Donald K. Allen for President

Top of the Week

Monday, December 31, 2007

Few things are as important as our health. Preventive medicine, disease control and eradication, and ensuring wholesome food and water are some of the primary missions of our public health systems in America. With all the threats that face us today, many would say that our public health efforts are barely adequate. Consider the recent pet food poisoning, recalls of human foods, and the ever-growing amount of foods and food ingredients we are importing from countries who's quality control systems are totally inadequate. Then consider that we are only inspecting 0.6 percent of the foods we are importing from those countries. And we may not be testing for everything harmful.

Not long ago the United States of America produced more apples than China. Today, China outproduces our apple farmers five times over. Forty percent of our apple juice is imported from China, and what is the main ingredient of all of those juice drinks our children consume? That's right, apple juice, of which 99.4 percent has not been screened at all for contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides, and carcinogens. In essence, our foods were healthier twenty years ago than they are now.

Don’t blame our Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Agency (FDA). They will tell you that they are doing their very best with the funding they have. Just tell me one earmark that has been attached to a bill that is more important than the health of your children? The billions of dollars that have been squandered on Congressional pet projects could make our FDA the most efficient and effective agency in our government.

As your next President, I would fund and staff the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FDA with, essentially, a blank check. Your tax dollars were taken from you for worthwhile programs to protect the health of you and your family, not for a bike trail in Virgina.