It’s only the safety of our food

In December, when then-HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson was announcing his retirement from the Bush cabinet, he said there’s only one fear that keeps him up at night.

“For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do,” Thompson said as announced his departure before department employees.

The president immediately showed exactly how seriously he takes Thompson’s concerns by effectively shrugging his shoulders over the vulnerability of our food supply.

With this in mind, as my friend Phil noted this morning, it should come as little surprise that the Bush White House, just months after the Secretary of Health and Human Services said it’d be “easy” for terrorists to attack our food supply, wants to cut funding for FDA inspection programs.

The Food and Drug Administration’s proposed budget for next year includes cuts to nearly all its inspection programs, from checks on imported food to reviews of overseas plants that make prescription drugs bound for the USA.

If Congress approves, the number of domestic food safety inspections made next year would fall by 5%, foreign drug plant inspections would drop 5.8% and checks on the nation’s blood banks would be cut 4.7%, compared with estimated 2005 inspections.

Feel safer?