FDA Failed to Follow Up on Mercury-Tainted Corn Syrup

by Deb Cupples |   While watching TV at the gym yesterday, I noticed a commercial in which a woman offers a popsicle-type treat to a man, who rejects it because it has high fructose corn syrup.  The woman asked him why, and he gave no good answer.  So, the woman went on to tell him that corn syrup is made from corn and is not unhealthy, etc.

Interestingly enough, I later came across an article stating that many foods containing high fructose corn syrup are contaminated by mercury, leading some experts to wonder whether the corn syrup, itself, is contaminated.  Reuters reports:

"In one study, published in the journal Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration [FDA] scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.

"Dufault said in a statement that she told the FDA about her findings but the agency did not follow up.

"Dr. David Wallinga, a food safety researcher and activist at the nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, said he followed up on the report to find mercury in actual food." (Reuters)

Note that the FDA's chief purpose is to at least try to make sure that food, drugs and other items are safe for us consumers to consume or use. 

And yet, for many years now, the folks running the FDA seem to be more interested in promoting various industries' interests -- at the expense of us consumers' health.

In November 2008, for example, the FDA reportedly failed to act after learning that some baby formula sold in the U.S. contained traces of toxic chemicals like Melamine.  Some folks at the FDA also hid the news from us parents and taxpayers for a while.

Over the last few years, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) has made a point of watchdogging over the FDA and protecting whistleblowers.  Why?  Because some folks at the FDA have gone out of their way to protect drug companies' interests at the expense of public health and safety -- as evinced by the FDA's part in scandals involving the drugs Viagra, Vioxx, Avandia, and Ketek.

Something must be done about the FDA's ineffectiveness (or corruption).  Even the GAO essentially acknowledged this in late January its annual report detailing which areas of government were high risk and need attention. 

In a summary of the report, the GAO rather gently states:

Protecting Public Health through Enhanced Oversight of Medical Products. Concerns have been expressed about FDA’s ongoing ability to fulfill its mission of ensuring the safety and efficacy of drugs, biologics, and medical devices. GAO’s work examining a variety of issues at FDA echoes the conclusions reached by others that the agency is facing significant challenges that compromise its ability to protect Americans from unsafe and ineffective products.  FDA needs to, among other things, improve the data it uses to manage the foreign drug inspection program, conduct more inspections of foreign establishments, systematically prioritize and track promotional materials for review, and adopt management tools to ensure that drug sponsors comply with regulations on the presentation of clinical trial results."

Ironically enough, the FDA's answer to years of bad press is not to do a better job: it's to wage a public-relations campaign. 

In October, the Washington Post reported that the FDA committed $300,000 to hiring a DC public-relations firm to polish the FDA's image. 

It gets worse.  The official in charge of hiring the contractor found a way around the competitive- bidding process so he could funnel the money to a firm with ties to that official.

It is highly troubling when taxpayer-funded officials funnel tax dollars to their friends and violate federal regulations in the process.

But let's get down to the root issue: instead of spending 300,000 tax dollars on spinning the FDA's deservedly bad image, why don't the people running the FDA instead start actually doing their job -- and actually earning a good reputation?

Enough is enough, already!

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Comments

[Jim Gillespie]

Their study doesn't appear to trustworthy, as it appears like it's based on outdated information, and that information isn't that significant. There's mercury everywhere, and no matter what you eat you're going to get some of it. I wouldn't worry about this. Keep eating corn syrup and corn syrup based products, and don't be a worrywort or a tin-foil hat wearer.

[Deb]

HI Jim,

On what do you base your conclusion that the study is not trustworthy?

Precisely how does the tin-foil-hat metaphor dismiss concerns of people who are familiar with the food and drug industries' penchant for cutting corners and our FDA's penchant for protecting industries' interests over consumers' interests?