Bush sets up import safety panel

Source : CNN.com

Origin : http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/18/safe.imports.ap/index.html

Title : Bush sets up import safety panel

Date :July 18th 2007

Translater and Reviewer : TJY

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Wednesday established a high-level government panel to recommend steps to guarantee the safety of food and other products shipped into the United States and to improve U.S. policing of those imports. The White House denied the effort was aimed primarily at China.

美國總統布希於美國時間星期三建立一個高階的專門小組，以保障進口之食品等產品的食用安全並改善美國對於這些進口產品的管制。白宮方面否認這樣措施是針對中國而制定。

The president was to meet later Wednesday with his new Import Safety Working Group. The panel will be chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.

布希並於稍晚會唔了由Michael Leavitt所率領的小組。

"The administration is concerned about the safety of imported products that Americans eat and use and we'll start working on concrete steps to address whatever problems they may uncover," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

白宮發言人Tony Snow表示，此小組將著重於美國人民使用及食用的進口商品的安全性，並因應這些進口商品可能會發生的問題，於近期內著手制定一些具體的措施。

The Food and Drug Administration's ability to monitor the nation's food supply has come under sharp criticism from Congress and others amid a string of high-profile cases of foodborne illness, including E. coli-tainted spinach and salmonella-contaminated peanut butter and snack foods, as well as concerns about drug-laced, farmed fish imported from China.

由於食物中毒諸如：受到E.coli 污染的菠菜、沙門桿菌含量過高的花生醬及點心、以及藥物殘留量過高的中國大陸養殖魚類等事件層出不窮，因此藥物食品管理當局對於食品管理的能力飽受國會和民間的激烈抨擊。

"This is not a slap at China," said Snow when asked if he thought China would be offended by Bush's action. "This is in fact a normal piece of business. We get food imports from 150 countries around the world. It's important to monitor them all."

當被問及此項措施是否惹惱中國，Snow仍然表示這並不是只針對中國一個國家，”事實上這是很正常的，我們從150多個國家進口食品，監督是很必要的。”

Members of Congress have criticized the FDA's plan to close half of its laboratories.

Bush created the new panel with an executive order.

國會的成員對於食品藥物管理局撤掉其半數的研究室的計畫感到不滿，而布希的回應則是成立了一個新的專門小組。

Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, called the formation of the panel "a wonderful step. The administration is moving aggressively to address the issue."

消費者產品安全委員會的主席Nancy Nord認為這項措施是個很棒的進展，這表示有關當局開始重視這項議題。

Earlier, she told a Senate hearing that the rapid growth of imports is putting a strain on her agency. The intense pressures on regulatory agencies was also emphasized by officials from the FDA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at the hearing by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

稍早她透露，一位參議員曾要求她所屬的機關付出更多努力以因應進口商品數量的快速成長，同時她也受到許多相關機關人員的關切。

Bush took the action as China announced that teams of food safety officials from the U.S. and China would meet in Beijing at the end of this month to discuss the safety of China's seafood exports. The FDA announced last month that it would detain Chinese catfish and several other categories of fish as well as shrimp and eel after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs that have not been approved in the United States for use in farmed seafood.

中國方面則表示，美國與中國的有關當局將於月底於北京會面，討論中國所出口之漁產的安全性問題。美國的藥物食品管理局也於上個月表示，將扣留所有被檢驗出含有不合法藥物的中國養殖漁產品。

From : http://edition.cnn.com/

與此則新聞相關的事件想必諸位一定不陌生。近來，不論是週刊雜誌、新聞網路等各式媒體對於此類事件的報導都時有所聞。

常常在與朋友閒聊的時候聽到一些關於到中國的趣事，其中關於食物的正式佔了大多數。有的誇讚中國的食物好吃，每個地方都有每個地方拿手而且別具特色的料理，然而更多的是所謂『黑心食品』的故事。由朋友所轉述的故事是真是假當然很難判斷，但是當新聞反覆播送真實的畫面的時候，真實度可就大大地提高了。

由於中國的人力數量龐大、工資低廉，因此不只是食物，許多日用品皆自大陸進口，在這麼龐大的數量下，用料實在、作清白生意的產品固然是有，但濫竽充數的應也是不在少數。美國政府這項措施筆者認為是嚇阻作用大於實質意義，畢竟走私這類事不太有可能完全杜絕。但是與中國比鄰而居的台灣，若是連有嚇阻作用的措施都不加以實行制定，那麼這類食品商品會有多麼猖獗實在是不難想像。