Is The Government Too Busy Whining About A Debt To Protect Us From Death?

Twalbert

Member
Jul 19, 2011
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While they whined about the “debt crisis,” 76 people were sickened and one person died.

The news came out of nowhere. With “debt ceiling” nonsense and “we can't agree” hyperbole ruling the airwaves, the Internet, and all other forms of news distribution, few people were aware of our nation's latest salmonella outbreak. The problem dates back to March, but never mind that; spring was reserved for QE quackery, nothing more.

According to the Huffington Post, ground turkey has been implicated in what can only be described as a massive outbreak, killing one person and sickening 76 others across 26 states. Michigan and Ohio led the pack of reported illnesses with 10 each.

Considering that the first reported illness came more than four months ago, you might be wondering why the public wasn't notified sooner. Art Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, wonders the same thing. "You've got to protect the public health,” he told the Huffington Post. “That's their first and primary value – not industry, not any other goal. They have to warn as quickly as they think there's reasonable evidence for concern.”

Caplan also said that uncertainty regarding the outbreak's source could have prevented the government from making an announcement. But with daily debt talk, weekly tax talk, and frequent who's running for President talk, who can blame our elected officials for ignoring an actual crisis? It's not as if we can expect these people to multi-task.

In the government's defense, a spokesperson for the CDC insists that it can take three to four weeks to confirm just one case. She told the Huffington Post that identifying a full outbreak can take “considerably longer,” especially when cases of foodborne illness have occurred sporadically across several states.

Ah, wonderful! The government has an excuse. Now it can get back to posturing, pandering, and planning for the next election.


Source: Benzinga
 
While they whined about the “debt crisis,” 76 people were sickened and one person died.

The news came out of nowhere. With “debt ceiling” nonsense and “we can't agree” hyperbole ruling the airwaves, the Internet, and all other forms of news distribution, few people were aware of our nation's latest salmonella outbreak. The problem dates back to March, but never mind that; spring was reserved for QE quackery, nothing more.

According to the Huffington Post, ground turkey has been implicated in what can only be described as a massive outbreak, killing one person and sickening 76 others across 26 states. Michigan and Ohio led the pack of reported illnesses with 10 each.

Considering that the first reported illness came more than four months ago, you might be wondering why the public wasn't notified sooner. Art Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, wonders the same thing. "You've got to protect the public health,” he told the Huffington Post. “That's their first and primary value – not industry, not any other goal. They have to warn as quickly as they think there's reasonable evidence for concern.”

Caplan also said that uncertainty regarding the outbreak's source could have prevented the government from making an announcement. But with daily debt talk, weekly tax talk, and frequent who's running for President talk, who can blame our elected officials for ignoring an actual crisis? It's not as if we can expect these people to multi-task.

In the government's defense, a spokesperson for the CDC insists that it can take three to four weeks to confirm just one case. She told the Huffington Post that identifying a full outbreak can take “considerably longer,” especially when cases of foodborne illness have occurred sporadically across several states.

Ah, wonderful! The government has an excuse. Now it can get back to posturing, pandering, and planning for the next election.


Source: Benzinga

Why do you expect the government to protect you from stupidity? The outbreak would have been prevented of people had just cooked the ground turkey until it was done instead of eating it rare like you would ground beef. Do you want a government agent in every kitchen and backyard in America to make sure everyone cooks their food to the recommended temperatures?
 
One person died, and you wonder why a 300-million-person nation doesn't care?
 
One person died, and you wonder why a 300-million-person nation doesn't care?

Oh I don't think it's that they don't care. It's just that it is such a tiny number involved among a very large nation that overall enjoys a very safe food and water supply when compared to most places in the world. It isn't a big enough problem to generate a push for a change of policy. It is unreasonable to expect every head of lettuce or bunch of radishes or batch of ground turkey to undergo inspection. Just can't and won't happen. The best they can do is spot check and shut down unsanitary production when they find it.

And it is up to us to check the products we buy as best we can, to discard or return anything that doesn't look or smell 'right', to wash things that should be washed, to store things properly, and to cook things as recommended for safe food handling.
 
Statistically speaking, someone dies every 7 seconds within the boarder of the United States. So, when you put it like that, what did you do to help prevent the passing of a stranger when clicking on "post quick reply", Twalbert? Not much, I should imagine.
 
One person died, and you wonder why a 300-million-person nation doesn't care?

Oh I don't think it's that they don't care. It's just that it is such a tiny number involved among a very large nation that overall enjoys a very safe food and water supply when compared to most places in the world. It isn't a big enough problem to generate a push for a change of policy. It is unreasonable to expect every head of lettuce or bunch of radishes or batch of ground turkey to undergo inspection. Just can't and won't happen. The best they can do is spot check and shut down unsanitary production when they find it.

And it is up to us to check the products we buy as best we can, to discard or return anything that doesn't look or smell 'right', to wash things that should be washed, to store things properly, and to cook things as recommended for safe food handling.

:lol:
 
Would you care to let us all in on the joke, Sallow?

I'm going to guess that at least 100 million heads of lettuce are sold in the USA every week. I think we should hire Sallow to inspect all 100 million heads for Salmonella. Do you think we could make him the radish inspector too?
 
Would you care to let us all in on the joke, Sallow?

I'm going to guess that at least 100 million heads of lettuce are sold in the USA every week. I think we should hire Sallow to inspect all 100 million heads for Salmonella. Do you think we could make him the radish inspector too?
Do we even have the equipment to inspect 100 million lettuce heads for Salmonella? There'd be an inspection-lab every block!
 
Would you care to let us all in on the joke, Sallow?

I'm going to guess that at least 100 million heads of lettuce are sold in the USA every week. I think we should hire Sallow to inspect all 100 million heads for Salmonella. Do you think we could make him the radish inspector too?
Do we even have the equipment to inspect 100 million lettuce heads for Salmonella? There'd be an inspection-lab every block!

Of course we don't. Given the enormous size of the U.S. population and the U.S. market, there is no way to inspect more than a tiny fraction of any product being moved around the country. And even if we had the equipment and manpower to look at all of it, most of it would spoil or rot if it had to wait for inspection before it could be sold.
 
I'm going to guess that at least 100 million heads of lettuce are sold in the USA every week. I think we should hire Sallow to inspect all 100 million heads for Salmonella. Do you think we could make him the radish inspector too?
Do we even have the equipment to inspect 100 million lettuce heads for Salmonella? There'd be an inspection-lab every block!

Of course we don't. Given the enormous size of the U.S. population and the U.S. market, there is no way to inspect more than a tiny fraction of any product being moved around the country. And even if we had the equipment and manpower to look at all of it, most of it would spoil or rot if it had to wait for inspection before it could be sold.
The obvious solution is to only allow individually-inspected lettuce heads to be consumed in this country. If there aren't enough inspected heads, we'll just ration them out, like food stamps.
 

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