Food safety has been a big issue lately, as some of the Bush Administration's chickens (i.e. the gutting of regulatory agencies and an endemic lack of concern about effective oversight in the most basic processes of food production) came home to roost in the form of illnesses and death in a number of food categories -- eggs, spinach, jalapeno peppers, lettuce, peanuts.
This is an area where Republican legislators make no bones about their interest in undercutting recently passed legislation by denying or cutting funding for effective regulation. (The same process led to many of the problems we've experienced in food safety.)
Currently, the new Republican chair of the appropriations subcommittee that has to authorize the FDA's funding (Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia) is justifying his concerns about "possible overreach" on the basis of competing demands for limited funds. That's an easy course when the economy is still widely viewed as weak.
The fact is, though, that a shortage of funds is not the real problem. When the economy was booming, Republicans still failed to enact rules to enforce penalties for gross health code violations. And when the economy is regaining momentum (as it is doing now), they'll still be engaged in foot-dragging and obstructionism on anything involving possible limitations on businesses' "right" to do as they see fit, regardless of the consequences for public health. Since they tend to be staunch friends of business, these party dogmatists might want to consider that the U.S. is a major exporter of agricultural products, and that as our produce gets an ever more degraded reputation abroad, our markets shrink.
As with health care, education, feeding the hungry, and other issues, it's just plain ridiculous to say that we "can't afford" to do far better in all these areas, because most other developed countries with per capita GDP and incomes DO afford them, surpassing us in providing basic essential government services to their citizens. Even one food-health scare, of the kind we've had several of recently, would be nearly unthinkable in most of Europe or in Japan.
Politicians who deny reality with the "we can't afford it" mantra are pushing us down the road toward developing-nation status. Some may be too ignorant to see it; others may act out of venality (wasn't that rat-infested peanut factory in Georgia?), but it's a shame that such out of touch, head-in-the-sand types still exist, let alone get elected to Congress.
The GOP needs to foster more original thinking on such issues, and to break out of thrall to business interests. That would help the party to regain long-term political competitiveness, and help the nation to maintain its international competitiveness too. Otherwise, countries more successful in controlling their food supply and agricultural production are going to eat our lunch (though in a literal sense they wouldn't, because they'd be concerned about whether it was safe for consumption).
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