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Discouraging news on food safety appointments

by: desmoinesdem

Sat Mar 07, 2009 at 12:43:02 PM PST

I received an action alert today from Food Democracy Now. Excerpt:

There's a possibility that former Monsanto executive Michael Taylor and irradiation proponent Dr. Michael Osterholm will be named to top food safety spots in the new Administration. [...]
1. Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto executive, whose career literally fits the definition of the revolving door between government, lobbying and corporate interests. Before serving on the Obama ag transition team, Taylor made a name for himself rotating in and out of law firms, Monsanto, the USDA and FDA. While at the FDA he helped write the rules to allow rBGH into the American food system and our children's milk.
Now we've learned that Taylor may be in line to run an office in the White House on food safety!
2. On Monday, Secretary Vilsack is set to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Osterholm, a food safety expert, to lead the Food Safety agency at the USDA. According to Food & Water Watch, Osterholm has been "a zealot in promoting th[e] controversial technology (of irradiation) as the panacea to contaminated food."
Irradiation allows food processors to nuke disease from contaminated food at the end of the production line, while ignoring the root problems that create unsafe food.
For Osterholm, the recent peanut butter fiasco apparently was just another example of how irradiation could save the day. "Clearly it's a problem where the raw peanut butter or paste is consumed and not cooked," Osterholm said.

Food Democracy Now wants people to e-mail Vilsack immediately, asking him to block these appointments. The action alert included a sample e-mail, which I've posted after the jump, but it's always better to write this kind of letter in your own words.

desmoinesdem :: Discouraging news on food safety appointments

AgSec@usda.gov
Dear Secretary Vilsack,
I ask that you take the lead in helping America protect the safety of its food supply by appointing a real reformer at the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) position and advising President Obama not to name Michael Taylor to any position in the administration.
Please appoint someone other than Michael Osterholm, who has proven to be too biased in favor of a single technology that has been ineffective in stopping food safety outbreaks and is something that most American consumers don't want.
I took the President at his word when he said he would close the revolving door in this new administration and I know that you want to lead a new era at the USDA.
Please appoint true reformers to positions within the USDA to help you transform America's food and farm system for the 21st century.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,

Tags: Food Democracy Now, Food Safety, GM Foods, Irradiation, Monsanto, Michael Taylor, Michael Osterholm, Tom Vilsack, USDA, US Department of Agriculture, White House, Barack Obama, Obama administration, (All Tags)

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Discouraging news on food safety appointments | 3 comments

That the revolving door link that leads to... (4.00 / 2)

Jim Hightower in 1994 once again leaves me asking questions about the White House and the pledge to bar lobbyist.

I've been asking that question about a few people. Take Nancy-Ann DeParle for example;

Since leaving the Clinton administration, Ms. DeParle has been managing director of a private equity firm, CCMP Capital, and a board member of companies like Boston Scientific, Cerner and Medco Health Solutions. White House officials said Ms. DeParle was severing ties with those companies and would recuse herself from participating in any matter that was "directly or substantially" related to former clients or employers.

Just like Jim Hightower said fifteen years ago "THIS STINKS!" Rather than clean up an industry to protect the people a bold new step, more energy consumption, more unnecessary cost, more "unbiased' studies claiming that no nutritional value is lost during irradiation. More doing it their way.

I must agree with Jim, this does stink.

by: Eddie C @ Sat Mar 07, 2009 at 21:40:29 PM UTC

Ughh, not them! (4.00 / 1)

I was wondering where Osterholm's been lately. Now we know...

Bah!

Osterholm would probably have us all live in little personal irradiating units 24 / 7 (maybe helmets?).

How many times do Marion Nestle and Jill and everybody else have to say it? Nuked shit is still shit!

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

by: JayinPortland @ Sat Mar 07, 2009 at 23:15:50 PM UTC

no fan of Monsanto, the revolving door, or irradiation (0.00 / 0)

but there is this other perspective on Michael Osterholm, very briefly noted by dKos diarist denis diderot:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

Given that he is an epidemiologist (4+ / 0-)
Dr. Osterholm should bring a needed public health perspective to a post usually filled by a meat-industry insider. So, to that extent, it is an excellent selection.

a commenter also says

Michael is very competent (3+ / 0-)
He also cares deeply about water quality and land use. He testified last week in the Minnesota Senate Subcommittee on Water. Smart guy, well informed on a broad array of issues.

Checking the Food Democracy Now alert, the quote from Osterholm from the City Pages article re: peanut butter is simply misrepresented. In this particular interview, whether pro-irradiation or not, Osterholm was not talking about irradiation at all. He was talking about baking. About how the peanut butter recall had expanded to include baked items, which would not contain salmonella due to the baking process:

Osterholm says solving this case and preventing future contamination is complicated by peanut butter's long shelf life and the dizzying maze of the country's food supply. The system remains broken.
"This was like peeling an onion," he says. "It demonstrates the magnitude of processed food in this country."
So if this issue is so complicated, why does Osterholm think so many companies overreacted?
The outbreak only really affects raw peanut butter items, he says. Yet stores are pulling cookies off the shelf, which have been baked long enough to kill salmonella if it was present.
"Clearly it's a problem where the raw peanut butter or paste is consumed and not cooked," he says.

doing a google, it's clear Osterholm does advocate irradiation, a "zealot"? i don't know, but those arguing against his appointment would do well to dump the quote re: peanut butter.

by: jennifer poole @ Sun Mar 08, 2009 at 17:07:34 PM UTC