Political Quotes

“On this amendment, I appreciate the concern, the interest, and the effort the Senator from Illinois has gone to on this bill. But in looking at it, there is still a couple of steps missing if this were to become law. Yes, it would provide a lot of information to the FDA. It would, in fact, flood them with information, and I think we would flood them with more information than they could possibly process. But that part doesn't even bother me. What bothers me is how we get that information to the consumer. It is the consumer that needs to know what they are drinking, eating, and everything else. That is why we provide labeling on a lot of things. But even the things we already provide labeling on, the consumer doesn't necessarily pay attention to it. Probably the people who need to pay the most attention to it don't pay any attention to it. So just making this information available to the FDA doesn't get it to the point where the consumer can know. Of course, anytime we start talking in this area, people get worried about the amount of regulation we put on things they consider to be very important to them and can do no harm. The right way to address this important issue is for the HELP Committee to have hearings and work together, as we have done on this bill, to find common ground on the policy. When we find common ground, as we have on this FDA bill, then we can get something done. But I think this is a little premature.…”