On April 10, after failing to get ahold of anybody who could answer my questions by phone, I sent the following email to a number of contacts at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:
Do you have any information regarding the report in the Marin Independent Journal that three varieties of Nutro Max cat food, not currently on the recall list, have tested positive for melamine by an independent lab?
http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_5630208
Is the FDA aware of this information, is further testing being performed, and do you expect the recall to expand? Does this suggest that the universe of recalled food will be expanded beyond these additional Nutro varieties?
And yesterday, April 16, I finally received the following succinct reply:
We do not have this information at this time.
**************************************
Veronica Castro
Office of Public Affairs
FDA
Um… which is curious, because only hours after I sent my query, the FDA issued a press release expanding the recall to include the Nutro Max varieties and other products. Hmm. Yet six days after recalling the products in question, the Office of Public Affairs still tells me that “we do not have this information at this time.”
Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
I once mocked former FEMA director Mike Brown for suggesting that his agency’s catastrophic failure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was largely, well, my fault. “In the middle of trying to respond to that,” Brown complained during Congressional testimony on the massive hurricane, “FEMA’s press office became bombarded with requests to respond immediately to false statements about my resume and my background.”
As if the most critical element of any disaster relief effort comes from the press office.
But all snark aside, the press office does play an important role in crisis management, by getting accurate information out through the media and to the public — information that can save lives. And throughout this entire pet food recall the FDA and the pet food industry have repeatedly failed to adequately perform this crucial function.
It was on March 2 that Menu Foods learned that the first of its test animals had died. By March 8, Menu Foods, ChemNutra and the FDA knew that imported wheat gluten was the culprit, knew the name of the Chinese manufacturer printed on the side of the 25 kg sacks, and knew that the gluten was imported and distributed as human food grade. The initial recall wasn’t issued until March 17, and the name of the Chinese manufacturer wasn’t revealed until March 30, prompting three more pet food companies to issue recalls within hours. On April 3, 26 days after first being notified that its gluten was killing animals, ChemNutra finally issued a nationwide recall.
Throughout this unfolding crisis, consumers were consistently reassured that the remaining pet food supply was safe, even as the recall expanded day by day. So I guess it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when the FDA’s own Public Affairs Office claims to be totally unaware of a week-old recall.
This scandal will surely prompt Congressional hearings focusing on the safety of the food supply, but the FDA’s failure to provide the public with accurate, timely information is as inexcusable as its failure to adequately safeguard our food. We not only have the right to know what the FDA knows — and when they know it — we have the need. For when it comes to both our pets and ourselves, it is far better to avoid products out of unconfirmed fear, than it is to consume unsafe products out of ignorance.
The FDA and the pet food industry had an obligation to inform the public. They failed.
I don’t see what the big deal is. You’ll be fine if you eat nothing but organically fertilized natural park grass.
JCH has a needle dick.
It’s not just the FDA press office that’s inefficient — the White House speechwriters don’t know what they’re doing, either. If they did, they would have told Bush to wait a few days before trying to push his pro-gun message. Somehow, it just doesn’t go well with his expression of condolences for the families of the 32 Virginia Tech victims murdered by … uh … guns.
His wardrobe manager fucked up, too. I noticed (how could I not?) that Bush wore a blood-red tie on TV yesterday. Everyone else wore muted ties but Bush wore blood-red! Whose fucking idea was THAT? Isn’t it Laura’s job to make sure he doesn’t commit gaffes like that? Where was she when this happened? In another meeting with her divorce lawyer?* Bush had to have picked that tie himself — nobody else is that stupid. What’s he gonna wear when he visits the school today, a Halloween costume?
The Globe has been running stories that the Bushes are breaking up for a couple years now. Just last week, they ran a story saying Bush agreed to pay Laura several million $$$ to wait until he leaves office before divorcing him, so he won’t be embarrassed by the collapse of their marriage while still in office. According to the Globe, Laura is fed up with their loveless marriage. Well, hell, 300 million people can empathize with her, because no one else loves him, either. He’s just not very lovable.
Well, maybe Karl Rove does. Wonder if anything’s going on between them? This might explain a lot. If I were Laura, I’d be pissed too, if George dumped me for Karl.
The FDA is staffed with graduates from Regent University. So there’s nothing to worry about!
The folks running the FDA are Rat Bastards, just like all the other R appointees.
A month or so ago, whenever this US Attorney thing broke, people were predicting that Alberto Gonzales would not last a week, that he would resign any day now, and so on. I perdicted in here that he would not resign and would no be fired. Now that he is about to testify to Congress, and now that even more damning facts that are, ahem, “at odds” with his earlier sworn statements are continuing to come to light, some are speculating again that he will step down.
I’ll tell you right now, it isn’t going to happen. Bush loves this stuff. He has convinced himself that stubborn denial in the face of the facts is a sign of strength rather than weakness, and that disastrous outcomes are not reason enough to change any strategy. Gonzales has no will of his own, but exists merely as an extension of George Bush’s (and Karl Rove’s) will.
Gonzales is going to sit in front of Congress and lie to their faces, and continue to hold to the same lying, discredited, contradicted-by-the-known-facts story no matter what. It should be fun to watch, but painful to behold, and it is sad to think that our government is still in the hands of this criminal enterprise for nearly two more years.
Moonbat poll:
1) How many of you think it’s time to make gun possession a crime? Ban then totally.
2) How many of you think the NRA is directly responsible?
3) How many of you think the NRA is a terrorist organization?
I have anothert poll:
1.) How many think MTR should pay his debt.
2.)How many think in lieu of payment at this late date MTR should be banished?
3.) hOW MANY THINK mtr’S PAROLE SHOULD BE REVOKED, AND HIS COMPUTER PRIVILEGES WITHHELD?
We are in need of an open thread.
At what point do we say “yes, we understand that the safety of our nation’s food and drug supplies is being managed by people trying to imitate the three stooges (and failing, as they aren’t even funny)?
Actually, if the current administration wasn’t real, if the last six years was just a Hollywood farce, it would make a very funny movie.
And, true to Hollywood tradition, we’d all recognize it as a remake of this one:
Duck Soup
Also yesterday, Natural Balance Venison was put on the recall list and it does not have wheat gluten, but product causing renal failure. The only way to keep up is with either Pet Connections or Itchmo. No reports from msm on this. I hate to think how some sr citizen with no computer keeps up with this mess. Good job Goldy again.
WINGNUT POLL:
HOW LONG WILL WINGNUTS LIKE MTR THE BET WELSHER, DOOFUS AND GS (GASEOUS SH*THEAD) KEEP LOSING?
1) FOREVER
2) FOREVER + INFINITY
3) FOREVER * INFINITY
4) FOREVER TO THE POWER OF INFINITY
Rabbits block traffic in Hungary
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Five thousand rabbits blocked a highway Monday, tying up traffic after the truck that was carrying them collided with another vehicle and overturned. Neither driver was hurt, but some 500 rabbits were killed, authorities said.
The M1 highway – the main road between the capitals of Hungary and Austria – was closed for hours while authorities gathered up the animals, Highway Patrol Spokeswoman Viktoria Galik said.
By midday, 4,400 bunnies had been rounded up, but 100 were still roaming the fields surrounding the highway.
“Those 100 are free to go. We will not collect them,” Galik said.
The ending wasn’t so happy for the ones that were recaptured. They were expected to complete the trip to a slaughterhouse, authorities said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ national/1120AP_Hungary_Rabbit _Accident.html?source=mypi
MTR
Your “poll” is really a troll, isn’t it?
But Cho appears to have gotten at least one of his weapons quite legally, his Glock 9mm pistol, which he was eligible as a legal resident alien to purchase as long as he had not been convicted of any felony criminal charges. I assume that’s how you’d like things to remain.
The truth is that in an free and open society there will always be some possible means for a nutcase to wreak a bit of deadly havoc if sufficiently determined. Regardless of this tragedy, I still think that our laws controlling gun purchase and ownership are not too bad but that we should require background checks for all buyers at gun shows.
9(1) Perhaps you shouldn’t have a gun — you seem a bit unstable. For one thing, you have debt payment issues.
9(2) Aren’t they the guys who said, “You can pry my gun from my cold, dead fingers”? They have something in common with that guy yesterday.
9(3) Charleton Heston certainly looks like a terrorist with that long flowing beard and long hair — yep, he looks like the type who might go berserk while giving a speech to a bunch of other people who look like types who might be berserk!
@12 “I hate to think how some sr citizen with no computer keeps up with this mess.”
No problem, Bush took care of this. Thanks to the Bush Inflation, senior citizens can’t afford to eat dog food anymore. They have to eat from dumpsters now.
@14 Thanks for the update, Richard. Hungary should be completely re-colonized with rabbits within a year or two! 100 rabbits? You only need 2!!
Here’s how rabbit math works:
1 + 1 = 2
2 squared = 4
4 squared = 16
16 squared = 256
256 squared = 65,536
65,536 = 4.3 billion
4.3 billion = infinite
See how it takes only 7 generations of rabbits to create an infinite number of rabbits? And a rabbit generation is only a few weeks!
Yep, Hungary is gonna be a very furry place by next spring!
=:-D
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