Personal Injury Law

Consumer Question to Congress - "You idiot. What have you all been doing?'

By Bill Marler, Esq.

I was reading Michael Moss’s article in the New York Times a few moments ago, “Safety Net Missed Problems at Peanut Plant,” and I was struck by the quote below as I am about to leave for Washington DC in the morning:

David Marshall’s wife testified before Congress in 2007 after his mother, Mora Lou Marshall, of Shreveport, La., fell ill after eating Peter Pan peanut butter, which her dentist had recommended for her health.

Now the family is troubled to see the episode repeating itself, along with new vows to set things right. Another Congressional hearing on tainted peanut butter is scheduled for this week.

“The other day, there was some congresswoman saying we need to enact laws now to not let this happen again,” Mr. Marshall said. “And I was like, ‘You idiot. What have you all been doing?’ The law should have been enacted years ago, and this made us wonder, what does the F.D.A. even do?”

Here is a short video about Mora Lou Marshall

This will be the third time in three years that hearings will be held by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the safety of our food supply. I supplied written testimony once and testified live once. Perhaps the third time is the charm. Well, at least we are having hearings. When the Republicans were in charge you would not have known there were any food safety problems at all.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on February 08, 2009 (boomark / email).