[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1748-H1749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          THE FDA DOES ITS JOB

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of debate in Washington about 
the role of the Federal Government. You hear a lot said about Federal 
agencies and what they do.
  Let me tell you a little story about one Federal agency. Two weeks 
ago this agency got a phone call and a tip, and the tip was that some 
people in northern California shopping at a major supermarket chain had 
bought some infant formula, and the color of it did not look right. So 
they called this Federal agency in Washington, DC, which thought it was 
serious enough to launch an investigation.
  The net result of that investigation was the discovery that someone 
was counterfeiting baby formula. In fact, they were taking the label 
that everyone might recognize of one of the most popular brands of 
infant formula in America and filling the contents of the can with 
something other than that infant formula. As a result of that discovery 
and the investigation, last Friday this Federal agency turned over 
information to the Department of Justice and an individual was arrested 
in Mission Viejo, CA, and charged with trafficking in counterfeit 
goods, and a warrant was issued for a second person.
  That Federal agency discovered that this conspiracy to release these 
counterfeit baby formulas involved people not only in California but 
also in Maryland. This agency seized 38,000 pounds of fake infant 
formula and recovered another 6,000-plus pounds that had already been 
put on grocery shelves.
  The agency believes that they have now confiscated all of the phony 
formula and they have told consumers not to be worried.
  No details of the arrests have been made, because, of course, the 
investigation is ongoing. It turns out these counterfeiters had 
purchased bulk infant formula that had been manufactured for export 
overseas, and it turns out that infant formula manufactured for export 
does not have to meet the same criteria in terms of nutritional value 
as the infant formula does in the United States.
  My kids are all grown up, and I have not bought infant formula for a 
long, long time, but these cans of infant formula were selling at $10 a 
pop, so the folks who were out there with the counterfeit formula had a 
lot of money to be made if they just could have pulled this off.
                              {time}  1850

  They did not get the job done.
  I might mention one other thing. This agency also discovered that the 
plastic scoop that was enclosed in the infant formula can--everybody is 
familiar with it, where you take a certain measure, put a number of 
scoops in the bottle before you add water for 
[[Page H1749]] the baby--and it was in the counterfeit baby formula 
can, the scoop was too small.
  So I said to the person at the Federal agency, ``What difference 
would that have made?'' He said ultimately the mother would have 
wondered, ``What is going on? Why isn't my baby gaining weight as he 
was supposed to?''
  Counterfeit formula, not enough nutritional value, an incorrect 
scoop. The Federal agency moved in and did its job. Which Federal 
agency? The Food and Drug Administration.
  Most Americans do not know much about the Food and Drug 
Administration, but in terms of the health of our family, it may turn 
out to be one of the most important. Virtually all of the food, all of 
the drugs, our Nation's blood supply, and so many other things depend 
on the watchful eye of the Food and Drug Administration.
  I did not come here tonight to just tell you an interesting and 
positive story about that agency but to tell you there are forces afoot 
in Washington, DC, and around the Nation that are literally attacking 
the Food and Drug Administration, and in fact some of them have gone so 
far as to suggest this agency should go out of business.
  Now who in the world would do that? Well, it turns out it is a 
coalition of very conservative groups, radical right-wing groups that 
are coming together who want to turn out the lights at the Food and 
Drug Administration.
  Who are these folks? Well, if you peel back the cover and look 
inside, they have all sorts of high-sounding names, names like the 
Competitive Enterprise Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy; all of 
these different names. It turns out you look inside and you find out a 
very interesting story. The political groups that are trying to put the 
Food and Drug Administration out of business, the agency that is 
responsible for protecting us, turns out to include some of the most 
radical right-wing interests in America: the David Koch Foundation, the 
Koch Family Foundation, created from the oil fortunes of Fred Koch, 
founder of the extremist ultraconservative John Burch Society.
  They put in $1.7 million to close down the Food and Drug 
Administration. And a lot of companies that are regulated by the Food 
and Drug Administration and are sick and tired of having that agency 
look over their shoulders, they want to close them down, too.
  The Smith, Richardson Foundation, with money from the Vicks Vaporub 
and Smith Bros. Cough Drops, fortune, as well as the Merrell 
Pharmaceutical Company, contributed $500,000 to this effort to close 
down the Food and Drug Administration.
  The information I am sharing with you is published in the New York 
Times of last Sunday in an article by Phil Hilts, in a special to the 
New York Times.
  It reaches, unfortunately, to the House of Representatives, Newt 
Gingrich, has called the Commissioner, the head of the Food and Drug 
Administration, David Kessler, Mr. Gingrich has called him a thug and a 
bully. He says the Food and Drug Administration is a job killer.
  It turns out that a foundation which the Speaker is using to finance 
his college video courses has received contributions from a number of 
businesses regulated by the same Food and Drug Administration. I think 
it is important that people all across America, when they hear folks 
criticize Federal agencies, Washington bureaucracies, stop and ask a 
few questions about which ones and why would you happen to be 
criticizing them? There are too many regulations coming out of this 
town, certainly, too many bureaucrats. We have to do our best to make 
sure that we keep those on the job who are doing the job properly, and 
those who are not have to be relieved of their responsibilities.
  But be careful when you hear these charges made about the Food and 
Drug Administration. Recall for a moment that if that agency had not 
been on the job and doing it right, that counterfeit baby formula would 
have been sold, perhaps, across the Nation to the detriment of infants 
and to the detriment of the families who unwittingly would have been 
purchasing these goods.
  This is not the first time the Food and Drug Administration stepped 
in. Do you recall a few years ago when the syringes were popping up in 
Diet Pepsi cans? The Food and Drug Administration stepped in. They 
proved it was a hoax. They saved the Pepsi Cola Company a lot of grief 
and put them back on their feet.
  It is an important agency, and let us not be too quick to do away 
with them.


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