More then 100 died.... huh? What planet is she living on?
"Thank you for writing to me to express your concerns about the serious threats to human and animal safety posed by contaminated food from China. It was good to hear from you.
As you know, more than 100 pets died and hundreds, perhaps thousands, more were sickened after consuming pet food found to be contaminated with melamine and several related industrial chemicals. These contaminated ingredients have been traced back from North American pet food makers to producers of wheat and rice gluten in China, whose products were tainted with
melamine to appear to have more protein. The effect of this melamine was not limited to pets. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have indicated that a limited number of hogs and chickens have been given melamine-tainted feed and should not be eaten, though FDA and USDA have indicated that the risk to humans is likely to be low.
I am very concerned about this alarming problem. As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, I have worked with my colleagues to strengthen the FDA’s food safety programs and public health systems and take commonsense measures to protect our nation’s food and feed supplies. On May 2, 2007, Senator Durbin proposed an amendment
to S. 1082, the Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act, to help ensure the safety of pet food, livestock feed, and the safety of the food we consume by setting standards for ingredients and improving surveillance for and reporting of
instances of food and feed contamination. This amendment passed, with my support, on a 94-0 vote, and S. 1082 was passed by the Senate on May 9, 2007.
Should further legislation to address this serious problem come before the Senate, please rest assured that I will keep your concerns on this issue in mind. If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my updates at
http://murray.senate.gov/updates. Thank you again, and please keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Patty Murray
United States Senator"
Author