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U.S. needs an "import czar," senator says
By Tom Johnston on 7/3/2007 for Meatingplace.com
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on Washington to create the office of "import czar" to protect the United States from unsafe products following a spate of harmful imports from China.
A staunch critic of China, Schumer wants the czar situated in the Commerce Department, and with direct oversight of the safety of imported goods, a task he says the Food and Drug Administration and other federal bodies have failed to perform properly.
"There are more than a half dozen federal agencies responsible for monitoring, testing and blocking dangerous tainted shipments," Schumer said. "This maze includes cabinet level departments, independent agencies and administrations within executive agencies, all operating with different regulations, rules and protocols."
Schumer says an import czar would coordinate and monitor the daily efforts of the different federal agencies charged with protecting consumers from unsafe imports
China, meantime, is working to revise its food-safety protocols after international outcry over several snafus, including the shipment of wheat flour laced with melamine, which wound up in pet food throughout the United States.
U.S. needs an "import czar," senator says
By Tom Johnston on 7/3/2007 for Meatingplace.com
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on Washington to create the office of "import czar" to protect the United States from unsafe products following a spate of harmful imports from China.
A staunch critic of China, Schumer wants the czar situated in the Commerce Department, and with direct oversight of the safety of imported goods, a task he says the Food and Drug Administration and other federal bodies have failed to perform properly.
"There are more than a half dozen federal agencies responsible for monitoring, testing and blocking dangerous tainted shipments," Schumer said. "This maze includes cabinet level departments, independent agencies and administrations within executive agencies, all operating with different regulations, rules and protocols."
Schumer says an import czar would coordinate and monitor the daily efforts of the different federal agencies charged with protecting consumers from unsafe imports
China, meantime, is working to revise its food-safety protocols after international outcry over several snafus, including the shipment of wheat flour laced with melamine, which wound up in pet food throughout the United States.