September, 08 2010, 02:52pm EDT
Tons of Foods Recalled and Thousands Sickened as Senate Stalls on Food Safety
Consumer Groups, Survivors of Foodborne Illness, Call on Senate to Pass FDA Reform Legislation This Month
WASHINGTON
As the nation reels from the impact of a massive egg recall that has
sickened well over 1,500 people, survivors of foodborne illness and
consumer advocates say that antiquated laws and poor enforcement are to
blame. According to a new report, the massive egg recall
is only the latest--but largest--of 85 recalls that companies made while
food safety reform legislation has been pending in the Senate, and since
similar legislation passed the House in July of 2009. All told, at
least 1,850 people have been sickened from foods subject to a recall,
according to a report issued today by three consumer groups. And since
foodborne illness is dramatically underreported, the actual toll of
illness is almost certainly in the tens of thousands.
"Recalls and outbreaks are the most public consequence of our
'horse and buggy' food safety system," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"Consumers are sometimes sickened and everyone up and down the chain
has to check for, remove, and destroy the contaminated products. Only
Congress can fix the underlying problems by passing legislation that has
been languishing in the Senate for over a year."
In the 13-month period since the House passed H.R. 2749, the
Food Safety Enhancement Act, researchers from CSPI, Consumer Federation
of America, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group identified 85
separate recalls linked to at least 1,850 illnesses. 36 of those
recalls were due to Salmonella contamination of lettuce, alfalfa
sprouts, green onions, and ground pepper. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
contaminated with Salmonella spurred the recall of a wide variety of
soup and dip mixes, dressings, and seasonings. 32 recalls, mostly from
contaminated cheeses, were due to dangerous Listeria bacteria. E. coli
bacteria on shredded romaine lettuce sickened at least 26 people in 23
states and the District of Columbia.
At a press conference
in Washington, representatives from the consumer groups said that the
Senate needs to take up food safety legislation immediately after it
reconvenes. A conference committee will then have to craft a final bill
before it can be sent to the President.
For survivors of foodborne illness and their families, the wait has
been too long.
"I want to know that the food on my plate is safe," said 13-year-old Rylee Gustafson,
of Henderson, Nev. In 2006, Rylee spent two-weeks on life support and
was hospitalized for a month after eating spinach contaminated with E.
coli. Since her illness, Rylee has been active with Safe Tables Our
Priority (S.T.O.P.), which assists victims of foodborne illness and
advocates for reform. "I hope that the Senate can finish work on the
food safety bill, and that other kids won't have to suffer from a
foodborne illness like I did."
Both the House-passed bill and the bill pending in the Senate
require food manufacturers to develop written food safety plans and to
implement preventive measures. Both bills give the FDA a mandate to
conduct inspections of food processing facilities, and to conduct
microbial testing. Under current law, many facilities go for five or
10 years without an inspection. The Senate bill would require high-risk
producers to be inspected more frequently. Both bills give the agency
the authority to order companies to recall potentially tainted foods.
"Most Americans probably assume that FDA inspects farms and
food processing plants are inspected regularly and that when problems
arise, FDA can quickly order tainted eggs or spinach off the market,"
said Chris Waldrop, director of the Consumer Federation of America's
Food Policy Institute. "In fact, neither of those assumptions is true.
The Senate food safety bill would give the FDA the authority it needs
to do its job."
"Unfortunately, the FDA is often in reactive mode, chasing
down the source of an outbreak long after much of the food in question
has been sold," said Elizabeth Hitchcock, public health advocate for
U.S. PIRG, which is activating its nationwide grassroots network to push
for a vote on S. 510. "We need this food safety reform legislation so
that the FDA can focus on preventing contamination in the first
place--before the food ends up in Americans' cupboards and
refrigerators."
In 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assured young
Rylee, the survivor of the 2006 spinach outbreak, that food safety was a
priority. "We're going to do everything we can to get this legislation
done," Reid said. A month later, the bipartisan food safety bill was
unanimously reported out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee. But more than a year--and 59 recalls--later, no vote
has been scheduled.
"My Salmonella infection from eggs was the most devastating
thing I have ever been through," said Sarah Lewis, a mother of two from
Freedom, Calif. "I would hate for anyone else to have to go through
anything like it, especially if they have small children who need care.
The fact that this egg outbreak could happen on such a large scale
makes it clear to me that food regulation needs to be improved."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that
76 million people suffer from foodborne illness each year. 325,000
will be hospitalized. And approximately 5,000 Americans will die.
Children and the elderly are most likely to experience severe cases of
illness and death from foodborne pathogens.
Since 1971, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has been a strong advocate for nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, and sound science.
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Had it succeeded, said the state's attorney general, the scheme would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
Apr 25, 2024
A grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday charged seven aides to Donald Trump and nearly a dozen Republican officials over a "fake electors" scheme in the state that aimed to keep the former president in power after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump, who is currently facing nearly 90 charges across four criminal cases as he runs for another White House term, was described as "unindicted co-conspirator 1" in the 58-page indictment, which was announced by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"The people of Arizona elected President Biden," Mayes, a Democrat, said Wednesday. "Unwilling to accept this fact, the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency. Whatever their reasoning was, the plot to violate the law must be answered for."
The indictment names former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, sitting state Republican Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon, and seven others as the "fake electors" who sought to declare Trump the rightful winner of the state's presidential contest.
The names of other individuals indicted by the state grand jury are redacted, but the document's descriptions make clear that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and top Trump legal strategist Boris Epshteyn are among those facing felony charges—including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
"In Arizona, defendants, unindicted coconspirators, and others pressured the three groups of election officials responsible for certifying election results to encourage them to change the election results," the document reads. "Discussions about using the Republican electors to change the outcome of the election began as early as November 4, 2020. Those plans evolved during
November based on memos drafted by [an attorney for the Trump campaign, Kenneth Chesebro]."
Mayes said Wednesday that had the fake elector scheme succeeded, it would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
"It effectively would have made their right to vote meaningless," said Mayes.
A state grand jury, made up of everyday, regular Arizonans, has handed down felony indictments in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/Nu8GcD4ZqJ
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 24, 2024
Alex Gulotta, state director of All Voting Is Local Action Arizona, said Wednesday that "the indictment of the eleven fake electors is one of the first steps required in holding these election deniers accountable for their alleged attempts to take power away from voters by disrupting our free and fair elections."
"Arizonans deserve to trust the election officials responsible for administering our elections and preserving our democracy," said Gulotta, "and this is a positive step forward as we continue to strengthen the foundations of our democracy and restore faith in our elections."
The Arizona Republicreported Wednesday that "several of the Arizona electors have previously claimed they were merely offering Congress a backup plan, though nothing in the documents they sent to Congress and the National Archives backs up that assertion."
"The indictment includes several statements the false electors made on social media that contradict those claims," the newspaper observed.
Jenny Guzman, director of Common Cause's Arizona program, said the indictment "marks the start of a new chapter for the fake elector scheme that has plagued Arizona."
"Arizonans are still dealing with the fallout from the false electors and the Big Lie about the 2020 elections," said Guzman. "We are relieved that the investigation by Attorney General Mayes has concluded and Arizonans can now know that what comes next is accountability. These efforts by these fake electors to undermine the will of Arizona’s voters have had implications far beyond their failed attempt to overthrow the 2020 election."
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A campaign finance watchdog on Wednesday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, affiliated political groups, and an accounting firm of violating U.S. law in a scheme "seemingly designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump's legal bills."
The Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center (CLC) said that "evidence appears to show an illegal arrangement between several Trump-affiliated committees and a compliance firm named Red Curve Solutions that is designed to obscure the identities of those providing legal services and how much they are being paid."
"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money."
CLC alleges that the Trump campaign, Trump's political action committee (PAC) Save America, and three affiliated organizations "violated federal reporting requirements based on a scheme in which the committees reportedly paid over $7.2 million—described as 'reimbursement for legal' costs or expenses"—to Red Curve.
The watchdog also said that Red Curve appears to be "making or facilitating illegal contributions that violate either federal contribution limits or the prohibition on corporate contributions."
According to CLC:
Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees.
According to filings with the FEC, Red Curve appears to have been fronting legal costs for Trump since at least December 2022, with Trump-affiliated committees repaying the company later. This arrangement appears to violate FEC rules that require campaigns to disclose not only the entity being reimbursed (here, Red Curve) but also the underlying vendor. By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid—and how much they are being paid—through this arrangement.
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Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee—faces 91 federal and state felony charges related to his role in the January 6 insurrection and his organization's business practices. He is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The twice-impeached former president has been open about his use of campaign donations to pay his legal costs.
The new CLC filing comes a day after the watchdog filed separate FEC complaints urging investigations into a pair of Trump-affiliated "scam PACs," which "pretend to fundraise for major candidates or issues while secretly diverting almost all of their donors' money back into fundraising or the fraudsters' own pockets."
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Three Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday joined with Democrats to advance legislation that would repeal an 1864 ban on abortion—a development rights advocates welcomed while stressing that the fight is far from over.
The 32-28 vote on House Bill 2677—with GOP Reps. Tim Dunn (25), Matt Gress (4), and Justin Wilmeth (2) voting in favor—was the third attempt in as many weeks to pass repeal legislation since the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the ban.
"The state Senate could vote on the repeal as early as next Wednesday, after the bill comes on the floor for a 'third reading,' as is required under chamber rules," according toNBC News. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Wednesday toldThe Washington Post that "I am hopeful the Senate does the right thing and sends it to my desk so I can sign it."
Applauding the House passage of H.B. 2677, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona president and CEO Angela Florez said that "today, Arizona is one step closer to repealing the state's Civil War-era total abortion ban. While the repeal still must pass the Senate, this is a major win for reproductive freedom."
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Florez noted that "even with the repeal of the Civil War-era ban, the state will still have a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that denies people access to critical care. And lawmakers continue to attack Arizonans' ability to access reproductive healthcare. Our right to control our bodies and lives is hanging on by a thread."
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The coalition supporting the amendment, Arizona for Abortion Access, highlighted on social media that the House-approved bill "did not include the emergency clause required to stop the 1864 ban from taking effect on June 8," meaning H.B. 2677 wouldn't apply until 90 days after the end of the legislative session.
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