Republicans fail food safety

Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical. Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria. Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.

Juices and fruits rejected as "filthy. Prunes tinted with chemical dyes not approved for human consumption. Frozen breaded shrimp preserved with nitrofuran, an antibacterial that can cause cancer. Swordfish rejected as "poisonous."

These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.

For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers
the small portion of those products they caught -- many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry.

Corporations and the federal government seem willing to put the interests of business "above the public welfare." Under the Bush administration in particular, DeWaal said,if a proposed regulation does get past agency or department heads, it hits the wall at the White House Office of Management and Budget.