the daughter of two doctors. Her mother was the first black woman to earn a medical degree from Yale University, and she credits her father for instilling in her a passion for public health. Sharfstein, 39, is a pediatrician who has challenged the FDA on the safety of over-the-counter cold medicines for children. He also served as a health policy aide to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, who plays a leading role in overseeing the pharmaceutical industry. Those with a stake in the FDA's work, from health and consumer groups to the food and drug industries, said that our president made good choices. "The president's appointment of these two prominent public health professionals is a clear signal that this administration has placed a priority on bolstering FDA's food safety role," said Pamela Bailey, president and chief executive of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. Hamburg's appointment requires Senate confirmation; Sharfstein's does not. Also awaiting the next FDA chief is a renewed effort in Congress to require government regulation of cigarettes and other tobacco products, to reduce the harm from smoking. SOURCE; Sustainable Food News < Prev   Next >