1115.org

File this under “Things You May Not Have Known About Your Government”.

There’s this ongoing to-do about stuff of all kinds imported from China, from pet food to toothpaste, that is tainted by chemicals and additives. Stuff that has killed pets, and stuff that poses a health risk to people.

Our much-maligned government has gloriously been fighting a valiant but vain battle to protect American consumers from unscrupulous Chinese exporters who are determined to send dangerous or tainted shipments our way.*

Here’s what you may not have known about why we’ve been losing this battle. The basic tool the FDA uses in China is inspections of the manufacturing facilities of potentially unscrupulous exporters. In order, no doubt, to circumvent the possibility of an under-paid government employee tipping off manufacturers when inspections will take place, the FDA itself gives manufacturers prior notice of inspections. This policy has almost surely been 100% effective in eradicating this type of corruption.

Unfortunately, stuff has killed many pets, and stuff has posed a health risk to many people. But no government can win ‘em all.

So let’s hear it for our good, great and glorious federal government, please! There’s a nice little slogan in here somewhere too: Inspecting them over there so that … ? (It escapes me now, but I’m sure it’ll come to me.)

* It strikes me that if Bill Gates really wanted to provide innovation and convenience to his customers — as he likes to claim every time he’s embroiled in a lawsuit for muscling competitors and stifling competition — there would be a shortcut in Word that would produce the phrase “Our much-maligned government has gloriously been fighting a valiant but vain battle to ” in one stroke. Ctrl-Alt-G would do very nicely. (Note to Billy: I expect royalty checks, kiddo.)