Toward Greater Import Safety
Editorial from The New York Times
Give the Bush administration credit for some sound thinking on how to enhance the safety of imported foods and goods. But whether the thinking will be translated into a vigorous program of safety regulation is still an open question.
The administration unveiled its Action Plan for Import Safety and a related food safety plan this week to allay consumer anxiety over a spate of recalls of tainted foods, contaminated toys and defective products over the past year. For an administration that is reflexively opposed to strong regulation, the new plans proposed some surprisingly aggressive steps to strengthen the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The F.D.A., for example, would for the first time get power to order recalls of tainted foods; it would no longer be reliant on persuasion to coax voluntary withdrawals. It would also gain the power to require foreign producers of high-risk foods to certify that they comply with F.D.A. standards. The product safety commission would get enhanced recall powers and be able to level higher fines, up to $10 million. For the most part, however, the plans rely on industries to police themselves.
The plans are notable for their emphasis on preventing problems at their source, by stationing American inspectors in exporting countries and setting up certification programs to identify responsible producers and expedite entry of their goods. There is little doubt that it would be better to prevent dangerous imports before they can be shipped from the home country instead of trying to intercept them in this country.
The plans are disappointing for their lack of specificity, and their failure to propose substantial increases in funding and staff for agencies whose inspection capabilities have been starved in recent years. The food plan, which applies to both foreign and domestic producers, fails to consolidate separate food safety programs into a single strong agency. Congress will need to flesh out these vague plans with sufficient resources to protect the public from unsafe foods and products.
