| As much as I'm disgusted about the revolving door in Washington, I have to admit that I was impressed after reading Michael Taylor's testimony on food safety before Congress. While he's not exactly Michael Pollan, he IS an improvement over the status quo. That is - the meat companies all recently testified before the House Ag Committee that no change is needed, and Taylor's testimony was quite different. He named off a number of problems he wanted to fix. He's a bit like Tom Vilsack, actually. Neither he nor Vilsack is going to bring about a new, ideal food system but I think both of them are eager to make changes and improvements within the flawed and stupid system we've got. Both are overly accepting of biotech (from what I can tell), but neither are tolerant of E. coli in ground beef.
So what are others saying about Taylor? Well, Marion Nestle thinks he's a good choice. She makes a compelling case, too. Another food expert told me, in an email, that while Taylor did "some bad things" in the past, he's been better in recent years. That pretty much jives with what I've seen. And then there's another email I got from a friend (thank goodness I wasn't drinking anything when I read this because it would have come out my nose!):
I am willing to give him a chance, just as I am willing to give parolees a chance.
Still, he knew exactly as much about the risks of GM when he worked for Monsanto and FDA as he does now. Monsanto paid him to lie and mislead people, so he did it. Had he come clean when he went to FDA, it might be different.
I find that pretty hard to forgive. |
