Maybe We Should Do Something
From CNN’s health blog – CDC: 1 in 6 Americans get food poisoning annually
According to CDC’s 2011 Estimates of Foodborne Disease, 1 in 6 Americans will get sick from known and unknown bacteria, viruses and microbes each year resulting in about 128,000 hospitalizations and about 3,000 deaths. This new data was released by the CDC online Wednesday (the two reports summarizing their results will be published in the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Disease Journal in January, which is why the numbers are called “2011 estimates”).
With about 50 million people getting sick from the food, maybe we should have an agency that looks at food safety… oh, wait, we do but they don’t have the power to actually do anything about it because that would be government interference in private business matters. The “market” will take care of it 😈
3 comments
In a curious twist, McD’s has realized that even the death of children from a tainted product is VERY bad for business. So, they have voluntarily recalled some 12million “Shrek” themed glasses that sold for $2 in the USA, and have offered a refund of $3 to get them back! And no… they were NOT made in China (as I have seen some reports state), they were made by a French Company’s plant in N.J. USA, Arc International ( known by their Pyrex brand). 🙂
How did cadmium get into McDonald’s ‘Shrek’ glasses?
Also, almost all the news reports I’ve seen from the USA, Canada and the UK, imply in the articles that it was because of the US CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission). However, the CPSG was notified by Congresswoman (D-CA) Jackie Speier, and the original announcement has been amended to state that fact. 😉
McDonalds Shrek glass recall: thank Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA)
This was an interesting article. It shows that Rep Speier cares about health of children, and the CPSC cares about companies right to make children sick, or even kill them. 🙂
No mandatory cadmium limits; McDonald’s Shrek glasses were OK
So, obviously, the CPSC is yet another organization run by Rethugs & the big business elites, right? 😉
Quit making the magical Free Market Fairy cry, Bryan! Don’t you know that magic free market fairy dust will fix everything? How *dare* you say that the Free Market Fairy isn’t, like, real! 🙂
-Badtux the Snarky Penguin
Kryten, the glasses may has been made in the US, but the decals that were applied almost had to come from China, as they still use both lead and cadmium in their dyes and paints, especially reds. Heavy metals are common in glazing colors, with the highest quality red glass containing gold. There are substitutes now, but many Chinese companies still use the old formulations.
It was a “voluntary” recall, because the CPSC, and other “regulators” must ask, not tell, corporations to clean up their act, and there are trial lawyers ready to file class action law suits if they don’t do it quickly.
The problem is that the problem had to be discovered by a non-profit that actually tests these products, because the CPSC doesn’t have the ability or budget to do it, and then the activist have to find a Congresscritter to light a fire under them, because response to actual consumer complaints is measured in geologic eras, not the normal human time scale. Not enough staff, not enough facilities, not enough power, and not enough money – that’s the story of US regulation.
The Free Market Fairy would do a lot more than cry if it followed my advise on where to put the wand. Badtux.