And whom do you think should keep watch over things like this if not a government agency? A private company?

What is the difference between the government and a private company? And please don't say accountability, because that would be obviously false. Also, please don't say "profit motive", because, in fact, the government as a whole has no "profit motive", but the individual departments within the government actually act much like a for-profit entity. They seek to do things which will lead to increases in their levels of funding. So, in reality, there is a pseudo-"free market" acting within the government.

The people responsible should be tried for murder for knowingly letting contaminated medical supplies be distributed. Charging them with murder would be a very good incentive to do the right thing when they find contamination.

The president of the manufacturing plant should be the first charged followed by the inspectors for the FDA, followed by any workers who also knew.

Seems to me both the company making the product and the government should be responsible. Regardless of any profits involved, both had a responsibility and both were receiving money to perform those tasks.

I agree unionmule...until individuals are held accountable, nothing will change.

Same with the banks, wallstreet..etc. There is NO accountability

It's a typical Koch brothers Tea Party "Starve the beast" tactic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast

The conservatives increase deficits via tax cuts. They then cut funding for a government service so it is unable to perform at peak efficiency. They then use the fact that it is not perfect to argue for further reduction or elimination, citing mistakes. Any efforts to increase funding to an adequate level is referred to as "throwing money at the problem".

They go on to argue that further tax cuts will help to reduce spending, which studies show is not the case. Anyway, this story makes a strong argument for the necessity of the FDA, to protect the public. The Koch Brothers Tea Party era is over, as we see from the protests in Wisconsin. That is what taking the country back really looks like.

The problem is there's just too much regulation on companies...

The GOP says its constricting business.....

I guess they look at it as the cost of doing business

Federal and state inspectors, whether it's medical, environmental, fire code, etc. will perform follow up inspections XX amount of days after a violation is noted. It's important to note, that they were observing infractions such as improper sterilization documentation and procedures.

Whereas the company was receiving actual notices of faulty products AND also releasing known faulty batches.

But by Prius' brilliant logic, it's the government's fault. Not the company's! Oh NO! They will regulate themselves, just like Wall Street!

I also agree with unionmule, they should be prosecuted for murder, or at least manslaughter. Something!?!

Problem with this country is there are never any criminal charges filed. Lawyers come in on both sides make the money and life goes on.

We need to start arresting the people in charge of these companies and charging them with murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. And they need prison time. Right now they pay a fine and continue to do whatever they want. Forcing them to pay a fine will not hurt them but I bet when CEOs and managers start going to jail, we will start seeing changes for the better.

Yep, deregulate but if they get caught like this, immediate arrest and murder charges brought against the Company and department heads - with no bond before trial! That ought to encourage corporations to do the right thing.

Why make this political between the Dems and Repubs. I'm with the Teabaggers on this one. Eliminate the FDA and EPA, etc, and all the BS regulations on Wall street. Use the Chinese model and execute the CEO. It seemed to work when they got caught poisoning the milk with melamine. At least you haven't heard of a 2nd incident. This would apply where the Bosses placed the public or there employees in harms way and somebody died. My guess it would only take a few executions to get everybody's attention.

Financial mangers, however, would not be executed. Instead, they would be made poor and homeless.

It's kind of like Sharia Law. Hey, maybe it's not so bad after all.

I agree with everyone else that there needs to be distinct individuals held accountable for these things. I don't think implementing a new type of agency is the answer. We need really stiff penalties that make greedy CEO's think twice about risking the public's safety just to increase their profit margin. Now I'm not saying we should follow exactly in the footsteps of the Chinese but there were people executed there for shoddy business practices that put people's lives at risk.

<Same with the banks, wall-street..etc. There is NO accountability>

Yes baby

There is NO accountability also for members of congress who don't do their job oversizing the financial institutions.

I agree with all those who demand companies should be criminally charged but at the same time as we've seen in the past, "money talks, the guilty walks ".

Until those who have wealth and influence are held responsible for total disregard of our laws, we will continue to have 2 standards in our law, one for the wealthy and one for the poor. That is one of the major problems in our country, the working class and poor go to jail while the wealthy buy their way to freedom. Before you jump all over me for picking on the wealthy and influencial, there are always exceptions to every issue. Statistics speak for themselves.

sec (madoff, Sanford), Mineral Management dept. of interior, (BP oil spill), Treasury( bank gambling), Federal drug(tainted medical supplies) Homeland insecurity( illegal invasion), our Federal workers are incompetent , stupid, or just lazy; what the heck is going on ? Did anyone notice, this company has not been ordered to shut down, they are still producing medical supply's !

This is worse than having zero regulation. You trust the FDA and never consider the possibility of something being wrong.

Charge them all with murder and see if that helps the rest of them decide what the right course of action is.

@Oskar,

Get your facts straight. The Louisiana spill was a direct result of the foreman replacing drilling mud with saltwater within the borehole, thus greatly reducing the downward pressure and causing the eruption. He was trying to save a buck on the drilling mud.

This was a direct violation of an already established, fundamental deep water drilling regulation. Are you saying a federal inspector should've been there to watch him?

Many on the extreme right (@oskar perhaps) are magical thinkers. They just don't get it and they never will. Clotho has it down and the people like @oskar will never listen.

When you elect people who are antigovernment don't be surprised when they deliver bloated, ineffective, debt ridden government.

You can mention "starve the beast" as a proof that the right has built up these huge debts as a matter of policy and the rightwing sheeple call you crazy and stupid. You can point out that you can look up the debt, to the penny, by date at the Treasury's web site and they will call it lies.

Over half the population has an IQ below 101 and these types of ideas are hard for them to grasp.

Nothing lower then using the death of a child as a tool to make a political statement.

RanRan: Oh yeah. Right. I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you. Who are you trying to kid? Why spend precious resources on incompetent, inept, and corrupt federal agencies? Have you ever actually worked in DC for the feds? I have, and it's worse now than ever. So, how IS that hopey, changey stuff workin' out for ya?

BabyTurtle: Shame on you to insist that we have to take personal responsibility for our conduct. This is absolutely politically incorrect.

This is a very precise illustration of a very serious problem:

The FDA was established in its current state in 1906, mostly in reaction to Upton Sinclair's book about the meatpacking industry, "The Jungle." Its purpose was to insure the safety of food and drugs. But most food was locally grown and there were less than 1/10,000th the number of drugs and additives that there are today. So when it was established, it was set up with adequate staff, largely because it took over a log of Department of Agriculture staff so it could hit the road running.

But things have changed a great deal. Much of our food is not locally grown, or even grown in this country. What is grown here is shipped all over the country and world. Drug companies and the for-profit medical industry have turned from an insignificant industry to one that controls 1/6th of the entire economy with thousands and thousands of new drugs, food additives, and chemicals every year.

And state and local public health agencies worked along with the FDA to control issues within their own state that related to drugs and food safety.

And the FDA has been "taken over" by physicians with none of the public health training necessary to deal with things like food safety and none of the skills necessary to monitor the safety of drugs and medical equipment and supplies.

Because there is such a huge amount of money involved with the for-profit medical industry, they have spent literally billions "buying" the support of Congressmen. One of the ways that a meatpacker, as one example, would get involved with the FDA would be to lobby for "holding the line" on the number of meat inspectors (of course, to save taxpayer money.) A drug company might lobby to keep the FDA's mission focused on drug safety and not effectiveness or cost effectiveness. (Around a third of all new drugs are no more effective than a sugar pill.)

The consumers want safe food, cosmetics, and drugs. But they are unwilling to pay to have enough inspectors to achieve that goal. To do what the American public wants the FDA to do would require a) completely restructuring the FDA and its mission, b) getting rid of physicians who run the FDA and replacing them with the scientists with the appropriate skills., c) and increasing the staff at the FDA by over 500 TIMES!

The Americans want their government to work for them, but are completely unwilling to pay the bill.

RanRan

WE THE PEOPLE should watch over the government agencies as WE are the government. (in theory anyway)

The Federal Death Administration has killed more people that private businesses do. Just last year they allowed Vioxx on the market KNOWING it had issues. 60,000 deaths later they put a warning on the box.

The Federal Death Administration KNOWS GMO foods are not good to eat. They had over 44,000 internal documents listing all kinds of health risks and yet they allowed them to be on the market.

Of course it doesn't help that the FDA IS Monsanto.

So, what do we do about it?

I know what I am doing. I don't buy GMO food. I don't believe the vaccine BS they are shoving down my throat. AND FOR THOSE OF YOU IN WASHINGTON STATE, get ready. There is a bill pending right now that may make your vaccines MANDATORY unless you have a doctors note. Your doctor will have to sign off on your religious beliefs before you are exempt. Good luck with that.

The signs are too strong to ignore. We are a big pharma country and it's time we take back what is ours.

Audit the FDA

Audit the FED

Demand big pharma comes clean about it's poisons they push down our throats.

Demand the Fluoride is removed from our water supply. (Fluoride is a toxic by-product of the aluminum industry and has NEVER been proven to be a benefit for teeth health)

We are systematically being hearded towards population control. The food, drugs and laws being set forth are moving us towards this outcome. It's not even that secret anymore.

Wake up sheeple....

Looks like we're no better than the Chinese. Those slugs in the govt who let this go by should be (1) fired and (2) tried for attempted murder. Ditto for the employees of the manufacturer who knowingly let this happen. There is no excuse for this. For those of you who are suggesting "private inspectors," give me a break. They'd hire high school dropouts for minimum pay who wouldn't know how to use the wipes, let alone inspect them.

nutgrape.... This is what we elected.... You got your regulation... from your choice for president... and you want to blame who?
Mar 16, 2009 ... President Obama nominated former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD as FDA commissioner..

The rest of your simple-minded post is stunning... When you elect people who think the Government should be as bloated as possible, don't be surprised when they deliver bloated, ineffective, debt ridden government.

I agree 100%, Chris - people, go read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.  It's available at your local library.  There is a damn good reason why these government regulatory agencies were created - profit motives do not take into account people's lives unless there's a mechanism for turning them into $$$.

The problem is that the agencies have been packed with ANTI-regulatory hacks and gutted to the point of non-existence.  Here's a MSNBC article from 2007 that clearly outlines the problem and forecasts what is happening today as a result:

Risks of tainted food rise as inspections drop

Amid high-profile scares, FDA safety testing has fallen by half since 2003

Anyone with half a brain could see this train wreck coming when the inspections were cut and fines were done away with. But certain quarters in our society seem to have a problem with logical consequences (helped along by a WHOLE lot of corporate money). And their "solution" is to do away with regulation altogether. Are we smart enough to stand up for ourselves and say "NO"!??

If not, the Koch Brothers win and the rest of us lose. Maybe even our lives.

Not that anyone's interested in a rational, objective discussion of this topic, but I happen to know a thing or two about FDA regulations, inspections and enforcement in the Life Sciences. That said, both the FDA and the company are guilty of negligence in this case. However, I believe the FDA's negligence was largely, if not entirely, the result of limited resources in conjunction with the "low risk" classification of the products in question.

The company, on the other hand, was grossly - if not criminally - negligent in knowlingly distributing tainted products, ignoring customer complaints and willfully disregarding their regulatory obligation to comply with "Good Manufacturing Practices" (GMPs).

In short, the FDA did everything within its power and available resources to prevent this situation. Thus, the comapny deserves the lion's share of culpability for this tragedy . . . and the rest of the blame goes to legislators and their consituents who have weakned the FDA to such a dangerous degree.

Oh please wingnuts you people strangle any legislation that hold companies accountable and let the fda be infiltrated by the pharmaceutical companies then cry foul that its the governments fault when something like this happens. I guess in a strange way you are right it is the Republicans in power that are at fault.

Without getting into the hot and heavy discussion too much, the government is supposed to be a bastion to protect the public, without stifling company growth. When it comes to the issue of baby wipes, however, while it is expected that companies should provide safe wipes out of their own interest in preservation, its the governments job to make sure that happens. There is no other organization meant to protect us, and that's why when government fails, it causes so much outrage.

I have to tell you, this scares me. If you can't trust simple, everyday use medicine because a company decided to cut corners to make a few extra bucks at the cost of lives, AND government employees turn a blind eye for their own selfishness, how can you really trust anything? When I buy a book and it has a misprint, I am unhappy and seek a refund or replacement. When I get a car that doesn't work, depending on the malfunction, I range from being p-o'd to my life could have been in danger. Not properly sanitized wipes meant for sterilization? What, seriously, is the problem with people?!

At the same time, government documents obtained by msnbc.com showed that federal Food and Drug Administration inspectors knew about problems with contamination and sterilization at a plant run by the Triad Group of Hartland, Wis., as early as July 2009.
*************************

Here we have this under Obama's FDA.

OOhhhhhhhhhhhh, not to worry. BozObama and the non-thinking, yellow-dog socialists will simply blame it on Bush.

Patrick-1112710

The Federal Death Administration has killed more people that private businesses do. Just last year they allowed Vioxx on the market KNOWING it had issues. 60,000 deaths later they put a warning on the box.

I find it quite laughable that you point the finger at the FDA and not the company that makes it. That's analogous to blaming the EPA for the gulf oil spill - of which Im sure you blamed them also.

People like you are quite funny.

Chris...although you make excellent points, I disagree with your final conclusion.

The corporate power that has infiltrated our government through campaign contributions and payoffs like the one John Boehner was exposed for, as he was caught on film handing out corporate checks for the tobacco industry to buy votes that would support tobacco's growth, is responsible for more and more corruption and lack of oversight by our government.

No matter how much Americans are willing to pay to have their government work for them, Corporate wealth and its financial ability to control our elected officials and our elections cannot be overcome by American citizens.

As the middle class is being depleted, due to corporate fraud, the desired end of a force (middle class), weakened by the undermining of its economic strength, is being accomplished.

American's unwillingness to pay is not what is causing the degradation of our food, cosmetics and drugs. American's ability to pay is being diminished by the outsourcing of jobs, the loss of our industrial base and an economic meltdown that caused the loss of pensions through the fraudulent sale of bad investements to pension fund managers that had traditionally been reliable before the fianancial industry was deregulated and free to defraud anyone they chose.

The power of these enterprises enabled them to receive 700 billion dollars of taxpayer funds with no obligation to repay or interest on the money they were handed in the form of the TARP funds. Hank Paulson was granted an "ethics waiver" by the Bush administration before he made his "the sky is falling" speech. That waiver wasn't disclosed before the TARP funds were approved...and Hank Paulson just happened to be a former CEO of Goldman Sachs who is a major stockholder of the Federal Reserve Bank. So American taxpayers were forced to borrow the funds from the bank that Goldman owns and profits from...and hand them to Goldman along with rest the financial thieves that caused the melt down with no obligation to repay or "no strings attached" to Goldman, because Goldman was "too big to fail".

The ever-increasing strength and power of these behemouth corporations is enabling the corporate takeover of this country. Their latest endeavor appears to be the assault on remaining unions, through the officials that were elected as a result of campaigns funded, without transparency, by the corporate power that no individual American citizen can equal when it comes to finances or campaign contributions.

Blaming individual Americans who have been so adversely affected by corporate growth that is devouring them, just isn't fair.

If you want more regulation that is just fine, but admit more regulation will mean higher prices, higher taxes, and the loss of jobs as companies move overseas to save money. If higher regulations means more safety, maybe you're are willing to make these sacrifices, maybe you think things are tight the way they are now and you think life is a gamble and these incidents happen few and far between and we should just try to update procedures to help avoid this from happening again, or maybe you think there is a third alternative that not only saves money but does a better job. All have arguments both positive and negative, but don't lie and say we need more regulation as if there is no cost to that action.

What? The federal government acted incompetently in carrying out it's supposed duty to the public? I'm totally shocked!

If the FDA is at fault and government can't do anything right as conservatives claim, then what is going to protect us at all from corporate criminals like this company? Oh, I remember: Corporations will police themselves and the free market will weed out those companies that sell shoddy products. Unfortunately, innocent people are killed during the weeding out process. The "free market" isn't so free, at least for innocent citizens.

Kind of funny we just went through this last year with BP. If the government and drilling regulators were doing their job...BLAH BLAH BLAH. You can add all the goddamn inspectors and regulations in the world. When the roof comes down...it can all be traced back to the guys in the boardroom making all the big decisions. If the bigwigs want to run an unethical operation..what makes you think inspectors or regulation is going to stop them. It's pretty obvious they can hide, lie, cheat, and steal their way around it. Isn't the first time and won't be the last...

To Chris749391,

What a great well thought out post. You are correct that the American people want the FDA for ensure that the food we eat, the drug and cosmetics we use are safe, yet they do not want to pay the cost to reorganize the FDA so that it can efficiently and effectively perform the mission it is tasked to do.

I also agree with the posters that think the CEO and employees that knew about the tinted wipes, should face jail time. I do not think that FDA workers should face jail time, but I think they should be fired, if they did not follow the proper protocols.

There should be laws regulating the access that lobbyists have to government officials that work in sensitive area, such as the FDA, the Department of Agriculture, and the EPA. When it comes to the well-being of Americans, companies should not be able to influence these agencies decision-making process. The FDA should also be given power to enforce regulations through the Justice Department. If companies knew that there are stiff consequences if they put tinted products on the market, they would consider quality as well as profit, not profit before quality.

If you want more regulation that is just fine, but admit more regulation will mean higher prices, higher taxes, and the loss of jobs as companies move overseas to save money.

By the same token, LogicRequired, regulation can also help drive significant business growth and innovation in related industries; creating high-paying jobs right here in the gold ol' U.S.A. Also, certain regulations in addition to improving consumer safety can drastically improve manufacturing efficiencies and global supply chain operations, which drive down operating costs and improve profits for "the regulated."

In short, the standard "doom-&-gloom" lens through which regulation is portrayed by its opponents is short-sighted at best, and downright dangerous at worst.

We, the American people, elect congress to make laws to protect us from things like this happening, then we tie the hands of the administrative branch who enforce these laws by denying the money to enforce the laws. There is not enough inspectors. The same thing with other laws. We pass laws on immigration then don't give the government money to enforce the laws and then scream because the government is not doing anything. This is what taxes are for, to pay for these protections and privileges we as Americans so much want, but then we tie the hands of the government because the privileged few do not want to pay their fair share of taxes to enforce the laws passed. Go figure.

Robert Wilson:

If the bigwigs want to run an unethical operation..what makes you think inspectors or regulation is going to stop them. It's pretty obvious they can hide, lie, cheat, and steal their way around it. Isn't the first time and won't be the last...

People run red lights even though it's against the law. Should we get rid of traffic regulations, too?

LogicRequired:

If you want more regulation that is just fine, but admit more regulation will mean higher prices, higher taxes, and the loss of jobs as companies move overseas to save money.

Taxes are at a SIXTY YEAR low. We've already traded off too much safety for low taxes with no jobs to show for it.

The Republican plan to solve the jobs problem is to bust unions and defund regulatory agencies like the FDA. That way, American corporations can compete with China and sell toothpaste tainted with lead made by workers who work for cheap in abominable work environments, just like in China.

"People run red lights even though it's against the law. Should we get rid of traffic regulations, too?"

No...I ran three red lights yesterday and there wasn't anyone around to stop me...what's the point? Even with traffic regulations I still got away with it...

Oh yes ... lets deregulate ... those big American/International corporations will do what is right (only for their bottom line) even if it kills every last one of us American citizens ... no worries though, plenty of Canadians, Mexicans, S Americans, Central Americans, Europeans, Africans, Mideasterns and Asians still out there for them to kill by being their consummers ....

De regulate ANYTHING and watch more people die needlessly ... big business isnt concerned as long as they can find other customers too stupid to realize how dangerous their products may be.

The age of the snake oil salesman is returning, but on a much larger scale and on an international scale. Just grab the money and run ... who gives a damn about the consumer if you already snatched their cash.

It's funny how people get on here and blame the Republicans and Tea Party right away instead of who was really at fault and that was the FDA and Triad. While we are at it why don't we just use the typical excuse and blame Bush as well, then it will all be complete.

@Robert Wilson

VROOOOOOMMM! There goes Houston's point right over your head!

Man are you dense!

RanRan: Oh yeah. Right. I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you.

There's an awful lot of stuff for the watchdog agencies to watch. The Constitution says that the government exists for the well-being of the nation. Those words are true and are the standard by which we can judge our government's performance at any given moment.

Did the FDA fail in this case? Yes. Do they fail often? Apparently not - given the sheer amount of stuff they have to watch over.

The FDA and THEIR families use the same stuff they watch over.

Who is to blame here? It's the idiots. Sloppy stupid idiots. On all levels of that manufacturing plant and the schools that produced them - including the owner who just ruined his business for being stupid as well.

When you get rid of idiots, you can get rid of the regulation of them. But idiots are here to stay.

d-man

Kierán Suckling, executive director of the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, said the federal waiver "put BP entirely in control" of the way it conducted its drilling. Agency a rubber stamp "The agency's oversight role has devolved to little more than rubber-stamping British Petroleum's self-serving drilling plans," Suckling said. Just follow the money they all are in bed, government and corporations.

Pharmaceutical corporations jump in favor of Obamacare.

more well spent federal money. no inspections of the oil well in the gulf, constant contaminated food in our supply and now fda not issuing corrective action when they do fins something. not to mention all the drugs that are rushed through acceptance for drug companies only to be recalled in a year because of deaths. big government bureaucracy at work.

The FDA has been whittled away and its power reduced. Don't know how you expect them to operate with so much to do and too few people to do it. Blame Obama if you like, but it was the Bush administration and the Republicans in power in Congress that got things where they are now.

The shame of it all is that it will require more regulators than any of us can pay for with our tax dollars to ever keep any business in check. The greed and corruption of all businesses, from small businesses to major corporations makes me sick. And what scares the heck out of me is that politicians on both sides allow them way too much power. Corporations must be held accountable in a serious way. I agree with the poster above. Let's just take China's tactic and put them in front of a firing squad.

GOVERNMENT? AGENCY? CONTROL?

Thanks FDA? Thanks for "protecting us" you pathetic leeches!

Another CLASSIC EXAMPLE of just how incredibly USELESS ANOTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCY truly is!

After all the "hundreds and hundreds of BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars SPENT" to fund this so-called "administration" of OVERPAID, ineffective, politically appointed federal union employees... here's EXACTLY WHAT the taxpayers get for all those WASTED BILLIONS:

“Procedures designed to prevent microbiological contamination of drug products purporting to be sterile are not followed,” officials wrote in inspection reports. But there's no record that the FDA sent warning letters typically used to force firms to comply?

Yet... some of the most ignorant among us are STILL SURPRISED??

Yet... how many of the MOST IGNORANT among us STILL believe OUR government has ANY ability to MANAGE ANYTHING?

Health care?

When it is all said and done... each and EVERY SINGLE ONE of our Federal Agencies DESERVE to either:

A. Have their annual Multi-BILLION dollar budgets SLASHED or...

B. COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN.

There is NOT ONE Federal Agency that can possibly be excluded from IMMEDIATE and DRAMATIC BUDGET CUTS! All of their multi-billion dollar budgets are beyond VULGAR WASTE. Not a business on Earth would EVER be mismanaged so POORLY... let alone survive.

Social Security CAN, MUST and eventually will be based on "means testing" exactly like Welfare, Unemployment, Medicare and Medicaid.

There is simply NO VALID JUSTIFICATION for those Americans who are "beyond independently wealthy" to receive a Social Security check. Taxpayers PAID IN to the government's budget, which funds everything. Yet, most Americans DO NOT RECEIVE Welfare, Food Stamps or medicare/Medicaid. Very few Americans have so much as a "cheap T-shirt, a pencil or a lousy scratch pad" from the White House or any other government agency, so WHY should EVERYONE, regardless of Net Worth also receive a Social Security check.

Considering the hundreds of BILLIONS that can be saved by SLASHING these ineffective, if not totally USELESS agencies... our country would have "more than enough money" to easily cover the costs of ANY CITIZEN who needs any type of Health Care, Higher Education, Financial Assistance or adequate Social Security funds.

The sooner more Americans READ and LEARN about the INSANE Billions of dollars we BURN to fund so many totally useless agencies, the sooner they'll get the message.

Sadly, so many who claim allegiance to one party or another; complain about higher or lower taxes and take sides on so many issues... really do NOT take the time to understand the grotesque, vulgar and INSANE levels of wasted FUNDS ON the pathetically MISERABLE ADMINISTRATION of our government.

After spending TRILLIONS and TRILLIONS on National Defense & Security, what happened on 9-11?

Oops... yeah... I guess we MISSED IT?

After more than 150 years that all the politicians who ever served the state of Louisiana... who ALL KNEW that the New Orleans LEVEES could NOT survive large hurricane... after the hundreds of BILLIONS SPENT on that state...

What happened when Katrina came cruising by?

Oops... yeah... I guess they MISSED THAT TOO?

It is "almost impossible to name a SINGLE Federal Agency" that actually delivers good quality services BACK to the taxpayers within ANYTHING CLOSE to a reasonable cost.

After all of their INSANE COSTS... the taxpayers get SCAMMED, RIPPED OFF and TAXED to death (even AFTER death with the Death TAX too).

What do we really get?

When will people learn?

How long until Americans WAKE UP?

Like Reagan warned us years ago:

"Do not look to government for a "solution to your problem!

Government IS THE PROBLEM!"

Only blind, uneducated and ignorant fools believe in either political party or in our own horribly ineffective government that serves only ITSELF, instead of the CITIZENS.

PEACE :-)

@Robert Wilson

VROOOOOOMMM! There goes Houston's point right over your head!

Man are you dense!

Apparently you missed my point completly as well...just because there are regulations and laws in place...do you really think that people will abide by them? Unless you have someone there policing and holding the corporate hand every step of the way...(sounds like some of you would like this)...things like this are going to happen...regardless of regualtions, inspectors, or laws...

At no point in time did I ever say do away with regulations...I'm just making the point that throwing more at the problem isn't going to fix it. Someone needs to pick up on /sarcasm.

We are all responsible for what we do unless we are celebrities, politicians, work on Wall Street, big business, pharmaceutical companies or banks.

I don't believe that allowing the results of incompetency by private business should be the determining factor in their being brought to blame for people being harmed.

Why wait for someone to be hurt when a COMPETENT and FUNDED existing federal agency could have prevented harm by regulation and review.

Would we allow air traffic collisions that would root out incompetent pilots??

Mike-416

In case you didn't know, the FDA is supposed to STOP drugs that are harmful. They didn't. So, do you blame the drug company or the government agency that is supposed to protect us but is failing miserably?

Both is the real answer, until you look at the FDA closer.

They are owned by corporations. Monsanto and big pharma.

When a top adviser was fired for being a whistleblower on the drug Vioxx, he was told by his supervisors that 'we need to keep a great working relationship with the drug companies, they are our customers."

Funny, I thought I was. I will never think that way again. My health is 2nd to corporate profits. It's very obvious.

And this is only 1 drug of thousands. Now add in the GMO issues and you can see the real story.

GMO tests on rats and other animals have shown MAJOR health concerns. To this day NO HUMAN TESTING NECESSARY! Why? Because the FDA is run by Monsanto and is often in charge of overseeing the test results from a corporation who's officers are not in charge of reviewing their own tests. NO CONFLICT OF INTERESTS HERE!! (very sarcastic in case it didn't come across in type)

This agency is a disaster and so is our health in this country. Coincidence? Not even close.

They are directly responsible for the deaths of millions.

The medical community is responsible for well over 240,000 deaths in the US ALONE per year.

And then you have the FDA going after organic farmers who sell milk. Raiding their farms at GUNPOINT, but yet it will allow drugs on the market (and food) KNOWING it is killing you.

Bottom line: If it is FDA approved, think twice.

BTW, as a follow up....

The FDA KNEW and had concerns (this has been proven by it's own studies on this drug) that Vioxx had a major issue with the heart.

Also, the FDA, who said it has no current studies showing that GMO food is harmful was caught in a lie during a hearing in 1999 were 44,000 internal documents were provided showing that some FDA scientists had some very real concerns on GMO foods.

You are now seeing the results of GMO food in our health. The same issues that were shown on animal studies. Increased heart disease, sterility (animals sterile after 3 generations), cancers, internal organ damage, allergies, obesity and many more.

Why do you think there is so much money thrown at our senators via biotech industries to just blindly look the other way and consider GMO foods as safe? When they are labeled as safe, human studies are not needed. YOU ARE THE STUDY.

Also, on a side note. There are several dozen countries that have banned GMO's or have opted to at least label foods that contain GMO's. Obama promised to do this on his campaign. Not only did we NOT get this done, they have just de-regulated GMO alfalfa and sugarbeets, against a federal judge order I might add. Funny since 95% of all alfalfa crops are currently grown without the use of pesticides!! However, this will make organic foods much harder to come by and that's where the real war is being waged.

Welcome to the war on your food supply by Monsanto (aka the FDA).

There is no money in healthy people or dead people. Just people who have chronic illnesses. What better place to start than with your food.

You are what you eat.

LogicRequired:

If you want more regulation that is just fine, but admit more regulation will mean higher prices, higher taxes, and the loss of jobs as companies move overseas to save money.

You know, that's always the argument made by the right against adequate regulation - "it'll just come out of my pocket". Problem is, that's NOT TRUE. Companies LOVE to shove their costs off on the public, and they do it MORE without regulation, not less.

Case in point, the Credit Card Reform Act passed in 2009:

Credit card customers are facing fewer interest rate hikes and forking over sharply less in late fees.

Penalty charges overall are down. In January of last year — just before the regulations took effect — cardholders paid $901 million in late fees. That amount was more than halved to $427 million by November, according to the agency. Also, the number of accounts assessed late fees fell by nearly 30 percent.

Consumers also benefited from new rules on interest rates. Issuers can no longer hike rates on existing balances or in the first year after an account is opened. Cardholders must also be given 45 days' notice before the rate is hiked on new purchases.

Before the regulations, about 15 percent of accounts saw rate hikes over the course of a year. That figure fell to just 2 percent in the year after the new rules took effect, according to data supplied to the CFPB by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

A separate survey of the nine largest card issuers found that two-thirds no longer charge over-the-limit fees.

Before the regulations, card issuers would often approve transactions that caused cardholders to exceed their credit limits. The customers would then be charged fees as high as $39. Now customers cannot be penalized for going over their limits unless they opt for such transactions to go through.

The anti-regulatory crowd was out in full force against this legislation with the same old LIES you're spreading now. But you won't hear any of them admitting they were DEAD WRONG. How about you, Logic?

I am sure they just need a few more billion in tax payer dollars to ensure that these companies comply with regulations.

sum it up any manufacture of any products, ya know like tires exploding, run away cars, poisoned food etc etc, the CEO and all their board are all held responsible thats it dont make it political its what were famous for as a species GREED

Triad Group use unionized or non-unionized workers? just curious.

It does not matter whether the workers were union on non-union, thturd, the company's equipment was old and not functioning properly and the order to ship defective products came from the top.

it actually does matter...

The FDA should just come out with a new slogan (much like the Navy, our "global force" for "good") Suggestions:

"Your safety for sale to the highest bidder!"

"Deregulation is Job One!"

We should all get used to this... the next target for the GOP is tort reform so that when something like this does happen you won't be able to sue the company for damages... This is the type of world that the GOP wants to have, a fascist corporatist society... they lick the boots of their corporate masters... they bow and scrape to the tune of their corporate puppeteers... And BONER is the worst of them... handing out checks on the house floor.. bribing other officials to vote his way... Buying votes just like the corporations do... he is just their little slave blowing in the wind...

Good luck tea partiers --- and thank you for your patriotism to your corporate masters... thank you for turning america into a fascist state... one ruled by corporations....

you might want to look up the term fascist before you jump on the "Obama is the fascist bandwagon..." you will find that no he is really not and yes BONER is....

Me think you confused with how heatlh care went down. And talk about bowing down, Dumbo is da King at that one. Since you side with lawyers I think I know where your head is.

@zaruski...ummmmm. we are talking about a child's death,,,,,, what does that have to do with anything....comical to say the least....

The government doesn't really give a flip. When a person sues the state or some other government entity, we (the taxpayers) pay for it... not the incompetent people who are suppose to be regulating things like this. The people who knew and didn't act according to their responsibilities should be held accountable not the tax payers. I damn sure didn't have anything to do with the death and illnesses... did you? Take away their (those who chose to ignore) retirement funds and award those funds to the affected (or should I say, the infected) but don't hold us (the taxpayers) accountable for the actions of those who chose not to do what they were hired to do.

Ever see a regulation that was not fought tooth and nail by the right wingers? It aint the government its aholes like the Republican ass kisser we are stupid enough to elect. Since they have been in power the FDA has been a rubber stamp for the people they are supposed to be regulating.

At the same time, government documents obtained by msnbc.com showed that federal Food and Drug Administration inspectors knew about problems with contamination and sterilization at a plant run by the Triad Group of Hartland, Wis., as early as July 2009.
***********************

Uhhhhhhh, this happened under Obama's FDA with the present regulations, tort laws, etc.

But you are conveniently ignorant of that, aren't you logdump and whatthe...?

The current regulations, tort laws, etc. were not established by the Obama administration. Corruption has been rife in our government for decades. It started long before Obama was elected. But go ahead and blindly try to pin it on one person. That'll solve everything.

Whatabout??? wrote:

The government doesn't really give a flip. When a person sues the state or some other government entity, we (the taxpayers) pay for it... not the incompetent people who are suppose to be regulating things like this. The people who knew and didn't act according to their responsibilities should be held accountable not the tax payers. I damn sure didn't have anything to do with the death and illnesses... did you? Take away their (those who chose to ignore) retirement funds and award those funds to the affected (or should I say, the infected) but don't hold us (the taxpayers) accountable for the actions of those who chose not to do what they were hired to do.

My question to you, is does the company have any responsibility in this or is it just the government officials? While, they did not do their jobs, because there isn't a record that they received written warnings, there is an annotation in the FDA documents that states "promise to correct." Therefore, the company had to know that there was a problem.

Inspectors reported worn and broken manufacturing equipment, misidentified batches of hemorrhoid cream, and instances where if a single batch of hemorrhoid ointment or glycerin suppositories failed quality standards, others weren’t tested for the same problem and were released for distribution.

In one case, inspectors noted that a batch of lubricating jelly failed viscosity tests on Jan. 28, 2010, but was released anyway with the specific consent of Triad’s president, David Haertle. A week later, the decision to release the jelly per Haertle's authority was revised and cases of the jelly were scrapped, but some already had been distributed, according to the report.

"No action was taken on the distributed cases," inspectors wrote.

Overall, officials concluded the company had no procedures in place for reporting or acting on manufacturing problems.

Further, inspectors reported that Triad failed to evaluate and investigate a complaint from a hospital about high rates of abnormal pap smear results tied to the sterile lubricating jelly. "Hospital lab confirms that the jelly was to blame," the report said. Triad had received six similar complaints between July 2009 and May 2010, investigators noted.

Investigators also said Triad failed to file proper forms documenting a complaint that alleged more than 30 women reportedly developed vaginal irritation after a doctor used the jelly during exams, with some developing problems that had to be treated with medication for up to three weeks or more. In December, Triad recalled specific lots of the jelly, saying they might not be sterile. The FDA re-issued the warning on Feb. 16.

Based on the article, I would think that blame lies with the company as well as FDA.

My family has worked for big pharma for many years and has dealt with the FDA. I too have dealt withe the FDA on a limited basis.

From my perspective, an FDA visit is taken very seriously. It is a high anxiety time even if things are being done correctly because so much is on the line. Workers for the most part, including management take great pride in their work and want to shine so to speak. I can honestly say in my experience as well as those in my family with 30 years or more of experience with the FDA have ever found them to be bought off, or look the other way.

Something went terribly wrong here on the part of the government. We all know for certain the company was willing to chance things. Please keep in mind that workers had to have been aware of their lack of protocols and obviously nobody reported the company. BTW, you do realize you can unanimously contact the FDA anytime. The "police" in this case was the FDA inspectors that failed in their duties.

Let me give this example. If you own a restaurant in my town, and the health inspector comes to inspect without warning, which they always do, they will write up infractions that day if there are any, and that restaurant has 1 day to fix the problem. Those inspectors come back the next day. Meanwhile the name of the restaurant is written up in the paper for those infractions which most of the time are minor. So let's say one of the refrigerators was not cooling and that restaurant was cited. They have exactly 1 day to fix it. Not a week, not a month, not years. If they don't, the restaurant is shut down. See how easy this is.

Now if those infractions are allowed to continue, it is the fault of the government worker. They are the bullies in the schoolyard. They hold all the cards.

Why was this plant allowed to operate? I don't know.

This is easy. The plant manager and all those that knew of this missing protocol in their system without addressing it ASAP need to be brought through the court system. The FDA has certain guidelines with respect to FDA inspections. If they were derelict in their duty, they need to use that same courtroom as the company employees.

Let's clear the cobwebs. This was no accident. The company and possibly the FDA were willing to risk a potential problem which finally did happen.

No matter how much blame the FDA shares in this they will not be held accountable through our judicial system. The FDA is immune from suit, as long as the decisions that were made were within the agency's delegated authority. The only recourse for the damaged consumer is to attack the corporation which produced the defective product.

As a side note, big pharma would like the same immunity extended to them that the FDA and other government agencies enjoy. In other words, if the FDA approves it, the company shouldn't be held liable for their negligence. This is already the law of the land when it comes to FDA approved medical devices. Faulty pacemaker? Too bad, so sad....

Carmarie... absolutely... the company is 1st and foremost at fault and they should be nailed. They intentionally disregarded the public safety (their customers) but the Government workers who knew about the violation are (as in their terminology) accessories to the crime and I say crime because if they knew about something that could potentially hurt or kill someone and they had a responsibility but chose not to take corrective action???... then it is a crime.

that is why I don't trust the FDA...if you knew about all the stuff they allowed in our foods alone as it is-

They also allowed 600,000 americans to be taking a certain diabete drug (don't remember which one) when they knew it increased risk of heart attacks. Europe was banning the med, but the FDA...no.

The FDA has already been corrupted by corporate money. The repubs have already won. Look at all the dangerous drugs that are approved only to later be "reviewed" because of widespread deaths and injuries.

I'm sure the regulators knew nothing would be done except they would be fired if the whistle was blown this.

You seem to lack information regarding proceedure in these cases. Maybe we should allow the Repub/Teabaggers to deregulate all Corporate America because they are so honest and will govern their own safety practices for the well being of Americans. How many have to die before the Repub/Teabaggers get honest and placing American lives ahead of the almighty dollar. I also would like to see and investication into why the FDA didn't act on their findings sooner. Under these circumstances the FDA should be monoriting these companies on a daily bases to ensure they are resolving their unsafe practices of do what is done with restruants ans close them down on the stop but again money talks.

If this happened in 2009 then we know who was in charge of the governemnt. The first violation should have brought the feds in to oversee. The next time they had a report instead of saying that the company forgot to report this the company shoudl have been shut down.

Wow lots of ignorance...just goes to show how little the average person knows about the FDA, medical devices, pharma, heck the medical supply industry as a whole. But allow me to clarify a few points everyone above have grossly exaggerated:

@Doug: the FDA is primarily concerned with safety and efficacy. They do not have anything to do with money or pricing. That being said, they are terribly understaffed, underfunded, and have outdated practices (i.e. they don't even have internet submission yet!). Likely because $ that could go towards our safety and health care budget went to GM instead to make cars. Also the number of drug approvals has plummeted the past 5-10 years. This is making pharma change their entire business model, which you guys should all be in approval of.

@Reina: see above, the number of approvals has plummeted precisely due to failing phase III trials. These trials use a few thousand healthy patients. Then the drug is launched based on reviews of the clinical trial data (usually about 10 years after submission). When it hits market, suddenly the drug can be given to our entire population (100,000's - millions) with all types of genetic variability. If adverse events are reported (Phase IV) then the data is reviewed yet again and the drug gets pulled. There is no conspiracy against you. The diabetes drug still works for hundreds of thousands of people. Unfortunately it did not work for a handful of people, but we don't pull it because it still benefits many.

@Wakehead, Winker, and Mary: see above, pretty much sums it up broken-record-style. FDA is only in charge of safety/efficacy (not money), they are severely understaffed and underfunded (can't inspect everyone all the time) and they do not willy-nilly approve products that are dangerous without rigorous clinical testing.

This story reported on very unfortunate events, but many of the events cannot be directly linked to Triad products (but there's always a lawyer who will try). Furthermore, the FDA acted exactly as it was designed to, but those policies/procedures are outdated and the FDA needs help, not ignorant/uneducated criticisms.

Not to worry,

The FDA is one of the agencies that the GOP has on the board to cut, therefore the pharmaceutical and medical companies can be policing themselves, someone just the other day told me, "I don't believe a corporation would not be trustworthy on their medication, because they are they a reputation to uphold. This of course is a person calling for less government regulation.

First, let me stage this as someone who has worked in the Pharma industry for over 10 years as a Quality Control Microbiologist and in Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs. I have seen firsthand many great things, and on the flipside, many despicable things in the private sector of pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Many commenting here do not understand presently how the law works with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) as per 21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 210/211 (that code which governs pharmaceutical manufacturing practices to ensure that drug products meet the safety, identity, strength, purity, and quality attributes they are required to posses in accordance with the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act). The fact of the matter is, the cGMP regulations and the FDA system is designed to establish standards that firms are expected to follow. There is a required certain "self regulation" if you will, and the FDA monitors compliance with cGMP through periodic inspections (typically every two years for routine compliance monitoring). Any regulation is at the mercy of those firms willing to do what it takes to meet the regulations, and the reasons for failure, from my personal experience, range from lack of staffing, a "knowledge glut" or education/experience deficiency, and in the worst case situations, doing whatever it takes to "push product out the door" while doing as little as possible (think business....maximize profit).

The cGMP regulations require that firms "have adequate personnel to perform their assigned functions" and that personnel "have the proper education, training, experience, or combination of, to provide their assigned functions..." (I have probably misquoted, but you get the gist). Where I mostly recently worked, I saw a terrible problem with both of these. Keep labor costs down, and the President and CEO gain the most. Sad, but true. I will say they got better from what I gather they USED to be. I was horrified with many things, but one which I found interesting was that not long ago they had Quality Assurance personnel who were "yanked" off the filling lines and put into positions that are supposed to "police" the company to ensure these regulations were meant, but these people actually couldnt even tell you what cGMP stood for, what CFR meant, what it said, much less how to even interpret and implement a Quality System.

The last is the most despicable of all. I have seen falsification or data, false inspections, pushing product out the door, blatant failure to follow procedure from manufacturing management who only care how they are perceived to make X number of batches in less time with less people by cutting corners, cheating, lying, etc. As a Quality Assurance professional, I have dealt with an uphill battle trying to find satisfaction in my career, and to try and do whats right and make companies compliant with cGMP. In doing so, I have met considerable resistance, have dealt with people unwilling to coooperate, uneducated to do the minimum thats required of them, and most of all intent on breaking the rules because profit is the primary motivator. Trust me, working in Quality is a tough job. I am now seeking to work for a company that is truly intent on building quality into the products they make.

FDA 483's are issued all the time. There is a big difference between some "deficiencies" and all out lies, testing into compliance, knowledge gluts, improper staffing, poorly maintained equipment and facilities, and processes that are not designed to ensure safety. I personally would like to see a more "iron fist" from the FDA to "nip things in the butt" a bit sooner than these protracted regulatory pathways from 483 issuance, through Warning Letters, and lastly Consent Decree with facility shutdown, product seizure, and FINES. I actually believe 483's should be fineable "offenses, but alas they are not. Meanwhile companies just try to skate by with less, because a failure to follow the law essentially results in a slap on the wrist.

In the end, the safety of products is at the mercy of, to be honest, some pretty uneducated, unqualified, and despicable people at the feet of wealthy, profit driven executive management who don't care what the small guy screaming "we have quality issues" says, because that means nothing and is a hindrance to them making as much money as possible.

MmmMmmBeer is actually and totally right! The FDA would love to have the governments attention much like the European scientific community does. But it doesn't have that kind of support within the U.S. gov't. What it faces is, our loving rep's in D.C. swamped with PAC money to not listen to our scientists, therefore the FDA goes unheeded and has to tread carefully, lest they lose more funds and funding. And forget about courage if you want to keep your job!

FDA is a lackey for the people they should be regulating every since Republicns took over in 2000. Now medicines are on the prescribe list that have more side effects than cures.

The laws and regulatory power to padlock the place already existed, but someone made the decision to let them continue to operate.

Thats a lie stop deflecting or send a link that shows they did not do their job

At the same time, government documents obtained by msnbc.com showed that federal Food and Drug Administration inspectors knew about problems with contamination and sterilization at a plant run by the Triad Group of Hartland, Wis., as early as July 2009.
***********************

Uhhhhhhh, "logdump", (how appropriate) this happened under Obama's FDA with the present regulations, tort laws, etc. You can come out from under the rock now, this is 2011.

Corporations/Big Business being regulated may be a right vs left ideaology, however, once conservatives are helpless to save their own families and friends because of this garbage, they will be seeing it quite differently. Money is money, whether from a right or left or middle pocket. They harm will not be limited by political divisions. The ideology can be politicized, however the damage will know NO boundaries.

This is NOT what America was built upon. It was NOT uncaring, heartless capitalistic goals of Big Business that spurred America, but free trade done in honor by small businesses that built America. The very kinds of businesses that Corporations meticulously aimed to put out of business in favor of international monopolies.

Walmart erradicated Mom and Pop shops ... international Oil usurped our Oil business (thank Cater and his removing the cap for that - gasoline jumped from 39 CENTS/gall full serve to over $2/gall self-serve in less than a year)

Mary P,

This is not a present administration thing, it is not a past administration thing. When a new administration comes into office they do not rewrite the rules and laws for these departments. Congress has the oversight of these departments and for writing the regulations that govern them. How can the FDA or any other agency that is looking out for our welfare be effective, if those that have oversight (Congress) are receiving campaign money from the industry's lobbyists?

Remember the e-coli in the spinach? That outbreak and recall did not occur under this president; however, it does not matter who the president is, the employees are civil employees whose jobs are not tied to a particular administration.

Just think of how many people will become sick, impaired or die, if these regulations were not in place. The solution is to conduct an investigation. If it is a procedural problem correct it and implement better protocols. If it is a personnel problem and someone dropped the ball, reprimand or fire them.

Thank you BBBND for your post, it was most enlightening and only confirmed my suspicions.

I agree with you that the FDA's warnings should have more teeth and also, that these companies are about the $$$ and do not care about individuals.

Right now the cry is DEREGULATION; however, for the human good, some things cannot be deregulated, most businesses, will not regulate themselves, especially, if it cost more to do so.

I DARE any politician or ANY INDIVIDUAL to "attempt to justify the existence of the FDA" or most other Federal Agencies... by FIRST:

A. Show the Total Annual Budget for the FDA in Billions of Dollars?

B. List the Total Number of Employees (Federal Union Workers)?

C. List the sites, locations and addresses for each and every physical building under the FDA's control.

After clearly listing A, B and C, NOW explain to the American people on national television EXACTLY WHY the FDA is so VITAL? Attempt to justify EXACTLY WHY American taxpayers "need" to SPEND these hundreds of BILLIONS and EXPLAIN what do WE REALLY GET for ALL THAT MONEY?

Worst of all... the same format can and should be used for EACH and EVERY SINGLE FEDERAL AGENCY... NO EXCEPTIONS.

Don't worry... this will never happen. Americans are such ignorant suckers that they will continue to get DISTRACTED by "whose party is to BLAME" or "whose party really cares about Americans" which is EXACTLY WHAT our corrupt politicians WANT Americans to be doing.

never mind the "details!"

Just STAY PERMANENTLY DISTRACTED following some party mantra.

Go ahead and tie a COW BELL around your necks while you're at it too!

All together now... just say, "Mooo Mooo Moooo and Bah, Bah... Bah!"

Only a TOTAL MORON believes, let alone TRUSTS our government.

Hey Steve - this is a matter of career bureaucrats not doing their job. The laws and regulatory power to padlock the place already existed, but someone made the decision to let them continue to operate. This is not a right v. left question, it's right v. wrong.

Lets be honest here for a second. All the regulation in the world is not going to stop a company who practice bad business from continuing it's practices. Getting caught will.

It's a moral issue we all know just as many democrats own and run businesses and corporations as republicans.

So if the headline read Business shut down do to possible contamination of product. No evidence found yet.

People would come on here and say it's all a Republican scam to lay people off and move business out of the United States. Even if it was a Democrat running the company.

Best wishes to the family's involved.

I'd like to see the immigration status of all their floor workers before we jump the boat here.

Steve you don't understand. This is another example of our government run amuck. Ask yourself - Just what can the government do right?

Bill,

No doubt our government has a lot of work to do. but I don't even think it is a government issue. It's an issue of this is the choice those business owners or managers made.

So they need to face the music not our government.

real packer fan:

I think it's really about Triad running a sloppy operation and not cleaning the place up. Blaming the FDA is scapgoating. The people in charge of the company who made the poisend a$$wipes need to be tried for negligent homicide. That would do a lot more to stop this kind of thing than a letter from the FDA. Suppose the had sent a letter was that going to let Triad off the hook?

This is also why they choose to limit frivoulis lawsuits that would take care of the victims of these crimes and I say crimes for that are with what they are unless they are big business. Big business calls them over-sights. And lord knows, they should not be punished for getting caught with a pant-load of over sights!

Wow- a couple of common sense responses. Thank you Packer Fan and Bobby! They are so rare around here!

Cniht, Hartland WI isn't so much a hotbed of illegals so while there might be some, I'd guess it's not the majority.

Steve............I don't think many are following your subtle sarcasm and think and think and write like you are being serious.

So other people, what we are saying here is that the Republican formula for less regulation will get you more of this kind of stuff not less even if you do save a lot of $$for the Congress to build bridges to nowhere or to further reduce taxes on the billionaires in the US

I think we need more government regulation. Yes, if we had twice as many inspectors enforcing twice as many regulations, they could have written four times as many reports on this.

Real packer fan,,,, your a typical Repubic/Teabagger who will blame goverment no matter what thus deflecting the truth from those who are at fault. You righwingers have been backing deregulation for years because you think that corporations can be trusted. Do you completely ignore the facts or are you just ignorant. Corporation have a responsibilty to manufacture their products that are safe for their consumers but they have proven they can't be trusted and will cut safety proceedures in order to make a few more million. They don't care if they kill kids, they think that's the collateral damage.

I'd like to see the immigration status of all their floor workers before we jump the boat here.

Other than just one more regulation not followed or enforced, what's your point?

Are you talking "tongue in cheek" or are you actually that stupid. FDA needs to do their job they are being paid for, or be replaced by someone that will do it. Sending a letter to a corporation is normally simply a waste of time. The almighty dollar rules. Its really not a question of more or less regulation, just do the job you were appointed to or elected to.

How much do you want to bet that these alcohol wipes were made at a non-union plant, and probably made by illegal mexican immigrants?

So, Steve, you think stupid democrats like you can do better? Where's Obamama in this mess? Why didn't your God, Obama, take care of this like he proclames he's going to ?

winker,

I think the real ignorance is in believing your point.

The real ignorance is believing that Republicans represent big business and run all the corporations and Democrats have nothing to do with it.

I think the real ignorance is not wondering why Democrats held a majority and did nothing about regulation.

I think the real ignorance is thinking Republicans "don't care about killing kids, they are collateral damage" When your own platform supports abortion.

The real ignorance is thinking your right about everything and not taking a second to think before we post something.

It's about the right amount of regulation in the right places. The govt didn't do their job in this situation. They identified the problem and did nothing. Maybe we should have regulators for the regulators... then of course you'll need regulators for those regulators.... oh where will it stop? Instead of adding more govt positions and creating more regulators, maybe they should make sure the divisions they have are actually doing their jobs. If the govt can't handle what they have, then why bring in more responsibilities.

Last time I checked this happened despite ample government monitoring during a democratic administration. So why are we blaming the republicans / tea party / koch brothers? Oh that's right, they are the boogie men. Sorry, I forgot.

BTW, Egypt, Tunisisia and now Libya. Anyone care to make fun of the so called "Bush Doctrine"? Where is Katie Couric, I have a steaming bowl of crow soup for her.

Liberals just don't seem to "get it". What part of "the regulations were already in place" don't you understand??

Do you really think that if a company chooses to ignore the regulations, as seems to be indicated in the story....that even more regulations are going to make them want to comply?? Use a little common sense here. It wasn't the lack of regulation, it was the company ignoring the ones that were already in place. Liberals use the same kind of illogical thinking when it comes to guns, but that's for another post.

If the risk of being charged with murder isn't a strong enough deterrent to make them comply with the regulations already in place, then no other regulation is going to make any difference.

Now, if its proven that they intentionally ignored the regulations, then they should be shut down, the assets of the company and the personal assets of those involved sold, and given to the people who suffered from the crime, the management tried for murder, and if found guilty, sent to jail for life. I mean, I don't know what harsher punishment can be meted out than that, other than the death penalty.

I'm sure there are many liberals out there that would use the logic of see...SEE!!! I told ya so, that's why government should be in charge of everything. The only problem with that logic is that:

1. It assumes that the government would never screw up, or that someone working for the government would never intentionally ignore the regulations in place.

2. If something like this happens with a public company, as this one was, then you have the recourse of suing them and getting them shut down. Try doing that with a government entity and winning. You have a better chance of using a backyard trampoline to jump to the moon. Because unlike the private company, the government has unlimited resources and will string you out until you're broke or dead. And the government entity will still be in existence and you'll still have no choice. Private companies attempt to do that too, no doubt, but the resources of any private company pales in comparison to those available to the government. Which by the way, would be using your own money to fight against you. Doesn't make much sense to me.

OBX. Bobby & Suzy...

All three make excellent points even though the subtle sarcasm is lost on many.

Now that the Wisconsin's governor's prior record of lying about a budget emergency in order to justify firing all union security guards in 2009 who were guarding the Milwaukee court house and replacing them with a private contractor, Wackenhut, who furnished employees with criminal records some of which included jail time, we should not be surprised at what he's attempting to do to the state of Wisconsin.

When a governor owes a debt to the corporate power whose funds have been influential in the election that got him elected, this is the kind of debt that must be repaid. Whether it's "fire all the union employees" and hire our subcontractors to replace them or "break the unions" that interfere with our profit margins, the governor has demonstrated his indebtedness before.

Anything that disrupts corporate profit will be dealt with similarly, whether it's lack of oversight at the FDA or breaking up Civil employee unions, the assault on America is being carried out by the agents that the corporations have been successful in getting elected or appointed to various U.S. government posts.

The governor of Wisconsin employed Wackenhut to replace the union security guards, who is the same contractor that supplies the same level of employees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even though the County Board in Milwaukee opposed what he did in 2009, the governor proceeded. Subsequently, his actions were investigated and during arbitration, the governor was exposed as a liar (about the budget emergency), the union workers were reinstated...and it cost the state of Wisconsin double, by having to reimburse all lost wages caused by the governor's fraud.

The point of this comment is that when elected officials are compromised by the debt they owe to mega corporations that funded their campaigns or got them their positions in government, American citizens are adversely affected. Whether it's in tainted products or union busting that serves to lower the standard of living for all Americans, we pay the price for the infiltration of corporate employed subcontractors who are not held to any standards, safety or otherwise.

In Iraq, our military was used to further the expansion of private enterprise into that country. The Bearing Point Corporation, located in Virgina, is responsible for hiring the subcontrators that now control all public utilities, education and agriculture industries in Iraq. The result of the Bechtel corporation's control over Iraqi public utilities has resulted in untreated human waste and sewage flowing through the streets of Baghdad, while the former, established sewage and water treatment ultilities are prohibited from operating due to the Bechtel contract.

We don't know who is responsible for the lack of oversight in the FDA that caused the current issue but more and more of these issues will come to light as the newly elected republican officials exercise their power to funnel profits to the corporations that got them elected through campaign contributions that are no longer transparent courtesy of our illustrious Supreme Court justices who attended Koch Industries fund raisers just prior to rendering the "Citizens United" ruling.

The tea party may be motivated by a genuine desire to affect change in our government, but they are being manipulated in their efforts by the corporate owned republican party. The only power that is great enough to oversee corporate growth in America is the Federal Government. As the tea party and republicans demand smaller government, it may not be what is in the best interests of Americans, but surely it is in the best interest of corporations who seek to limit the power that our government has to break up monopolies so powerful that they've become "too big to fail".

Incidentally, Wackenhouse is the contractor who supplied the workers we've seen on media news reports, having drunken orgies and simulating sex acts while on government salaries in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bearing Point Corporation was established during the Bush administration by the Bush administration for the express purpose they serve.

Bearing Point was initially paid over 700 million dollars for their servces in Iraq and over 200 million to supply workers in Afghanistan... The subcontractors that Bearing Point supplies to the U.S. government are paid in addition to those fees... Haliburton, Blackwater and Bechtel are the chief subcontractors that get the contracts through Bearing Point. Countless complaints of unfair bidding practices have been filed by other subcontractors to no avail.

If the Wisconsin demonstrations fail to retain their "collective bargaining" rights, the regression of progress made in this country toward government oversight of our food safety, pharmeceutical industry, airline industry and all the rest that the U.S. government is charged with protecting Americans from, will grow. The financial industry too, has been less than responsible without regulation that protected us against the fraud they perpetrated.

It cost this country 700 billion dollars that was handed to those who caused the economic melt down...with no obligation to repay it or interest on the funds that American taxpayers handed to them. Now that's power...unregulated...unleashed and growing... The profit and bonuses the financial industry were accustomed to receiving have increased, while American citizens loose their homes, their jobs and standard of living that has resulted from financial corporate fraud.

Lack of oversight by the FDA is just a symptom of the desease that is spreading through this country in the form of unregulated corporate power.

bluwtrdia

A lot of good points, I agree with a lot of them especially how special interest groups are determining how our government passes laws and enforces them.

With that said Unions are the biggest special interest group out there. That is often over looked. They are just as guilty of spending their own members hard earned money to influence policy as any other.

I was in a Union once if you are honestly interested in the story I will be more than willing to tell you. In short it wasn't a very pleasant experience. I have found the private sector really did care more about their employees than the Union did. Like you said the goal of a special interest group is to get their interests into legislation.

Perhaps regulators need regulations too...

Steve you don't understand. This is another example of our government run amuck. Ask yourself - Just what can the government do right?

Absolute nonsense. I been dealing with the government for over 60 years and they are more competent than 95% of the regular businesses in the US. Thats just right wing hyperbole you posted that is meaningless except for trolls. We are the government. It is not some mysterious entity that you Don Quixote types manufacture for a fear factor. get a friggin life jack.

Bobby Jones Bia

I think the real ignorance is thinking Republicans "don't care about killing kids, they are collateral damage" When your own platform supports abortion.

That would be considered correct... except for the whole idea that a mass of cells doesnt equate to a 4 year old, for example. Brilliant analogy.

Mike,

I am pro choice I could care less what someone wants to do with their body. (That doesn't mean it is the choice I would make) The same way I don't want people to tell me what to do with my money. What kind of Health Care I should have, or any other intrusion. I have no problem living under laws and having those laws enforced or even paying taxes to have that done.

What I don't want is a culture of people who need government to take care of them. Tell them what their interests should be and why one way is better than another. Repubs and Dems are both guilty of this. Having choices is what makes our system work. If everyone realized this we could finally put the blame where it belongs for once on ourselves.

I am also able to realize that once a baby is conceived it is alive. The heart actually starts beating before the mother even knows she is pregnant in most cases. So arguing any form of idea that it is morally ok to kill a 5 week old as compared to a 4 year old is irrelevant.

Someone suggested "It is NOT a government issue".

OK, if that is true... then WHY even have an FDA?

Like so many other TOTALLY USELESS, INEFFECTIVE AGENCIES...

Shut 'em DOWN now!

We also need to stop these frivolous law suits that could hurt this poor company and put it into financial ruin! Why aren't these parents thinking about the poor people who will lose their jobs if this lawsuit goes through! That would be the bigger tragedy!

Are you serious?!!!

See my above link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast

This post is a fine example of the tactic.

Let's put the blame where it belongs. QUIT the political rhetoric! The FDA did not do their job..................they did not follow their own procedures! Go after the 'inspectors' and their supervisors in addition to the comapny responsible.

Sops,

Why limit ourselves. Go after both the company and the FDA. Of course I already know the FDA response. We didn't have the money, so we need a bigger budget.

I wish every time I screwed the pooch I could just say pay me more and you'll get the results you want.

Sops, It all revolves around politics, we have seen several agencies not doing their jobs lately. And whose in control, Washington of course!

LATELY? This has been going on for years. Honestly I think Washington has written so many regulations that the regulations overrule the regulations so its easier to do nothing than figure out what they SHOULD be doing!

Clotho:

Thank you for that link it is very eye opening albeit a bit technical

That is what last year's vote was supposed to be all about. No clean up though, just further destruction of what regulatory agencies we have, as the political climate seems to be deregulate,to save money, and shrink government.

Did the voters of America get the shaft or what?

whats your option? more control and taxes? dah.

Fact is, the FDA IS doing their job correctly, as is allowed under the current structure. The COMPANIES are not doing THEIR job. They are doing what little is possible to cut corners, and maximize profits. It is rampant in the industry. Sadly, there are executives who know NOTHING about cGMP, yet they are the ones who make all the decisions while the peons attempt to resist and do what is right. What this President did is no different than what many are doing...pushing product out the door even if it doesn't meet a preestablished specification of quality. You can bet there were honest people at the bottom who have wanted to do whats right to meet these cGMP requirements, but management from above has not allowed them to, and has not given them the proper resources (people (both quantity and quality of), money, time, education, etc. These are costs that are a part of the business model to do more on less. Ethics are at the core of the problem, not understaffed government agencies who have a system to work with that does not allow swifter, harsher punishment of countless firms who unknowingly, and more crucially knowingly, fail to meet cGMP regulations.

Didnt you know? Corporations are allowed to do whatever they want and produce whatever they want - however they want.

Its up to the gov agencies to catch them. And if they dont - its the gov agencies fault.

SOPS; Let's put the blame where it belongs. QUIT the political rhetoric! The FDA did not do their job..................they did not follow their own procedures! Go after the 'inspectors' and their supervisors in addition to the comapny responsible

Sorry no can do they are "protected" by unions, all you can do is promote them and give them a raise (;-)

No. They are not protected by unions. You do not understand what a union does. It protects the ones that are falsely accused. A fair wage, fair hours, time off (vac., sick time) which utltimately results in industries who are not union, to compete for people to fill their vacancies - so they also get offered what union employees have had negotiated for them. That said, it takes everyone working with integrity, honesty, to do the best job they do in whatever area of the workforce. We are put here on this earth to watch out for each other, then we ourselves are take care of. these companies should be held accountable as well as those agencies that are to oversee them.

Go after the 'inspectors' and their supervisors

AFGE = The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is an American labor union representing over 600,000 employees of the federal government,

(Former VP and Union Stewart I have first hand knowledge of what happens with "screwups")

Let's see then, what does the Government and all of its workers get?

Hundreds of Billions of taxpayer dollars to ineffectively manage totally USELESS agencies?

AFGE: 600 THOUSAND unnecessary employees?

So, exactly WHAT do "American taxpayers receive" after spending all those hundreds and hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars?

What do all these "agencies truly, truly provide or deliver?"

Obviously... not much at all... especially when weighed against the GROTESQUE INSANITY of the STAGGERING and UNJUSTIFIABLE COSTS!

The sooner we dramatically slash their absurd budgets and/or COMPLETELY ELIMINATE these agencies... the much better off our entire country will be.

peace :-)

Speedy,

Without many of the governmental agencies, and especially the FDA, you would be eating food with salmonella, taking medication without any proof that it has the purity of contents says it does. Corporations will cut corners and public be damned to increase profits. Just look at Halliburton and what they've doing for years with it cement slurries, and with the latest report played a huge role in the PB spill. I have been in pharmaceutical research, and as mentioned before, drugs are tested on a select number of healthy and all side effects and complications have to be reported to the FDA, and sometimes aren't because the run for profit sites don't do the assessment they are supposed to do, and don't report every side effect. The FDA then notifies every research site doing the study. Once a medication is released into the general population complications result, they are reported to the FDA, and they either pull the drug, or put a "black box" label on the drug. Information is sent out to all physicians, and made public. Do you think without the FDA, that a doctor in Georgia whose patient developed cancer on a particular drug, or glaucoma, etc, would notify every doctor in the U.S. If the FDA is notified, and they are getting notifications from across the U.S. then the drug is pulled. It was the FDA that notified about the Tylenol contaminations, do you think Johnson and Johnson would have done it. In fact it was the FDA that alerted about the contaminated pet food. They are already understaffed, and the Republican House of Representatives wants to do away with them all together. You couldn't trust any food, drink or drug you put into your mouth unless you're growing your own vegetables, raising and slaughtering your own cows, chicken or pigs, collecting your own eggs, and pasteurizing your own milk. In Palm Harbor Florida I doubt that's going on. People get ill and die from contaminated milk, cheese, beef, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, lettuce, etc. and you'd never know or be warned, or have the situation corrected with out the FDA. Where do you think the warning about mercury in fish came from, and directions for pregnant women came from. Give me a break! Without the EPA you have more lead, arsenic, mercury and other toxins in your air, soil, and ground water, and you wouldn't be getting your annual notifications of what's actually in your water. Typing in caps only emphasizes your lack of knowledge.

Don't fear radiation treated foods. The worst thing that might happen is loss of nutirents. Exposing something to radiation does not make it radioactive. We do it all the time in our microwaves.

Do you realize that if you take two plants and water one w/regular tap water and water the other w/microwaved tap water the one w/the microwaved water will DIE. Do you know that radiation from microwave ovens is harmful enough that they are ILLEGAL in Russia ?

Think again.

The notion about microwaved water killing plants was debunked sometime ago.

Microwave ovens are not illegal in Russia, nor were they banned in the old Soviet Union. That was a myth created by a man named William Kopp many years ago for an article he was writing. When he came up with this claim, many debunkers looked through the law books of the USSR and never found the ban.

Both of these issues can be easily looked up on the internet

People in business are self-driven to make $$, and sometimes fall to the temptation to cheat in whatever ways. When the product carries risks, the consequences can be horrible. Starting largely with Ronald Reagan, continued by Bill Clinton, and pushed into overdrive by G.W.Bush, there's been a push to deregulate large areas of the U.S. economy for the sake of profits, votes & campaign donations, and the promise of more U.S. jobs. Under some administrations, there's been pressure from above that regulatory agencies should not be strict in enforcing regulations, sometimes to the point of ignoring potential troubles. It's no great surprise when Wall Street & mortgage banks screw the real people of America, no surprise when oil & chemical & coal mining companies skirt safety &/or environmental concerns. This appears to be just one more case. Regulatory agencies need to be empowered to impose severe penalties. Yes, safety measures reduce profits, but the costs to society of unchecked greed/ambition can be much larger.

We all are to blame, for not holding the gov. and the big corps. accountable. What in the hell are we to do?

Here's a start: remove corporate control and influence from our election process. http:.//www.coffeepartyusa.com

flbikerchick, I'm with you on the Coffee Party, we need to move faster and louder, girl. By the way, thumbs up to you, ride safe!

@math+sci

You are ABSOLUETLY correct. As a QA/RA person of 10 years, you hit the nail on the head. Corporate responsibility to the consumer, not to the shareholder/board/personal pockets.

I have used triad prep pads for year (betaseron) and never got sick, could this be an annomolie? I read that they have sold hundereds of millions, if not billions of pads and no complaints.

I think the greedy ones are the people trying to sue

So far as I can see we have the same problems with most GOV agencies regardless of the ruling party. We need police to monitor police, agencies to monitor agencies. Time to forget party lines and pull together to fix this horrible mess we are in. Honesty in accountability, strength in solidarity.

Hey Rob - maybe you can explain to everyone what the GOP or Tea Party have to do with the day-to-day operations of the FDA. There already are laws to prevent this sort of thing, they simply weren't enforced. Do you know the political affiliation of the person who made the decision not to enforce the law? Me neither. It doesn't matter. Go argue politics on some other thread.

Rob - It would be interesting to count the total number of people over at the FDA that were involved in this fiasco and simply pushed the paper work from one desk to the next. We have the laws, the FDA has the funding we just don't have a competent organization!

Wait, aren't there regulations in place already? So since these didn't work, lets add more. They ignored the ones in place so adding more, costing taxpayers even more for all the new government jobs created to mandate the new regulations that will be ignored just like the old ones. This has nothing to do with regulations, it has everything to do with government employees not doing their jobs, still collecting a pay check and never being fired all the time costing us more. If you like paying people to not work, I'm applying for a job. They do such a great job here, I'm sure our health care is going to be top notch.

The point is that as bad as the FDA is right now,it can & should be fixed. The Tea Party Republicans want nothing more than to weaken & underfund it in the name of "smaller government" .That will do nothing but increase incidents like this, & makes politics VERY RELEVANT to the discussion.

Real Packer Fan: Hope you live in Wisconsin and are a teacher............you will then see what the Repubs/Tea party think about education..........but you probably don't care about that either I would guess..........too political

Wisconsin AND Ohio, OBX. But you're right. Most Americans don't care about education. It's too hard...

The problem is that the GOP/Tea Party believes very strongly in deregulation, as did GWB, which is the very reason we are now in this disastrous economy. Certainly there were failures at the regulatory levels, as there were still minimal laws in force, but the unofficial position was to leave business alone, as it would regulate itself in its own enlightened self interests. Compare what happened in the US with Canada. No sub prime mortgages, no bundling of mortgages created new security products, and guess what, no collapsed real estate market, or failed financial systems.

Bush is not really to blame for this problem, but the mentality of letting the regulated regulate themselves is, which was the result of 8 years of Bush and co.

Now of course we have the GOP/Tea party gutting government and regulations, rather than biting the bullet and letting the Bush tax cuts lapse. and making judicious cuts in areas which need it. According to the news today, One state is firing so many teachers that students will have 60 students per classroom. Simply a phenomenal learning environment for students, but the rich will still have their tax cuts to buy more of America.

Oh, and by the way, the GOP and Tea Party still do not understand the concept of global warming, for the simple reason it would affect a lot of its financial supporters. GOP First, country last!!!

This is directed at all the entries with the same shallow comment as yours. The template you use to "understand" all you see will keep you unable to think for yourself to arrive at anything more than what the so-called intellectual comedians push at you. Think about it.

Rob - The GOP, Tea Party supporters and conservatives in general are calling for eliminating unnecessary regulations that inhibit economic growth and reduce public safety. They're not calling for the elimination of all government regulation.

Rather than waste your time posting your biased rants here, why don't you work constructively to improve the system so that things like what is described in this story don't happen in the future.

You are 100 percent right! Greed is a killer disease!

WTH?? a company does this crap, and rob (small "r") wants to blame it on the Tea Party and the GOP? You're an idiot rob, it's this kind of baloney that the true conservative MAJORITY in this country are tired of, the BS being spouted sputed by the liberal left and the progressives. You keep this crap up, you're gonna awaken a sleeping giant.

Conservatives, NO MORE trying to reason or be civil with FOOLS like rob, best thing we can do is rise up and put these reprobate MORONS under our thumbs where they belong!

Douchebag...

OBXRon. Really do you really understand what you are saying? Every year the teachers unions bargain and tell us the tax payer that they need more money, less students per class, more teachers, newer schools, and more technology. And what is happening every year the amount of students dropping out increases, the test scores drop. How many students on the national average can nor read at a 4th grade level when they graduate. Look it up. How many college students drop out because they weren't prepared for thatlevel of education ihn high school. It seem the teachers are more worried about what kind of birth control is best and what is healthy in the lunch room. Ca worries about making drugs legal . But have you ever heard of a medical substance that was not provided by a Dr. or Pharmacist Or controlled by the FDA. That is the mind set of the people today. Unions care about the students? Comedy central couldn't make that fly. Teachers have a 9 month job with more the 3 weeks worth of paid holidays during that time. If you equate that to a 12 month job with their salary at $40k it works out to better then a $53k job not counting benefits. And if you are from Wisconsin why didn't you settle your contract problems in Nov. with the Democratic Gov. and Legislature. You voted it down then, but now that deal changed and you want it back. Oh well typical union mentality. You had your chance and would not settle. Don't like the new offer, to bad. Don't be greedy. Remember who you work for and who pays your wages. Oh one other question. How come the union doesn't care if 6000 people have to be laid off as long as the ones with seniority get what they want.

oskar-1391552

So, the problem is incompetent federal employees...not corporate greed?

Is that what I understand you to be saying?

It seem the teachers are more worried about what kind of birth control is best and what is healthy in the lunch room.

Hey, at least the teachers care about something. The little darlings' parents don't seem to care about anything other than that their little darlings' parenting be someone else's responsibility, and that their little darlings not suffer any damage to their self esteem.

Rob, the FDA and Monsanto have killed more people than you can count.

Be careful who you choose to throw stones at. It may help you know what you are talking about and read more than 1 article.

flbikerchick No the idea of the kids not wining or losing, not being allowed to fail or not make a ream. All came from the liberal minded educators. When I went to school everyone didn't make the ball team. then Dr. Spock came along and said don't punish your child. And now all those who were raised with those beliefs are what you have as parents. We are led to believe that having a big house and 2 or 3 new cars and needing both parents working to obtain them is the real way of life. The teachers used to demand respect, by dressing the part and controlling the students. You acted up in class you got 1 warning. then it off to the Principle. Your parents were notified and you were PUNISHED. I knew if I acted badly in school I could expect 1 or both of my parents to correct the situation when I got home. Today the lawyers and the liberal head Dr's cry don't punish Johnny he may get some kind of complex and do something terrible. Oh you mean like the coddled kids who did Columbine and Va. Tech and so many others. The liberal mind set is what has produced the kids of today. My kids know there are consequences for things they do. Right or wrong there are effects. They have been taught this since birth. Do I abuse my kids no. Have they been spanked? Yes. Do they respect others yes. Have they failed at stuff? You bet and are better for it. They know next time if they want to do something they have to work harder. So don't cry to me about these poor teachers who want to dress and act like the kids they teach. You have teachers all over the country having sex with their students. Why? Because they are no longer Professionals, its just a job. We have the union to tell what we can and cannot do. If you are a professional in any large company and on a salary do you get paid for every minute you do something work related? Bet you don't. But the teachers want it that way. And the unions make sure they get it.

Nitemare2

OBXRon. Really do you really understand what you are saying? Every year the teachers unions bargain and tell us the tax payer that they need more money, less students per class, more teachers, newer schools, and more technology.

I cant wait for this entire tea party to reduce education to the point where we drop even further down the global educational ladder. Dont want new computers, buildings or educated, qualified teachers? Fine. I seriously hope the kids are still being educated on that Pentium 1, with the roof leaking on top of them - all while being taught by the priest from your church.

Thats why repubs hate colleges - too many smart people making them look like fools.

Lets educate them even less! LOL!

Great idea! Add more inept "regulation" to cost more money to not find the problems you are paid to find! What are you "special"?

Another great thought! Add more money to the education system that does a lousy job of teaching our kids now.

What a marooon, to quote Buggs Bunny..

You acted up in class you got 1 warning. then it off to the Principle. Your parents were notified and you were PUNISHED. I knew if I acted badly in school I could expect 1 or both of my parents to correct the situation when I got home.

Funny, that's how my liberal parents raised me. Of course, THEY raised me. They didn't expect the schools to do it. It has nothing to do with liberal or conservative and everything to do with parents' dedication to raising their children to be self-sufficient, responsible adults.

Deregulation, Who did what? A couple Facts....

Jimmy Carter, who hired deregulation guru Alfred E. Kahn to head the Civil Aeronautics Board, the widely loathed agency responsible for regulating the airline industry. Senator Ted Kennedy and his then aide, future Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, embraced deregulation as a consumer issue, and with their support, Kahn quickly worked his way out of a job: The 1978 Airline Deregulation Act dissolved the CAB and removed most regulation of commercial airlines. Carter also signed into law bills deregulating the railroads and the trucking industry.

You could argue that transportation deregulation has been a wash—replacing a system of bureaucratic incompetence with one of profit-seeking negligence, and exchanging safety for lower prices. The same cannot be said for the deregulation of the energy sector, notably the natural gas and oil industries under Ronald Reagan, and the electric utilities under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Left to its own devices, a deregulated energy industry has given us Enron and Exxon—California brownouts and $100 barrels of oil. Deregulation of the telecommunications industry, also under Clinton, reduced the number of major phone service providers to just a handful of multimerged giants.

Even more damaging, in light of today's economic crisis, was the sweeping deregulation of the banking and financial services industries that took place in the 1990s. What makes this enterprise particularly confounding is not only the fact that it took place under a Democratic president with support from a majority of Democrats in Congress, but that it followed so closely on the heels of the savings and loan crisis, which ought to have served as a cautionary tale on the dangers of deregulation in the banking sector. The Depository Institutions Act of 1982, another Reagan initiative, was supposed to "revitalize" the housing industry by freeing up the S&Ls to make more loans. Instead, the regulation rollback led to what economist John Kenneth Galbraith called "the largest and costliest venture in public misfeasance, malfeasance and larceny of all time" as they engaged in a fury of high-risk lending. The collapse that followed cost taxpayers an estimated $150 billion in government bailouts, and contributed to the recession of the early 1990s.

Mike-416 Oh so you believe we should keep giving more money to the teachers union with the same results. Ho wabout charter schools which are working and have parents lined up in many areas to get their children. How about other forms of education that have shown results the opposite of the way the Public School system has? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Thats what we are doing now. Every teacher contract " just give us more" and the result is the same.

You Bring up colleges how do they teach? How many kids in some of those classes? Check them out and you will find that many lecture classes have 100 or more in them. You know like Princton and Harvard. why is it because "The TEA Party" wants things to change(didn't Obama promise that) that it will be bad? Which do you want quality or quantity? Do you want the teachers to have to really teach or just be baby sitters with a life time job?

And flbikerchick it does have to do with liberal ideals. The Liberal wants to make everything a no responsibility nanny environment. A Community Orgainizer, does what? Instructs people on how to get Govt. assistance. What programs they can apply for. How to get taxpayer dollars. How about if they taught people how to get off Govt. programs. How to break the cycle of welfare mothers, that somethimes goes on for generations. The amount of money that is pumped into Org's like MoveOn.Org, Media Matters. and many others could put thousands to work. But instead both sides pump it into the programs like those Obama helped people with when he was a Community Organizer. George Soros pumps more money into legalizing drugs then some small countries live on. Yet people complain about companies having a profit. Tell your liberal money pit to build a company and put people to work.

Nitemare2

Mike-416 Oh so you believe we should keep giving more money to the teachers union with the same results. Ho wabout charter schools which are working and have parents lined up in many areas to get their children.

The brilliant minds that claim private and parochial schools are working are the same people who dont want the poor / misbehaving / fatherless children in their sons/daughters classes.

Guess what - the reason those schools work is because they DONT have to accept the poor, the misbehaving and the fatherless child. They leave them to the public education system.

REGULATION? WHAT? Do people really mean Government REGULATION?

I guess they mean like "all that REGULATION" we've gotten from ALL THOSE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES... right? And they're serious?

So, exactly how has all that "government regulation" helped the average American citizen over the past few decades???

How did the SEC REGULATE Wall Street and Bernie Madoff?

How did our DOD protect us from 9-11?

How did all of our Congressional Oversight Committees control the Housing market?

How did our Congressional BANKING COMMITTEES prevent our Financial crisis?

What does the Department of ENERGY have to do with anything? Let alone the price of any FUEL, Electricity or Gas???

How well has our "Department of Education" improved education in the United States? Why is it that as the Department of Education grows LARGER EACH YEAR that the academic performance and graduation rates of American students continues to FALL?

I am SHOCKED that anyone is even a bit surprised that another USELESS Federal Agency like the FDA FAILS to do the job it costs taxpayers BILLIONS of dollars to do? Is anyone actually surprised?

Hopefully, they don't really BELIEVE they serve ANY USEFUL PURPOSE?

Common... I know you're smarter than that?

You can go down list, after list, after list of "government agencies" and "Congressional Oversight Committees" and "presidential Commissions", one after another... and in the END... seriously ask yourself...

By the way... please don't suggest that the fault lies with either political party, because these GIGANTIC FEDERAL AGENCY SCAMS have been going on for generations under the "not so watchful eyes of BOTH political parties".

"What do Americans GET for ALL THAT supposed REGULATION?"

REGULATION "looks good on PAPER" and most would certainly agree that REGULATION seems like a WISE thing to do... but it obviously just does NOT work.

Unfortunately, after decades of horrendous WASTE, FRAUD and ABUSE of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars spent on all these TOTALLY FAILED REGULATORY AGENCIES, Americans need to seriously ask why we need these useless entities at all?

Americans desperately NEED to OPEN THEIR EYES and face the facts.

Government is the problem. The sooner the voters start HAMMERING THEIR representatives about the staggering Waste, Fraud and Abuse of the funds spent on these highly ineffective agencies... then and only then, can any possible pressure be applied to these agencies being permitted to EXIST.

peace :-)

Mike-416 Do you really expect me to fall for that line of crap. We have the same make up of people here in the NC city I live in. And did you ever hear of vouchers. The charter schools are funded by the same means as your public school and they are not filled by income or race the parents put down 1st 2nd and 3rd choice and it is a lottery system. The great thing is all the schools kind of make it a competition to see who can turn out better students. Why because the teachers like the challenge, not just the pay check and benefits. They don't have to belong to any union and they work on a merit system. The parents want to open it up with more schools, but guess who is fighting it. The Unions. So don't cry to me about the poor little black kid who doesn't get a choice. You just don't want to change the gravy train of the union life. God forbid you should have to work on merit. And oh these have nothing to do with any church affiliation, they are part of the county school system.

I learned a long time ago that the liberal definition of greed is: Someone who feels they are entitled to keep what they have earned.

The liberal definition of generosity is: Letting them confiscate what you have earned, so they can give it to someone who didn't earn it, in order that they might feel better about themselves.

I believe they are doing their damnest to kill us off! law of the jungle mentality!

Who ever says republicans don't care about education. YOur wrong. look at districts around the state, they had to cancel school because LIBERAL TEACHERS are protesting.

It is the other way around my friends, the liberals do not care

The FDA shares the same culpability in this matter as the MMS did in the Gulf Oil Disaster last year. Corruption, bribery, failure to enforce regulations, turning a blind eye.

The company is not shut down, they found b.cereus two months ago (their recall jan 3)

justme - you don't understand the scope of the problem. It is next to impossible to fire anyone at the FDA. It is a government run organization. They are more concerned about quotas and political correctness than they are about our safety.

The last 3 posts all have parts of the problem correctly stated: FDA did fail to follow up on their own finding; FDA does have a problem with follow up and they do appear to be more concerned with quotas than correct follow up; and it IS almost impossible to fire anyone at the FDA for anything other than shooting one of your fellow workers.............this last was related to me by a reasonably high ranking FDA manager who had to reinstate an employee that discharged a pistol at work but did not hit another worker and missed him/her by inches

OBXRON why is it so hard to fire them??? Answer because they are union. That is the hold the Unions have over the people today. Thats it everyone stand up and protect the unions. I worked for Ford motor company and seen the union protect drunks and troublemakers that other members wanted fired. And what does the Union bosses care about other then making sure they keep their plush jobs and wages?

Actually management would quickly fire or marginalize any union worker who tried to whisteblow the situation.

Correct. the issue is not more REGULATIONS, it is needing more regulators AND allowing them, or encouraging them to enfors the regulations on the books.

The Bush-Cheney administration did not change the regs as much as they defunded the agencies we most need to protect us from the corporatists: FDA, EPA, BLM, NOAA, Interior etc.

Agreed - the on-site inspectors need to have the authority to shut down all production and seize all suspect merchandise, the very instant that the problem is detected. They should ask who is in charge, and when that person steps forward the US Marshals should take them into custody immediately. They could bond out with a cash bond equal to the annual retail production of the plant, until their criminal trial is held. The plant could be restarted only after the criminal case is resolved and all problems corrected. Allowing these life-threatening problems to continue for years is completely immoral.

Fzknew,

How can you say these agencies are defunded? The federal budget has ballooned every year, and especially in the last two.

WTF is the money being spent on, gold plated toilet seats? And don't respond with the generic 2 wars comment. That money was specifically taken off budget in separate appropriation's bills.

Cniht: While the FDa budget increased from 2007-2009, the amount of regulatory work they do has decreased and the companies they regulate have been made aware that the number and amount of inspections have decreased.

From: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Food_and_Drug_Administration

Nine FDA scientists appealed to then president-elect Barack Obama over pressures from management, experienced during the George W. Bush presidency, to manipulate data, including in relation to the review process for medical devices. Characterized as "corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, thereby placing the American people at risk," these concerns were also highlighted in the 2006 report^[48] on the agency as well.^[50]

The FDA has also been criticized from the opposite viewpoint, as being too tough on industry. According to an analysis published on the website of the libertarian Mercatus Center, published statements by economists very preponderantly support liberalization of FDA regulations. The three FDA restrictions under analysis are the permitting of new drugs and devices, the control of manufacturer speech, and the imposition of prescription requirements. The authors argue that in the increasingly complex and diverse food marketplace, the FDA is not equipped to adequately regulate or inspect food.^[51]

But FZ,

It's now 2011. Not 2009. Are you saying they didn't hire more inspectors? Are you saying they didn't correct any of the problems they have had for the last two years?

You see this is where the 'it's Bush's fault.' line ends. It's been two years, no more F-ing excuses. These agencies have been inept regardless of the administration. They always pander to the next president so they can suck up for more funding. When Obama is out of office for a Republican they will be sucking up to him stating how Obama treated them so poorly and all those political appointments kept them from doing their job. It's classic finger pointing and they are just greasing the skids for more money. You're just getting sucked into the BS they spew out to cover their worthless backsides.

These organizations need a top to bottom purge, and then rebuilt with people who intend to do their jobs. Stripping union rules from them will also assist in that effort. It isn't a money issue, it isn't an administration or party issue, it's a laziness issue.

Cniht

You see this is where the 'it's Bush's fault.' line ends. It's been two years, no more F-ing excuses.

On this issue - fine. Responsibility still squarely resides on his shoulders for the banking mess, housing mess, 2 unfunded wars and trillions in borrowing.

Care to try again?

Renee - strike "regulation" and insert "enforcement." The regulations already are there. The agency that was supposed to enforce them failed to do so. Think "immigration ..."

You say we need better government control and then also say government is corrupt. Huh?

I know of folks who were told they had to pass drugs because certain congressmen had money invested in this investigational drug. Even though they knew in good conscious it shouldn't be on the market they had to pass it. So yes our government is corrupt. Full of greedy lawyers. Let me tell you this less government control is what we need.

The senators and reps get their investment drug tips from the lobbyists who put pressure on the FDA testers to approve drugs. That is how they are all millionaires, it ain't from "serving our country". Teh drugs get put on the market and they get a quick rich with their stocks when they quickly sell the stock after it is released. Then common ignorant folks take the drugs and get ill or die and then their buddy lawyers get rich over the lawsuits! It's all a big government game. Less government is what this country needs.

to Cniht

I'd like to see the immigration status of all their floor workers before we jump the boat here.

What does the company's workers have to do with the following?

Inspectors reported worn and broken manufacturing equipment, misidentified batches of hemorrhoid cream, and instances where if a single batch of hemorrhoid ointment or glycerin suppositories failed quality standards, others weren’t tested for the same problem and were released for distribution.

These issues are clearly company practices. What does the nationality of the worker have to do with worn and malfunctioning equipment. If a batch failed quality standards, other batches weren't tested, that is a not a floor worker's call. Let us put the blame where it should be, on management.

welcome the United States of Fascist America. You want change, get behind Ron Paul

He seems to be the only one who is not bought?

I just more repubs and dems would give him a shot! He can't be any worse than bush or Hussein?

I grew up in Texas, home of Ron PAul. I'm not sure he has the answers, but he does ask some good questions. You are correct that the USof A is basically a fascist form of government ( some call it corporatism, I call it Capitalostacy-meaning money(capital) buys government jobs)

Libertarianism at it's core would end government services and craete anarchy, which is not what I feel should happen. However, if the current fascist state and federal approach continues, there will be major class warfare by about 2025 (if not sooner-IMO).

Yeah check his voting record, listen to what he says. He 100% Bill Of RIghts and COnstitution. Thats why FOx News set him up last week and the republican war criminal Carl Rove, hates him

FZknew,

2025? Try in a couple of years. It's funny that the Arab people are the ones we are going to be looking to as an example on how to get our freedom and country back.

Ron Paul does ask good questions, and has some of the answers, but on other subjects, he's stuck in the 19th century. But just the fact that he's not a darling of the current owners of the GOP is a mark in his favor, IMO.

We are stuck with a country filled with people that excuse the excesses of big business. Let business operate as they choose, and when something happens, blame the government depending which party is in power. Management should be held criminally responsibility when something such as this happens. I know that accidents happen, but this CEO authorized products to be released to the public when he knew there was a safety issue.

I love liberals who will buy a computer....made by a corporation, pay a monthly fee to an ISP....set up by a corporation, and post to a free blog....provided by a corporation....so they can bitch about corporations.

Some of us live on alcohol!

That is a good question, I would also like to know the answer.

when i used to work in a certain food factory we had to sanitize our hands AND put bleach water on them (every 15 minutes was supposed to be how often)...and sometimes that still wasn't enough. They would swab our hands and still complain to us if they found what was considered a high amount of bacteria on them.

The alcohol doesn't kill 100% and the bacteria can get resistance over the alcohol. If it was a problem for a long time, they could have easily multiplied would be my guess. But I would think that would have to be a serious issue still, for it to be on alcohol wipes as you say!

Alcohol does not kill all bacteria spores, unfortunately. Read about bacillus cereus. The spores are more resistant to heat and chemical treatments than other types of bacteria.

If food is contaminated and allowed to sit at temperatures that allow the bacteria to produce toxins, there is one toxin that is not destroyed by heat. So even if thoroughly cooked, you still have a puke-fest.

Some bacteria are alcoholics. Dang things won't go to the AA meetings, either.

I agree that Mailman8 has the correct answer that would be provided by any bacteriologist that happened on this discussion board: bacterial spores are often extremely tough to kill and the source of that contaminant is troubling in a drug packaging plant which are usually extremely clean and close to sterile themselves.

This type of bactieria can survive in isopropyl alcohol, it is also commonly found in dirt (which means, if you ever touched dirt you might DIE). This is blown oout of perpescitve, i honestly do not find the company at fault

Robert2Kool

Which one? Are you speaking of the time when the Tylenol was tampered with while on the shelves?

No when hundreds of thousands of bottles were recalled from contamination from poor practices at Johnson and Johnson. Several of their OTC drugs were recalled also.

Katelyn: Actually, I think Steve's remark was sarcasm and you misread it.

Katelyn - Steve's comment was sarcastic and tongue in cheek. if you read closely you will see he is mocking the Republican stance.

i agree, mistakes were made, and that needs to be addressed, but regulations were cut to wall street, look what happened. If we deregulate everything, we're going to be in a heap of trouble on all fronts.

The beauty is that the laws already exist and just need to be enforced.

Just like WallStreet. There are piles upon piles of regulations for all types of financial types but if you fail to enforce 1&2 then how does piling on 3&4 help?

Trevor, you are correct. More rules & regulations will not solve this problem. It is a matter of character & integrity. We live in a society that is void of both. Proper enforcement of the current regulations would go a long way to protect the unassuming public.

Tort reform has little to do with this matter. I am certain that nurses, doctors & hospitals knew nothing of this crime. As a nurse, I use products believing that they are sterile & I am meticulous in applying proper sterile technique. If the products & supplies I use were contaminated when they arrive in my hand, no amount of proper procedure will change that.

This is reprehensible. All involved should be imprisoned. Our tax dollars are wasted on innumerable government agencies that fail to to carry out their stated mission. They will continue to get away with this until we all expect & demand more from them & from ourselves.

Y'all forget that Business man moved this country forward, with out their innovation, we would probably be communist Soviets (they failed because no incentives, no innovation.) Republicans/Conservatives are for everything that has moved us forward, liberals are trying to change the way we lived. I think we could learn something from our elders. and do you know, kids today are going to fail? laziest generation I have ever seen.

You're absolutely right! Big government is the problem! Don't fix the FDA, eliminate it! Business can police itself,plus this way we can thin the herd & eliminate inferior people the easy way! I'm with you pal!

business COULD police itself, but it won't. then what?

Michelle..........Billy Bob indicates that "thinning the herd" will result........i.e., the fittest will survive!! Wonder if he will be among the fit or unfit part of the herd?

well said.

I thought he was being sarcastic. :(

I wonder why so many people are complacent in giving what shred of rights we have left away?

Yes the FDA needs to be cleaned up just like all government officials including people like boner and mcconnell or even democrats for that matter.

The problem begins with the lack of truth in this country. Without truth and factual representations how can voters make educated decisions.

Our elected officials should be required to pass an ethics litmus test, they should recuse themselves on voting for legislation that benefits their campaign donors or their own states but still be allowed to argue for it.

Also any politicians caught misrepresenting the facts should be jailed. Anyone working for a government agency can have no ties to private companies etc etc etc.

Going back and forth from republicans to democrats isn't helping because we are trying to treat the surface issues without treating the problems in the process.

Both parties are motivated to work for their own pockets and not the welfare of this country.

This is why corporations are not held accountable because currently they own the government - BOTH parties.

There is no free market. When you pay off the government to operate and shut down you competition, you have fascism. Its anything but free market. Crony capitalism is fascism.. Keep voting for establishment ruling class politicians and you will get more of the same

Smail1 I totally agree with you, I do not even buy dog food from Dollar General or Family Dollar because my dogs get sick when they eat it. I don't trust any product on the market and that is a shame. I am even afraid to buy toothpaste from the dollar stores. What can the low-income public do? Greed, corruption, waste and who knows what else goes on at the giant corporations and the Republican party. The Republicans have profited for so long and received so much money that these corporations are allowed to run amuck without any restraint or inspection. I am sure that when it comes time to inspect plants that money is exchanged and papers are signed without products or sites being inspected. Don't even get me started on the drug companies that release medications that have not been properly tested, researched, or approved. I am angry at the Republicans who ignore the deaths of the public to look at the money filling up their deep pockets.

Why are you calling these bureaucrats that run these oversite agencies Republicans? They are chemeleons that will say and do anything either party wants said if they think it will get them to a government retirement check. Then they morph into an industry wonk and build up another retirement by dirrecting the manufacture of defective products under the oversite of a new hustler. Malfeasance and conspiracy are not political. Every bureaucrat is into it. We have plenty of regulation. I'm in an industry that is so tightly regulated that you can follow one rule and be breaking another but nobody is enforcing any of them. They are back at the office writing new rules.

Maher - The government is way ahead of you on this one. You can't sue the FDA by design.

Sovern immunity.

Keep in mind that the Republicans want to limit malpractice awards against doctors and hospitals. Unfortunately huge awards seems to be the only way to get the medical industry's attention sometimes. The impressive and expensive number of tests and procedures that result from the defensive medicine practiced by most doctors is of no value to them and their patients when manufacturers of drugs, medical equipment, and associated products are produced without regard to quality or safety or efficacy. The only way to keep this kind of nightmare from occuring is to give whistleblowers an easy way to inform the CDC and FDA. Doctors, nurses, and employees of medical equipment and drug suppliers must be free to confidentially inform without fear of reprisal. They are the first line of defense and the first to realize when something is wrong.

The problem is not with too little regulation, but with lack of enforcement....... no amount of paper will correct an error - solutions require action, on point, succinct action, not paperwork.

We can't throw Obamacare on the trash soon enough. By and large, government is inept and moves at the speed of the slowest and lowest common denominator when confronted with any challenge.

I was hoping that we might be able to improve the healthcare process and when congress said they had a plan I was optimistic, but if the federal government can't deliver any meaningfull control over any industry they undertake to control why would one think healthcare would be any different. OSHA, MSHA, bank regulators, FEMA, CIA, FBI, FDA, Fanny, Freddy, they all are worse than usless. The INS is a criminal enterprise. Everything I learn about the unfolding healthcare reform sounds like the unions wrote it. I'm sorry Barry, I'm going to have to side with the oposition on this one. You guys arn't ready to take on another industry until you get a grip on the responsibilities you already are ignoring.