Clinton spells out import safety plan

Clinton spells out import safety plan Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last week issued her agenda for import safety, specifically addressing food, children’s products, drugs and medical devices, and stating that the Bush administration has been too slow to protect consumers from dangerous products.
   Clinton said that as president she would work to:
   ' Create a single food safety agency responsible for overseeing all federal food safety activities.
   ' Ban lead in children's products.
   ' Require independent third-party testing for imported toys in at-risk categories, such as those containing paint or magnets. Toy makers would be required to obtain safety certification prior to sale and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) could detain shipments that do not meet testing requirements.
   ' Hold foreign producers of drugs, toys and food to American safety requirements, and hold importers liable for the products they bring into the country.
   ' Impose stiffer civil penalties and pursuing criminal prosecutions against companies that import unsafe, adulterated or misbranded foods, or that falsely certify their foreign processors have met U.S. safety standards.
   ' Increase the number of inspectors at ports of entry and in foreign countries to verify that safety rules are being followed.
   ' Mandate and fully fund enforcement of country of origin labeling for the Department of Agriculture.
   ' Appoint a chair of the CPSC without ties to industry.
   Many of Clinton's proposals are already encapsulated in Democratic-sponsored bills currently moving through Congress.
   On the food front, Clinton’s proposals bear similarities to the recommendations from Bush’s interagency working group on import safety. Clinton said she would mandate that importers require foreign suppliers to have effective risk prevention plans in place and that foreign producers of high-risk food products receive special certification before they can ship to the United States. She would also direct the Food and Drug Administration to conduct more inspections of overseas facilities and make FDA access to facilities and records a condition of entry to the United States. And she would block the import of certain food products from particular countries based on patterns of past violations, while promoting voluntary certification and expedited clearance for legitimate importers implement best practices for ensuring food safety throughout their supply chain.
   Clinton proposes to more than double the number of FDA food inspectors to 4,500, and employ the additional personnel to import inspections at ports of entry. She also wants certain high-risk food products to go through FDA-designated ports of entry and to post inspectors at all 300-plus ports of entry. Products subject to import alerts would be tested in certified labs and unaudited labs would not be allowed to grade food products. Mandatory recalls and traceback systems are also part of her food safety program.
   Clinton also offered specific safety proposals for children’s products. To guard against unscrupulous manufacturers, she would allow the CPSC to require companies to post a bond in situations where the agency suspects it may have to detain and destroy a shipment and that the company will either disappear or abandon the shipment.
   She proposed five-year jail sentences for those who knowingly violate product safety laws, raising the cap on fines for failure to report known hazards from $1.85 million to $25 million and lifts it entirely in extreme circumstances, and increasing maximum penalties for importers who repeatedly import products that violate U.S. law.
   Clinton said she would increase hiring at the CSPC so that more than one person is responsible for monitoring toy safety and called for the creation of Customs liaison officers at the agency to improve coordination at ports of entry with U.S. Customs officers.
   “American companies have their own important role to play in keeping our children safe. They have to do a better job at every stage of the process, from design through production and shipping, to make sure that the toys they are bringing into this country — and profiting from — do not pose risks to children,” she said.
   Clinton proposed several measures for ensuring safety of imported drugs including:
   ' A mandate that foreign producers of finished drugs, drug ingredients and medical devices demonstrate their production facilities are subject to national regulations at least as stringent as U.S. law.
   ' Those facilities pass a thorough FDA inspection or undergo accredited third-party testing and review of their production controls.
   ' Opening permanent FDA oversight offices in at-risk countries like China.
   ' Require foreign drug and device makers to accept random, unannounced onsite inspections as a condition of import, rather than the current approach of pre-announcing visits.
   ' Direct the FDA to conduct a risk assessment of other imported products, including toothpaste, cosmetics, pet food and veterinary drugs.
   Clinton would double funding for the CSPC to $140 million for starters and for the FDA to $1.1 billion over five years, with an immediate increase of $200 million.
   The Iowa Caucus, the first contest between the Democratic primary contenders, is Jan. 3.
   To read Clinton’s position paper on import safety, visit her campaign Web site at www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=4306 ' Eric Kulisch