Bush officials visit Oakland port, slam 100% screening

Bush officials visit Oakland port, slam 100% screening Following months of revelations about contaminated imports, two of the Bush administration's top health officials toured the Port of Oakland Friday to watch a demonstration of Food and Drug Administration screening techniques at the port.
   Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt and FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach attended a dockside demonstration of high-tech equipment used by local FDA officials to scan imported goods for toxic metals, before holding a short new conference on import safety.
   Coming only days after state officials recalled imported fresh ginger found to be contaminated with pesticide, and a less than a week after a massive recall by Torrance-based manufacturer Mattel over Chinese-made toys decorated with lead-based paint, the visit also ironically touched on a recent local controversy involving the FDA. The local FDA scientist performing the demonstration works at the agency's regional laboratory in Alameda, a facility slated for closure until the agency reversed itself last week under the fire of local criticism.
   Both administration officials downplayed the threatened closure, instead focusing on the agency's efforts to improve the safety of imported goods and the threat to the national economy from 100 percent inspections.
   Leavitt, on a nationwide tour to inspect the import safety system, said his Oakland visit highlighted the competing interests of cost and safety.
   “It’s important to look at all of these containers and realize we can’t inspect all of them,” he said. “The reality is, if we inspected everything, it would drag the American economy to a halt. It would drive the cost of goods we consume through the roof.”
   Leavitt said the solution rests on foreign governments and manufacturers raising their own safety standards, not on U.S. domestic inspections. Officials from HHS announced a pact last week to provide Chinese officials with technical assistance regarding product safety and formalized plans for a more permanent agreement on the issue.
   “We’re saying to every nation that produces goods for import into the United States: ‘If you want access to our markets, you need to produce products that meet the expectations of safety that American consumers have come to expect,'” Leavitt said.