Posted on 09/19/2006 1:05:01 PM PDT by freemarket_kenshepherd
An E. coli outbreak in pre-packaged spinach proved a convenient excuse for ABC to push for more regulation of American agriculture, citing the pro-regulation, anti-food industry Center for Science in the Public Interest as merely a “food safety” advocate.
“As ABC’s Lisa Stark explains, this case is calling into question how the entire food supply is monitored,” anchor Charles Gibson said, introducing Stark’s story.
After a brief sound bite from Tom Stenzel of the United Fresh Produce Association defending the industry’s commitment to safety, Stark set out to push for more regulation.
“Food safety groups say part of what’s wrong is government oversight of the fruit and vegetable industry, which is nowhere near as tough as oversight of the meat business,” Stark noted before showing CSPI’s Caroline Smith DeWaal complaining that “the FDA simply doesn’t have the budget, the manpower, or the authority to really do the job correctly.”
Stark left out that CSPI advocated a bigger government bureaucracy to handle food inspection well before the recent spinach contamination episode.
In a November 2005 report, CSPI called for Congress to “pass legislation to form a unified, independent food-safety agency” with the power “to recall food from the market and to penalize companies that produce contaminated products.”
CSPI’s DeWaal envisions a large government bureaucracy to oversee the food supply “from farm to fork,” according to a September 15 news release.
Stark did not clearly explain to viewers DeWaal’s advocacy of such a sweeping bureaucracy, although she did show a sound bite from Sen. Dick Durbin, a liberal Democrat from Illinois, who calls for “consolidating food safety under one agency.”
Durbin’s liberal voting record clocked in at a “liberal quotient” of 98 out of 100, according to the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. The American Conservative Union gave Durbin a mere 7 points out of 100 points in his lifetime rating.
Absent from Stark’s story was an argument against more regulation, or an examination of how more regulation could result in higher produce costs for consumers.
As the Business & Media Institute has documented, CSPI is far from a dispassionate consumer or food safety group, although the media often present its views without advising audiences of its liberal agenda and penchant for litigation.
“The judicial system can play an important role in spurring public health advances,” CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson argued in a May 3 press release. Yet the following morning on “The Early Show,” co-host Julie Chen failed to mention, much less question, CSPI’s use of lawsuit threats to achieve its aims.
A month later on the June 13 “World News Tonight,” ABC’s Elisabeth Leamy similarly failed to scrutinize CSPI’s use of a lawsuit to push KFC to change its cooking oil. Leamy ignored the group’s liberal leanings, calling it a “consumer group.”
It isn't the produce that needs to be regulated, it's all those wonderful illegal alien farmworkers crapping in the fields that need to be regulated.
We should nationalize all farms. [/s]
Organic produce..means more disease.....
Yes, yes! That's what every problem needs: More Government Regulation!
That's right. Funny how they are not mentioned at all. This is in Salinas..haven for illegal workers.
Poor people coming over here to pick our lettuce so it won't be $5.00 a head.
I say better $5.00 a head than dead!
Maybe it would be a good idea to boost the public's false sence of security and increase the size of the government.
Exactly, ABC is just statist, they should come out and say it"We know better than you so instead of showing advertising during this broadcast time we will tell you that you NEED more govt in your life and fridge's and dinner plates"
no thanks, isn't there some grieving mother that they can go harrass and feel there pain?
Don't give 'em any ideas.
“Food safety groups say part of what’s wrong is government oversight of the fruit and vegetable industry, which is nowhere near as tough as oversight of the meat business...”
Why should it be?
Before addressing any thoughts of regulation, an answer as to who, how, what, when, where and why should be addressed. How did it happen? Was it in the soil? What caused it to happen? etc. Quit being reactive and be proactive and have all the facts before a solution can be developed. Sheesh!
Interesting how you never hear ABC demand additional regulation of the broadcasting networks, though.
Whatever happened to irradiation?
This is a case where a little deregulation would help.
To use a phrase I picked up from Ron Popeil:
Irradiate It and Forget It!
I mean the enlightened EU does it... but thanks to a bunch of hippies we are not allowed to.
-- lates
-- jrawk
Hippies.
Hippies happened...
-- lates
-- jrawk
Yes, all the conservatives are now going along with government regulation. "Organic produce caused this terrible problem." The fact is, with any endeavor as large as agriculture, there are going to be these issue. Organic or with the use of pesticides. It happens all the time. We might as well ban cars, because they cause more deaths and injuries.
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