Obama Budget Plans on Replacing USDA Poultry Inspectors with Industry Self Regulation - RealNews

[WillyT]

Obama Budget Plans on Replacing USDA Poultry Inspectors with Industry Self Regulation
Tony Corbo: Plan will put our food supply at risk in a move that will increase profits of poultry producers and save only 90 million dollars over three years
RealNews
April 11, 13

Transcript at Link: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10052

[HiPointDem]

1. is this for real? self-regulation is the reason there are more and more food poisoning and food

adulteration cases in the us.

it's been a big failure.

[indepat]

12. Now, now, there is no money for governmental inspection of the food supply when the

the likes of der mittens need to keep their favored 'carried interest' provision to play like their earned income/pension is capital gains. This is the new government acting in the public interest and promoting the general welfare.

[Ilsa]

2. Don't they understand that the producers

will just do a cost-benefit analysis and that people will die from lack of regulation?

[limpyhobbler]

3. wow. That's pretty messed up.

[Marrah_G]

4. not surprised

Nothing that comes out of Washington surprises me any more....from either party.

[on point]

5. We need MORE food regulation not less. If true, another move in the wrong direction, another cave

[Laurian]

6. Might be time to make the change I've contemplated and become Vegan. n/t

[Divernan]

7. Self regulation worked great for Wall Street! What could go wrong?

So can we hoi polloi monitor our own parking times, drug use, PAYING TAXES? Hey, I'll calculate how much I SHOULD pay and the US Govt can take my word for it... After all, I am as honest and altruistic as any multimillion dollar corporate body, right? Meanwhile, time to switch to the other white meat.

Next, Obama can get rid of the mine safety inspectors, the operations safety inspectors for air carriers, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission nuclear plant inspectors, etc., etc., Come to think of it, why not just cut to the chase and get rid of the whole food and drug administration. We know what a sterling record Big Pharma has.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. Self-regulation is an oxymoron.

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. What could possibly go wrong?

The private sector is always more efficient than the government, don't you know. Why I am sure they can clear 10,000 chickens of any cause for alarm in just the blink of an eye. Those government inspectors might actually try to examine them, which is so old school.

[Arcanetrance]

10. Someone will be along shortly to tell you why it's a great idea I mean it's Obama and he has a plan

And we should trust him 100% all that happy horseshit

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. They'll be along to tell what you are reading isn't really what you are reading at all.

[Marr]

39. lol, no shit.

I doubt that particular disciple will be making an appearance on this one.

[diane in sf]

11. I'll be buying organic...

[glinda]

13. "IF" you can determine what is organic!

[Progressive dog]

14. This has worked so well in the past,

why don't we just get rid of all government inspections? No one will cheat just to make more money.

[SamKnause]

15. Chicken

This 'good cop/ bad cop' is working out great for the right.

The left is getting shit on from every direction.

[MFM008]

16. who has had food poisoning?

It is an agonizing thing, this is a very BAD idea.

[Divernan]

31. 1st you're afraid you'll die; then you're afraid you won't.

Agonizing.

[Broward]

17. Another proposal that will kill people

[jsr]

18. Like St. Ronnie said, government is not the solution to our problem.

[dreamnightwind]

19. And a big rec to The Real News

I love The Real News. I subscribe to their Youtube channel. They do excellent reporting and analysis, can't say enough about them.

Self-inspection, it's come to that, eh? Chickens and turkeys will be given hand-mirrors, useless since they have no hands, this plan will never work! Someone tell Obama!

[Zorra]

20. "A Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican"

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
---
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
----
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/thom-hartmann-day-life-joe-middle-class-re

So many of the great things we liberals have done for America are under attack, not just by republicans but by austerity minded, privatizing, deregulating neo-liberals!

[gateley]

21. K&R. nt

[Nite Owl]

22. And somewhere in the proposal

there is a clause that says they can't be sued?

[Omaha Steve]

23. WTF x 2!

[winter is coming]

24. Just in time for the next bird flu. n/t

[Laelth]

25. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[AzDar]

26. Speechless.

[DreamGypsy]

27. Yummmmm. Barbecued toficken all summer long...

...and that golden brown stuffed tofurkey on Thanksgiving.

Better fed than dead.

[Divernan]

29. Cuts $30 mil./year to public health-adds $260 mil/yr. poultry industry profits.

For the Obama administration, this is a no-brainer. Will the White House start raising organic chickens next to their PR vegetable garden? You know, for the White House kitchen?

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10052

" In President Obama's budget presented on Wednesday, one of the provisions calls for cutting back on food inspection, particularly of poultry, cutting back federal inspectors. Now joining us to talk about why this matters is Tony Corbo. He's a senior lobbyist for the food campaign at Food and Water Watch. He's responsible for food-related legislative regulatory issues that come before Congress and the executive branch.

"What brought this whole regulation about, this proposed regulation, is the fact that Obama two years ago issued an executive order asking the federal government agencies to look at regulations that could be eliminated and to have industry weigh in as to which regulations they consider to be onerous or redundant. And, of course, the poultry industry stepped up to the plate and said, we want fewer inspectors in these plants.
"What's wrong with that is that having USDA inspectors in these plants provides an unbiased view of what is going on in those plants from a food safety standpoint, from a sanitation standpoint. And so what the administration is proposing is to turn over a major proportion of the inspection duties over to the companies, where the company employees will be doing the jobs of the USDA inspectors. There'll be a token USDA inspection force left in these plants.

Read the whole article at the link and you'll think twice about purchasing raw chicken anywhere. We're looking at a trillion dollar deficit, and this change, while greatly endangering public health, will save $30 million a year, BUT allow the poultry industry to gain $260 million a year by reducing health regulations and increasing production. The token USDA inspector left in a plant will have 175 chickens per minute whizzing by on a conveyor belt.

And here's the real kicker. The article details that the government has been running a pilot program with the self-inspecting for several years.
When the administration proposed their regulation, they had a report doing an evaluation of these pilot plants. And it showed the last two years of data that they collected, that the pilot plants had actually higher salmonella rates than the conventionally inspected plants. And lo and behold, just this past month--USDA does a monthly report on the testing that the government does in these plants to test to see if the salmonella rates are either high or low, and two of the pilot plants showed up as failing the salmonella test.

So here's the ultimate irony. The administration keeps on going around and saying that this new model, this new inspection model is going to be able to reduce salmonella, and yet all of the evidence points the other way.

[Liberalynn]

30. The news keeps getting worse

[djean111]

32. See, this will be a free hand of the market thingy!

If enough people sicken or die, and other people find out about it, and can figure out which chicken not to buy, then that chicken seller will go out of business. Easy peasy!

[defacto7]

33. OK, we're dead.

n/t

[forestpath]

34. He sure didn't waste any time after being re-elected to drop the facade.

[ProSense]

35. It's like

"Obama Budget Plans on Replacing USDA Poultry Inspectors with Industry Self Regulation"

...deja vu: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002529000#post23

Weaknesses in Meat and Poultry Inspection Pilot Should Be Addressed Before Implementation
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-59

President's Budget Reflects Proposed Implementation of Flawed Poultry Rule
http://www.foodwhistleblower.org/blog/28-2013/521-presidents-budget-reflects-proposed-implementation-of-flawed-poultry-rule

[DJ13]

36. My new standard for gaging actions by the WH is

What would a conservative administration do?

That eliminates a lot of the surprise.

[jsr]

45. Specifically, what would Ronald Reagan do?

[betterdemsonly]

37. He really believes an industry that corrupt can be trusted

to police itself. Of coarse he allowed the banks to do it too and look where that has gotten. Guess he is trying to destroy the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt too! I can not believe what a reactionary bullshitter he is.

[randome]

38. So they're having the industry do the assembly line inspections...

...while the inspectors continue inspecting other areas of the plant. That doesn't sound as sinister as some SO BADLY want to believe.

[WillyT]

41. I Think I'll Go With These Guys...

Link: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

[Marr]

40. I assume the politicians and the 1% will have some alternate, well-inspected system

for themselves.

[Babel_17]

42. Well, that's one way to get people to choose less costly alternatives (nt)

[WorseBeforeBetter]

44. Yeah, a nice bowl of lead-tainted rice.

Arsenic, too!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57579062/imported-rice-may-contain-dangerously-high-lead-levels/

[woo me with science]

43. There's a new one every day.

Every. Single. Day.

[Skittles]

46. aren't you shocked, woo?

[woo me with science]

48. I would need to lick the transformer at our power company

to be shocked anymore.

But, damn, I am angry. And so, so sad.

[Quantess]

47. What!? That is terrible.

Really, really bad idea. K & R