Who needs an FDA when you can have an entire nation act as guinea pigs? OK, so a few people and their pets die while countless others become ill...but think about the enormous financial impact of selling $5 billion worth of agriculture goods to China in return for the $232 billion trade deficit. What's not to love about that deal? The Bush administration loves to talk tough about protecting America this is yet another area where they cowering in the corner, afraid to disrupt the supposed business opportunities in China instead of acting in support of the broad population of Americans. Special interests rule every last decision with Bush.
The Cabinet-level "strategic economic dialogue" with China, which began in September and is scheduled to resume on Wednesday, was described early on as a chance for the United States and China to break a long-standing stalemate on trade issues. When it comes to the safety of imported foods, though, they may highlight the limited leverage that the United States has.It's true, that the US is absolutely helpless in this battle for demanding a minimum quality for food. We might as well just accept it and live with the deadly consequences and just hope for the best, or at least this looks like the Bush policy.
China and other countries can choose to produce food however they want to produce food but as consumers - very large consumers, at that - US consumers can choose not to do business with those producers. Let's see how quickly things change if the US started to label foods, identifying them as products of suspect quality and origin. Of course, this again comes back to the issue of the need for increased oversight.
