| We've focused recently on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's historic conflict of interest. Although the name and peculiar autonomy the Commission enjoys would both suggest that it is a scrupulous servant of the public good, whose sole function is to ensure that all aspects of nuclear energy production in this country are held to the highest standard of safety; it has long been apparent that the NRC is primarily a servant of the industry it is charged with regulating.
In another example of a regulatory agency that seems to be corrupted by its intimacy with the industry it monitors, we are learning that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) spied on the personal e-mail of a group of six of its scientists and doctors who raised concerns to Congress about medical devices approved by the FDA, that might cause injury to patients.
All six of the spying victims have experienced harassment or dismissal since their whistleblower status was discovered through the e-mail surveillance.
This revelation, that the FDA mistreated whistleblowers at the possible behest of industry, comes just as a petition is circulating online to once again demand that the President withdraw his appointment (made in 2009) of a former VP and lobbyist for Monsanto, Michael Taylor, to serve as Food Safety "czar" to the FDA.
It was Mr. Taylor's lobbying efforts that were central to allowing Bovine Growth Hormone (rGBH) to enter our milk supply.
With industry so deeply embedded in our federal regulatory agencies, it begs the question: how far can we actually be from the regulation-free landscape that Republicans have been clamoring for for years? |
