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DEL.ICIO.USHow peanut butter might gum up a Perdue bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Capitol can be a highly insulated bubble, but reality occasionally imposes itself.
Two years ago, the massacre at Virginia Tech threw a wrench into legislation backed by the National Rifle Association to permit employees to keep guns in cars parked on company lots.
We may be witnessing something similar right now. Even if you live in a bubble, you know about that peanut-butter factory in Blakely:
A federal report released Wednesday on the salmonella outbreak fueled outrage and calls for a criminal probe into the South Georgia plant that officials said made the peanut butter that is linked to the food crisis. Georgia legislators vowed to sharpen laws regulating food-processing plants as federal officials announced an expanded product recall.
The report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration detailed how the Blakely peanut butter plant failed to control contamination and retested tainted products before shipping them to market.
Two weeks ago, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced he would introduce legislation that would protect drug companies and medical device manufacturers in Georgia from lawsuits over products approved by the FDA.
Said Perdue:
“As we continue to attract new investment in biotechnology, we can secure our position as a leader in this industry by enacting laws that respect the role of the federal Food and Drug Administration as the regulator of the safety of drugs and medical devices.”
The governor’s legislation hasn’t manifested itself yet. But litigators who oppose the measure are practicing their lines, and the Blakely peanut-butter factory has quickly become a major part of the script.
“If the Food and Drug Administration can’t protect citizens and consumers from peanut butter, do we really want them to be the only line of defense for drugs and medical devices?” asked Bill Clark, director of political affairs for the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
We asked Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle this morning if the Blakely incident might sour the mood of the Capitol toward the governor’s bill.
Too soon to tell, Cagle said. He’d like to see the legislation.
But a spokesman for the governor said Perdue’s bill is to peanut butter what apples are to oranges.
“The ‘F’ in FDA is much different than the ‘D’ in FDA. Our legislation is specifically targeted at drugs and medical devices that go through a rigorous approval process, which is totally unrelated to the FDA’s food regulation process,” said Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley.
Further, Brantley said, the governor’s measure would protect companies from complaints against design defects of drugs and medical devices, not manufacturing defects. “If a drug manufacturer had salmonella in their factory and people got that from the taking the drug, this bill would not protect them,” he said.
Photo of the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Blakely, Ga., by the Associated Press
Comments
By Perdue's mouthorgan
January 29, 2009 3:58 PM | Link to this
“The ‘F’ in FDA is much different than the ‘D’ in FDA”? That’s the best you can do?
Let me tell you what the ‘D’ stands for mouthorgan. It stands for DEATH, and that’s what has happened, time and time again, when we get lax on accountability.
And what does the ‘F’ stand for when it comes to YOU, mouthorgan?
I think you know.
By Henry
January 29, 2009 6:57 PM | Link to this
Did pca and it’s offices donate to Chambliss? He is on the AG com.
By Lee
January 29, 2009 8:05 PM | Link to this
Just curious, I wonder how many of that plant’s workers are of the south of the border persuasion. You know, the ones who break our laws to illegally enter this country, the ones who bring a lethal cocktail of diseases with them, the ones who come from a background of filth and squalor.
By Denise
January 29, 2009 9:40 PM | Link to this
Lee,
You stupid bigot, this isn’t about illegal immigrants. They have, after all, been picking our crops for years—long before NAFTA allowed US Farmers to flood the Mexican market with highly-subsidized corn, destroying Mexican agriculture and emptying the Mexican countryside.
What this is about is the Republican notion that the government has no business making sure the food supply is safe. That is why they have done everything possible in recent years to ensure that agencies like the USDA and FDA have no real ability to inspect food processing operations. Republicans have done every thing they can to make sure such agencies have no real teeth.
By Lyrazel
January 30, 2009 8:11 AM | Link to this
I just read about the big feed our legislators had in Savannah. I would be curious to know if they ate ANY peanuts from the fields of their state. Actually I think they should ALL be force fed peanuts for letting this sort of situation happen.
By Lyrazel
January 30, 2009 8:14 AM | Link to this
I just read about the big feed our legislators had in Savannah. I would be curious to know if they ate ANY peanuts from the fields of their state. Actually I think they should ALL be force fed peanuts for letting this sort of situation happen. Where are the GA food inspectors Mr. Agriculture.
I dont want any of these unqualified hicks near my medications if this peanut plant is the way they regulate!!!
By Aaron Burr V. Mexico
January 30, 2009 11:44 AM | Link to this
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Deregulate EVERYTHING! Long live ANARCHY! DOWN with taxes and down with government. Except booze, sex and rock and roll, in which case you’re going to prison if you look at a drop, think a lustful thought or sing a sour note.
This is the Republican creed.
The nation at large has realized how stupid this is for the last two election cycles. We’ll see if they’re as stupid as Georgia is in 2010. I’m willing to bet they are.
By Timothy
January 30, 2009 9:40 PM | Link to this
Sonny Perdue is a gentleman and a scholar. How is Beijing this time of year?