Obama taps Unknown to be Food Safety Czar
March 12th, 2010 | No Comments | Source: Washington PostShortly after taking the Oath of Office, President Obama made food safety a domestic priority. He called recent national outbreaks of food-borne illnesses a “troubling trend” and a “risk to public health.”
But more than a year later, the Obama administration has yet to fill post of chief food safety official at the Department of Agriculture. He just nominated someone though, Elizabeth Hagen, 40, a person few in the field of food safety had heard of before the announcement.
Hagen, a physician, has never published a word on the subject of food safety. She spent much of her career as a clinician and educator in the field of infectious diseases. She left practice 4 years ago for the USDA, where rose quickly through the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
“Consumer advocates who work closely with [the Department of Agriculture] on policy issues have had limited direct experience with Dr. Hagen,” said the Consumer Federation of America in a release cited by the Washington Post.
Hagen was tapped for the post after the Administration approached at least two other people. Last February for example, it vetted and offered the job to Mike Doyle, a nationally recognized microbiologist. That nomination collapsed after Doyle refused to divest his financial interest in an effort to commercialize a microbial wash for meat.
Whoever fills the position will oversee the safety of meat, poultry and eggs, which comprise 20% of the nation’s food supply.
Last year, there were 13 recalls of beef products contaminated with E. coli. Already this year, there have been six recalls of tainted meats, including an ongoing situation with salami that has sickened hundreds in 40 states.




BPA is a ubiquitous chemical that renders plastic bottles shatterproof. It is also used to coat cans and other containers for food, and is a component of a thousand other consumer goods as well.
But even as the regulatory landscape clears, the medical issues associated with smoked marijuana remain muddled. Scientists simply don’t know how effective it is as a therapeutic agent. Remarkably, the literature contains fewer than 20 randomized trials of smoked marijuana for all therapeutic indications combined.
Judge Richard Leon of Federal District Court in Washington issued the order in a lawsuit brought by e-cigarette distributors.
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world-wide revenues derives from the sale of medical devices and diagnostic equipment.
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Medical identity theft occurs when a perpetrator uses someone’s identifying information, such as name, Social Security number, insurance coverage data or credit card number, without that person’s knowledge or consent, to obtain or make false claims for medical products or services.
Henry Waxman, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee and compatriot John Dingell have introduced
But things really hit the fan last fall when numerous deficiencies in the US food handling system were exposed by the peanut caper in which the Peanut Corporation of America shipped Salmonella-laced peanuts which found their way into thousands of products, resulting in 900 illnesses and 9 deaths.




