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Pets, Food Safety, China, the FDA, and Your Health
April 5, 2007
Americans are up in arms that our pets are being injured and killed by a toxin sent to America by a Chinese company. Melamine, a toxic fertilizer used in China, is the suspected culprit behind the deaths and injuries to potentially hundreds of thousands of our pets. The FDA assures us that this toxin has not entered the human food supply – does anyone believe in the competence of the FDA? It is only a matter of time before this type of problem happens to humans, as the inept FDA has no control over imported food intended for humans, let alone pets.
Melamine was used to help grow wheat, a practice that is legal in China and illegal in the U.S. This poison ended up in wheat gluten used as a protein source and thickening agent in pet food. Why were all these pet food companies, many claiming to be producers of fine quality pet food, buying wheat gluten from China when the U.S. is one of the top producers of wheat in the world? These companies sacrificed the health of your pet to make a profit, buying the cheapest source of wheat gluten they could find. This is the new way of the global economy, find the cheapest price and forget about health implications.
It's been a bad week for China. Various Chinese-made toys and key chains were recalled due to high lead content. China, which is experiencing an industrial revolution, has lax standards regarding pollution, the production of food, and manufacturing. They have joined the industrialized world, and like the U.S., condone the poisoning of their citizens in the name of profit. What do they care about citizens (and pets) in other countries? How safe is the imported food grown in China?
In reality, one has to wonder about the safety of food coming into the U.S from any country. In 2003 the FDA determined that 6% of imports contained toxic pesticide violations and 4% of imported fruits and vegetables were contaminated with illness-producing organisms like salmonella. Since that time imports of fruit, vegetables, and seafood have gone up dramatically while FDA inspections have gone down. The FDA inspects less than 1% of imports. Even when it does conduct tests the food is often released into the food supply and already in distribution and consumed before lab test results come back that identify a problem. The FDA's food safety program for imported food is one of wishful thinking and denial.
New York State, which aggressively investigates food-borne illness, finds that 80% of its recalls involve imported food that should have been stopped by the FDA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that poor quality food causes 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths per year. If the New York State data holds up nationally, 80% of this problem is from imports. This means that 60 million cases of illness in America and 4,000 deaths per year are directly caused by an inept FDA (which is only a partial list of FDA-condoned deaths). It is easy to understand that the FDA is not doing its job, since it knows 4% - 6% of food imports are dangerous to health and it is spot checking and haphazardly investigating far less than that.
Americans should not be lulled into thinking the U.S. food supply is in great shape and a stellar example for the rest of the world. The FDA just announced that it wants the word “pasteurization” to replace “irradiation” so that food can be treated with radiation and consumers won't know. This is to cover up the incredibly poor food production and distribution practices allowed in this country.
Another major debacle is the experiment on our food supply with genetically modified crops. Through this profit-driven experiment on human health the FDA is lowering the quality of food produced in the United States to such an extent that many countries may soon ban our food from being imported. And here we find ourselves in good company, sitting along with China in the grand experiment on altering the food supply by conducting reckless experiments on crops that threaten the very nature of food itself.
In recent months the problem is escalating, with Europe threatening to test all rice coming from the United States and China for GM contamination, a new problem due to experimental GM foods blowing in the wind and spreading – unregulated – into our food supply. The Europeans are not happy, documenting over 80 recent cases of GM contamination from U.S. and Chinese imports. And what about the plight of the bees – is this problem from toxic pesticides or viral-promoter genes that exist in every cell of genetically modified food?
As Wal-Mart enters the organic marketplace, it plans to grow its “organic” food in China. Who will monitor the toxic industrial pollution which taints the water and soil of these “organic” crops? Will the FDA protect you from this problem? Unlikely, the FDA has no standards for food grown in another country – it simply tries and oftentimes fails to catch problems at our borders. Maybe you are expecting Wal-Mart to set quality standards.
China actually poses a new problem. China has become a financial powerhouse and is integrated with the U.S. and European economies to such an extent that little is done to force China to have proper food production, handling, and manufacturing standards. Both the U.S. and Europe will place profits ahead of health and safety and thus do little to protect consumers or pets – so as not to upset the financial applecart.
Sure, plenty of lawsuits will target American companies who used the tainted ingredient in their pet foods. Don't think for a second that pet owners will get anything from the Chinese company that is most likely the source of the problem that killed and injured our pets. And don't expect our government to apply any meaningful leverage to the Chinese government, since China is the key player funding our runaway government spending. Where will responsibility land when human deaths are traced to tainted food from China or any other country?
The FDA says it does not have enough money to monitor food imports, just like the FDA says it doesn't have enough money to monitor drug safety. While funding issues are a convenient excuse for poor performance, the real problem runs much deeper to the core of what FDA management is actually doing. The sad truth of the matter is that the FDA is actively participating in the sell out of American sovereignty through efforts leading America towards globalization and harmonization with international laws and regional agreements.
The FDA actively supports lax food standards on an international basis. This is accomplished through FDA participation in Codex Alimentarius, wherein our FDA pushes policy favorable to companies that wish to buy and sell food internationally.
It is in the best interests of these companies to have very low quality standards, so that substandard food can be traded and dumped into various countries at low prices – and have it labeled in such a way that no consumer can tell the difference.
One case in point is the FDA support for lax Codex guidelines for organic. If Codex has its way, 20% of food labeled as organic does not need to be organic, a position the FDA supports as a favor to Big Agriculture. This same mentality applies to the fungal toxin content and pesticide content on food for international trade and imports into the U.S. I often think the FDA wouldn't mind at all if a food-related catastrophe happened, just so it could get more power and funding to push these low quality standards at a faster pace. Of course, the FDA does not want any American to know when they are consuming genetically modified garbage, which contains toxins and viral promoter genes in every cell of “food.”
The FDA also actively supports draconian Codex standards on dietary supplements as well as seeking regional harmonization with Canada and Mexico to overturn health freedom laws in this country. The FDA intentionally prevents Americans citizens from understanding how nutrition can prevent and treat disease. The FDA has its own agenda that is pro globalization and pro big business (Big Pharma and Big Agriculture), clearly coming down on the side of profits at the expense of human health. Giving more money to the FDA to improve safety under its current and historical management culture is a joke. The FDA management culture is itself a disease, one that is a cancer helping to rot the fundamental principles of our constitution as well as kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans.
In a country whose constitutional moorings are in a state of decay, it is high time that our food supply, like our borders, be protected. Americans do not understand that our food supply is national security. We are allowing profit-driven efforts at globalization and harmonization to transfer the production of food out of America and make us dependent on food from other countries.
Reclaiming and protecting our food supply is fundamental to freedom, national security, and your health. The quality of our food supply has been in a constant state of decay since the FDA has been in charge. The easiest way to control any people is to control their food supply. The next easiest way is to keep the population sick and on drugs, especially mental health drugs. America is being set up to collapse from within and have no choice but to accept globalization-related control of our lives and future – upon threat of starving our citizens.
I often wonder what it takes to motivate the American people to do anything. Hundreds of thousands of our citizens being needlessly killed by drugs doesn't do it. Cancer and heart disease due in a large part to eating toxic and poor quality food over the course of a lifetime doesn't do it. Maybe the injuring and maiming of our pets by the Chinese will get Americans riled up enough to open their eyes and see what is going on in this world.
Melamine was used to help grow wheat, a practice that is legal in China and illegal in the U.S. This poison ended up in wheat gluten used as a protein source and thickening agent in pet food. Why were all these pet food companies, many claiming to be producers of fine quality pet food, buying wheat gluten from China when the U.S. is one of the top producers of wheat in the world? These companies sacrificed the health of your pet to make a profit, buying the cheapest source of wheat gluten they could find. This is the new way of the global economy, find the cheapest price and forget about health implications.
It's been a bad week for China. Various Chinese-made toys and key chains were recalled due to high lead content. China, which is experiencing an industrial revolution, has lax standards regarding pollution, the production of food, and manufacturing. They have joined the industrialized world, and like the U.S., condone the poisoning of their citizens in the name of profit. What do they care about citizens (and pets) in other countries? How safe is the imported food grown in China?
Imported Food – A Disaster Waiting to Happen
In reality, one has to wonder about the safety of food coming into the U.S from any country. In 2003 the FDA determined that 6% of imports contained toxic pesticide violations and 4% of imported fruits and vegetables were contaminated with illness-producing organisms like salmonella. Since that time imports of fruit, vegetables, and seafood have gone up dramatically while FDA inspections have gone down. The FDA inspects less than 1% of imports. Even when it does conduct tests the food is often released into the food supply and already in distribution and consumed before lab test results come back that identify a problem. The FDA's food safety program for imported food is one of wishful thinking and denial.
New York State, which aggressively investigates food-borne illness, finds that 80% of its recalls involve imported food that should have been stopped by the FDA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that poor quality food causes 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths per year. If the New York State data holds up nationally, 80% of this problem is from imports. This means that 60 million cases of illness in America and 4,000 deaths per year are directly caused by an inept FDA (which is only a partial list of FDA-condoned deaths). It is easy to understand that the FDA is not doing its job, since it knows 4% - 6% of food imports are dangerous to health and it is spot checking and haphazardly investigating far less than that.
Our Own Food Supply is Rapidly Deteriorating
Americans should not be lulled into thinking the U.S. food supply is in great shape and a stellar example for the rest of the world. The FDA just announced that it wants the word “pasteurization” to replace “irradiation” so that food can be treated with radiation and consumers won't know. This is to cover up the incredibly poor food production and distribution practices allowed in this country.
Another major debacle is the experiment on our food supply with genetically modified crops. Through this profit-driven experiment on human health the FDA is lowering the quality of food produced in the United States to such an extent that many countries may soon ban our food from being imported. And here we find ourselves in good company, sitting along with China in the grand experiment on altering the food supply by conducting reckless experiments on crops that threaten the very nature of food itself.
In recent months the problem is escalating, with Europe threatening to test all rice coming from the United States and China for GM contamination, a new problem due to experimental GM foods blowing in the wind and spreading – unregulated – into our food supply. The Europeans are not happy, documenting over 80 recent cases of GM contamination from U.S. and Chinese imports. And what about the plight of the bees – is this problem from toxic pesticides or viral-promoter genes that exist in every cell of genetically modified food?
Wal-Mart and China, What Are You Eating?
As Wal-Mart enters the organic marketplace, it plans to grow its “organic” food in China. Who will monitor the toxic industrial pollution which taints the water and soil of these “organic” crops? Will the FDA protect you from this problem? Unlikely, the FDA has no standards for food grown in another country – it simply tries and oftentimes fails to catch problems at our borders. Maybe you are expecting Wal-Mart to set quality standards.
China actually poses a new problem. China has become a financial powerhouse and is integrated with the U.S. and European economies to such an extent that little is done to force China to have proper food production, handling, and manufacturing standards. Both the U.S. and Europe will place profits ahead of health and safety and thus do little to protect consumers or pets – so as not to upset the financial applecart.
Sure, plenty of lawsuits will target American companies who used the tainted ingredient in their pet foods. Don't think for a second that pet owners will get anything from the Chinese company that is most likely the source of the problem that killed and injured our pets. And don't expect our government to apply any meaningful leverage to the Chinese government, since China is the key player funding our runaway government spending. Where will responsibility land when human deaths are traced to tainted food from China or any other country?
The FDA is Anti-American
The FDA says it does not have enough money to monitor food imports, just like the FDA says it doesn't have enough money to monitor drug safety. While funding issues are a convenient excuse for poor performance, the real problem runs much deeper to the core of what FDA management is actually doing. The sad truth of the matter is that the FDA is actively participating in the sell out of American sovereignty through efforts leading America towards globalization and harmonization with international laws and regional agreements.
The FDA actively supports lax food standards on an international basis. This is accomplished through FDA participation in Codex Alimentarius, wherein our FDA pushes policy favorable to companies that wish to buy and sell food internationally.
It is in the best interests of these companies to have very low quality standards, so that substandard food can be traded and dumped into various countries at low prices – and have it labeled in such a way that no consumer can tell the difference.
One case in point is the FDA support for lax Codex guidelines for organic. If Codex has its way, 20% of food labeled as organic does not need to be organic, a position the FDA supports as a favor to Big Agriculture. This same mentality applies to the fungal toxin content and pesticide content on food for international trade and imports into the U.S. I often think the FDA wouldn't mind at all if a food-related catastrophe happened, just so it could get more power and funding to push these low quality standards at a faster pace. Of course, the FDA does not want any American to know when they are consuming genetically modified garbage, which contains toxins and viral promoter genes in every cell of “food.”
The FDA also actively supports draconian Codex standards on dietary supplements as well as seeking regional harmonization with Canada and Mexico to overturn health freedom laws in this country. The FDA intentionally prevents Americans citizens from understanding how nutrition can prevent and treat disease. The FDA has its own agenda that is pro globalization and pro big business (Big Pharma and Big Agriculture), clearly coming down on the side of profits at the expense of human health. Giving more money to the FDA to improve safety under its current and historical management culture is a joke. The FDA management culture is itself a disease, one that is a cancer helping to rot the fundamental principles of our constitution as well as kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans.
Will Americans Ever Stand Up and Be Heard?
In a country whose constitutional moorings are in a state of decay, it is high time that our food supply, like our borders, be protected. Americans do not understand that our food supply is national security. We are allowing profit-driven efforts at globalization and harmonization to transfer the production of food out of America and make us dependent on food from other countries.
Reclaiming and protecting our food supply is fundamental to freedom, national security, and your health. The quality of our food supply has been in a constant state of decay since the FDA has been in charge. The easiest way to control any people is to control their food supply. The next easiest way is to keep the population sick and on drugs, especially mental health drugs. America is being set up to collapse from within and have no choice but to accept globalization-related control of our lives and future – upon threat of starving our citizens.
I often wonder what it takes to motivate the American people to do anything. Hundreds of thousands of our citizens being needlessly killed by drugs doesn't do it. Cancer and heart disease due in a large part to eating toxic and poor quality food over the course of a lifetime doesn't do it. Maybe the injuring and maiming of our pets by the Chinese will get Americans riled up enough to open their eyes and see what is going on in this world.
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