Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s message on food issues, and said he has not made any decisions about whether he will support Kennedy’s selection of President-elect Donald Trump to change the state of society. Will we ban it or not? Companies.
In an interview with CBS Information correspondent Natalie Logo, the far-right Vermont senator said he fears some Kennedy’s views Kennedy’s name has been criticized, saying the problems are “extremely dangerous”. pull fluoride H2O programs out of the US and their “very wrong” approach vaccines,
However, the Vermont remote also said that he might be able to find familiar gardens if he worked with Kennedy, reiterating his complaint of the influence of the food business in Washington.
Sanders advised Logo, “I think what he’s saying about the food industry is absolutely spot on. I think the food industry is more concerned about their profits, and less concerned about the health of the American people. Can. I think they have to pay attention to it.” ,
Sanders, who nowadays serves as chairman of the Senate State Committee, said he last spoke to Kennedy years ago. He said he was thinking about sitting out sick and talking about Trump’s decision to move alternative state companies that would report to Kennedy.
“For years Trump and Kennedy himself have talked about this as a health problem, about the fact that we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. And if I’m not mistaken, Kennedy There’s been talk about the need for Americans to not be paid more than people in other countries, I think that’s absolutely right,” he said.
Sanders spoke to people later hearing Where he criticized the Biden leadership’s Food and Drug Administration officials for negligence in dealing with the “terrible epidemic” of obesity and diabetes in America.
Sanders said, “Do I think the FDA has shown the urgency needed to respond to this crisis? No, I don’t. That’s what I tried to say today.”
Sanders’s position on Kennedy created a talent gap with Senator Ed Markey, who also sits on the committee.
The Massachusetts Democrat said during the hearing, “Some people will say that what he says on diet and the importance of healthy foods is reasonable. However, a reasonable opinion is not enough for someone to run the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Doesn’t make you eligible.”
When requested, Sanders declined to respond to Markey’s response.
“We are decades behind”
At the hearing, FDA officials defended the company’s work on food issues, turning many of the company’s criticisms on lawmakers for cuts in the Biden leadership’s budget requests on issues such as reviewing the safety of chemicals added to food.
“We’re decades behind our European and our Canadian counterparts, because they have a legal mandate to reevaluate chemicals that were authorized at some point in the past. We don’t do that, but we’re going to do it. But we certainly We’re going to struggle with the resources needed to do this,” said Jim Jones, FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf additionally warned that the company faces an increasingly uphill battle through long-stalled efforts such as untouched regulations. to move forward An untouched “healthy” standard and diet label that can travel at the entrance of food applications, in addition to the fracture ill on cigarettes,
“Given the current state of judicial cases, First Amendment rights, the fact that corporations have the same rights as individuals, all the little things we do, unless specifically directed by Congress, it It’s not just that we lose in court, but we lose for years,” Califf said.
One long-awaited option that may soon see action is a ban on food dyes red number 3For which the advocacy teams have filed a petition. California has made the final move to become the first state to ban food coloring itself over health concerns.
“We are hopeful that, within the next few weeks, we will take action on that petition and have a decision,” Jones said.
In a crackdown with California, Sanders directed California to name “the food and beverage industry, whose greed is destroying the health of millions” for its role in slowing the company’s food insurance policies.
Califf told the committee that the company was facing “direct opposition from powerful industrial forces” on issues such as food chemical safety, but he also refused to “condemn the people who work in the food and beverage industry.” .
“We have an industry that if you tried to change overnight, there are farmers all over the United States who would not be able to grow the crops they are currently growing. So there needs to be a plan and it needs to be implemented.” There is a need across the country in a mature thoughtful manner,” Califf said.
