Food Safety
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/30/607161/gop-food-safety-data/
Food Safety has been a concern of various and sundry good folks since the beginning of industrial processing of meat etc. Since people started to connect germs=disease, bacteria=disease and notice what conditions bacteria grew and was nurtured in.
It was part and parcel of the muckrakers in journalism to expose horrific practices, to find out how they could be avoided, and this was done from "around" 1870's to the 1930's...
and it helped out a lot. We had rules, regulations, and inspectors.
However, I think the last 20-30 years everybody started taking items for granted. We thought the infrastructure somehow magically kept itself going and repaired and in good shape. Part of what made the USA great were these items that added up to a great infrastructure and I think food safety should be considered as important as a good to great public transit system, bridges that aren't overdue to retrofitting and rehabilitation, schools that aren't even in the 1980's (either that may have been the last time anything was done for the building, or that is where the technology is, or maybe nothing has improved since then...etc.) let alone the 21st century, it all adds up to part of the US being a great place to live.
Food safety can employ intelligent, well educated people. Inspectors, lab techs, the clerical help--all are carefully vetted and trained workers who need a proper budget to work well. Food safety followed can save (3,000 a year) lives. Food safety can lessen hospital visits, absentee days at work, and help the economy in so many ways.
It's money well spent, so why is the GOP against the necessary steps to fund it properly?
It's money that also keeps from wasting resources.
(and disclaimer-- nope, I am no food safety worker, just a grateful patron of some clean restaurants and cafes that take the rules and regulations seriously...)
Food Safety has been a concern of various and sundry good folks since the beginning of industrial processing of meat etc. Since people started to connect germs=disease, bacteria=disease and notice what conditions bacteria grew and was nurtured in.
It was part and parcel of the muckrakers in journalism to expose horrific practices, to find out how they could be avoided, and this was done from "around" 1870's to the 1930's...
and it helped out a lot. We had rules, regulations, and inspectors.
However, I think the last 20-30 years everybody started taking items for granted. We thought the infrastructure somehow magically kept itself going and repaired and in good shape. Part of what made the USA great were these items that added up to a great infrastructure and I think food safety should be considered as important as a good to great public transit system, bridges that aren't overdue to retrofitting and rehabilitation, schools that aren't even in the 1980's (either that may have been the last time anything was done for the building, or that is where the technology is, or maybe nothing has improved since then...etc.) let alone the 21st century, it all adds up to part of the US being a great place to live.
Food safety can employ intelligent, well educated people. Inspectors, lab techs, the clerical help--all are carefully vetted and trained workers who need a proper budget to work well. Food safety followed can save (3,000 a year) lives. Food safety can lessen hospital visits, absentee days at work, and help the economy in so many ways.
It's money well spent, so why is the GOP against the necessary steps to fund it properly?
It's money that also keeps from wasting resources.
(and disclaimer-- nope, I am no food safety worker, just a grateful patron of some clean restaurants and cafes that take the rules and regulations seriously...)