WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Tuesday moved to protect the nation against tainted food and dangerous consumer products through government-ordered recalls, tighter safety rules for manufacturers and steeper fines for those who violate them.
In parallel proposals from the White House and the Food and Drug Administration, officials acknowledged flaws in the current screening system. The remedies -- some of which would require congressional action and some that could be implemented by regulations -- would cover imports such as toys contaminated by lead paint, as well as domestically produced foods like the tainted California spinach that last year killed three people and sickened hundreds more.
"While we have strong food and product safety standards, we need to do more to ensure that American families have confidence in what they find on our store shelves," President Bush said in announcing the plan. "They have the right to expect the food they eat, or the medicines they take, or the toys they buy for their children to be safe."
The administration's call comes after years of complaints by consumer groups and congressional Democrats that the government was failing to respond to a stream of problems with products originating in the United States and abroad. Critics in particular cited the lack of new funding for the FDA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies feeling the pinch of tight domestic budgets.
"I welcome the acknowledgment by the administration that we need increased authority and increased power to better protect the American people, but I'm also very concerned by the lack of detail on how we assure this is going to occur," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who chairs a panel that allocates funding for the FDA and other consumer protection agencies.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt acknowledged that "we haven't gotten to the point of putting a price tag" on it. He said that would be addressed in the president's 2009 budget, which is expected to be submitted to Congress in February. A coalition of consumer and industry groups has called for doubling the FDA's $450-million food safety budget within five years, but the 2009 budget is expected to stop well short of such an expansion.
The White House and FDA proposals point to prevention as the key to avoiding problems and would significantly expand regulation of private business -- a reversal of the administration's broad preference for less government oversight and more reliance on market forces.
