DeLauro - "so called reforms" of FDA

From the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, sliding across the inbox today:

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) issued the following statement following the release of a report by the Food and Drug Administration on its implementation of the Food Protection Plan, which was announced in November 2007.

“While the FDA will contend that they are making progress on food safety, it is progress based on an outdated system and an outdated regulatory structure. Unfortunately, the recent situation involving melamine in baby formula demonstrates that significant work remains for the FDA.

“The long-term viability of these so-called reforms remains in doubt given that food safety will constantly be competing for attention and resources with medical product safety under the FDA.

“In order to achieve any real progress in protecting our food supply, the food safety responsibilities under the current FDA need to be detached and made a separate agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. It is only through this restructuring that the regulatory system will be provided with the expertise, management and resources focused exclusively on food safety to make legitimate reforms possible.”