The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE FDA DOES ITS JOB” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1748-H1749 on Feb. 14, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE FDA DOES ITS JOB
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of debate in Washington about the role of the Federal Government. You hear a lot said about Federal agencies and what they do.
Let me tell you a little story about one Federal agency. Two weeks ago this agency got a phone call and a tip, and the tip was that some people in northern California shopping at a major supermarket chain had bought some infant formula, and the color of it did not look right. So they called this Federal agency in Washington, DC, which thought it was serious enough to launch an investigation.
The net result of that investigation was the discovery that someone was counterfeiting baby formula. In fact, they were taking the label that everyone might recognize of one of the most popular brands of infant formula in America and filling the contents of the can with something other than that infant formula. As a result of that discovery and the investigation, last Friday this Federal agency turned over information to the Department of Justice and an individual was arrested in Mission Viejo, CA, and charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods, and a warrant was issued for a second person.
That Federal agency discovered that this conspiracy to release these counterfeit baby formulas involved people not only in California but also in Maryland. This agency seized 38,000 pounds of fake infant formula and recovered another 6,000-plus pounds that had already been put on grocery shelves.
The agency believes that they have now confiscated all of the phony formula and they have told consumers not to be worried.
No details of the arrests have been made, because, of course, the investigation is ongoing. It turns out these counterfeiters had purchased bulk infant formula that had been manufactured for export overseas, and it turns out that infant formula manufactured for export does not have to meet the same criteria in terms of nutritional value as the infant formula does in the United States.
My kids are all grown up, and I have not bought infant formula for a long, long time, but these cans of infant formula were selling at $10 a pop, so the folks who were out there with the counterfeit formula had a lot of money to be made if they just could have pulled this off.
{time} 1850
They did not get the job done.
I might mention one other thing. This agency also discovered that the plastic scoop that was enclosed in the infant formula can--everybody is familiar with it, where you take a certain measure, put a number of scoops in the bottle before you add water for
[[Page H1749]] the baby--and it was in the counterfeit baby formula can, the scoop was too small.
So I said to the person at the Federal agency, ``What difference would that have made?'' He said ultimately the mother would have wondered, ``What is going on? Why isn't my baby gaining weight as he was supposed to?''
Counterfeit formula, not enough nutritional value, an incorrect scoop. The Federal agency moved in and did its job. Which Federal agency? The Food and Drug Administration.
Most Americans do not know much about the Food and Drug Administration, but in terms of the health of our family, it may turn out to be one of the most important. Virtually all of the food, all of the drugs, our Nation's blood supply, and so many other things depend on the watchful eye of the Food and Drug Administration.
I did not come here tonight to just tell you an interesting and positive story about that agency but to tell you there are forces afoot in Washington, DC, and around the Nation that are literally attacking the Food and Drug Administration, and in fact some of them have gone so far as to suggest this agency should go out of business.
Now who in the world would do that? Well, it turns out it is a coalition of very conservative groups, radical right-wing groups that are coming together who want to turn out the lights at the Food and Drug Administration.
Who are these folks? Well, if you peel back the cover and look inside, they have all sorts of high-sounding names, names like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy; all of these different names. It turns out you look inside and you find out a very interesting story. The political groups that are trying to put the Food and Drug Administration out of business, the agency that is responsible for protecting us, turns out to include some of the most radical right-wing interests in America: the David Koch Foundation, the Koch Family Foundation, created from the oil fortunes of Fred Koch, founder of the extremist ultraconservative John Burch Society.
They put in $1.7 million to close down the Food and Drug Administration. And a lot of companies that are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and are sick and tired of having that agency look over their shoulders, they want to close them down, too.
The Smith, Richardson Foundation, with money from the Vicks Vaporub and Smith Bros. Cough Drops, fortune, as well as the Merrell Pharmaceutical Company, contributed $500,000 to this effort to close down the Food and Drug Administration.
The information I am sharing with you is published in the New York Times of last Sunday in an article by Phil Hilts, in a special to the New York Times.
It reaches, unfortunately, to the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, has called the Commissioner, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, David Kessler, Mr. Gingrich has called him a thug and a bully. He says the Food and Drug Administration is a job killer.
It turns out that a foundation which the Speaker is using to finance his college video courses has received contributions from a number of businesses regulated by the same Food and Drug Administration. I think it is important that people all across America, when they hear folks criticize Federal agencies, Washington bureaucracies, stop and ask a few questions about which ones and why would you happen to be criticizing them? There are too many regulations coming out of this town, certainly, too many bureaucrats. We have to do our best to make sure that we keep those on the job who are doing the job properly, and those who are not have to be relieved of their responsibilities.
But be careful when you hear these charges made about the Food and Drug Administration. Recall for a moment that if that agency had not been on the job and doing it right, that counterfeit baby formula would have been sold, perhaps, across the Nation to the detriment of infants and to the detriment of the families who unwittingly would have been purchasing these goods.
This is not the first time the Food and Drug Administration stepped in. Do you recall a few years ago when the syringes were popping up in Diet Pepsi cans? The Food and Drug Administration stepped in. They proved it was a hoax. They saved the Pepsi Cola Company a lot of grief and put them back on their feet.
It is an important agency, and let us not be too quick to do away with them.
____________________
