The Poisoning of America

First the dogs, then the cats and now the people! We are being poisoned by imported food. As dogs and cats were dying an outcry went out concerning the import of wheat and rice from China. We then found that the contaminated food, containing melamine, was fed to hogs and over three thousand were scheduled to be euthanized. We are now told that the contaminated food is in our poultry but the FDA says not to worry. Here is a portion of a warning that was just released by the FDA:
"IA #99-29, 4/27/07, IMPORT ALERT #99-29, "DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF ALL VEGETABLE PROTEIN PRODUCTS FROM CHINA FOR ANIMAL OR HUMANFOOD USE DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF MELAMINE AND/OR MELAMINE ANALOGS"TYPE OF ALERT: Detention Without Physical Examination (Countrywide)(Note: This import alert represents the Agency's current guidance to FDA field personnel regarding the manufacturer(s) and/or products(s) at issue. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person, and does not operate to bind FDA or the public).
PRODUCTS: Wheat Gluten
Rice Gluten
Rice Protein
Rice Protein Concentrate
Corn Gluten
Corn Gluten Meal
Corn By-Products
Soy Protein
Soy Gluten
Proteins (includes amino acids and protein hydrosylates)
Mung Bean Protein
PROBLEM: Poisonous or Deleterious Substance
Unfit For Food
Unsafe Food Additive"
A very simple question that comes to mind is why do we import these things from China? We have the best agricultural land in the world and our farmers have fed millions outside of U.S. borders. Do we not produce enough wheat, corn, soy and rice to feed our nation? Why have we put the American citizens at risk by importing these products from a foreign land?
The FDA says that only 1% of imported food is inspected. In this "age of terrorism" does this make any sense? With all of our imported food, inspection should be a top national priority. It is in our food supply that we are most vulnerable. Most foreign countries from which we import food do not have adequate food safety and inspection programs. Further, are there really tests that can detect bacteria, viruses or poison in our food supply? While there may be such tests, if only 1% of the imports are inspected, where does that leave the American public?
While globalism may have its place some in some industries, food may not be one of them. Americans are getting increasingly ill through tainted foods. A whole new battery of food related illnesses and allergies have arisen from food that is not local, nor is not even grown in this country. We are no longer able to develop natural immunities by consuming foods that are natural to our environment.
It is time to rethink our national food policies and support our local farmers and stop importing foods that we can easily grow here. The contaminated food from China is but one example of what may happen if someone is really serious about killing Americans without having to blow up buildings or highjack airplanes. And shame on the FDA for not getting this food off of the market. How can they even have the gall to say that the little bit of poison will not hurt us? What effect might this food have on our children? How much more food contamination has gone undetected?
It seems that the Bush Administration is more concerned about putting corn in the gas tank than ensuring that Americans are not exposed to the deplorable scandal impacting what all of must do, eat.