More FDA Outrages
The federal government plans on intruding more into the lives of all Americans. First, Congress is looking to pass an expansive food safety law. The FDA would be given the authority to impose additional standards, including new registration and documentation of safety plans by food producers to be given to the federal government, along with the authority to order recalls. The effect could very well put small farmers out of business. Worse, there is Supreme Court precedent, the Wickard decision, that could allow the FDA to attack home gardeners who use the food produced for themselves and don’t sell their food to others.
Second, the FDA is set to establish regulations that declare alcoholic beverages that use caffeine as an additive as unsafe. This ABC piece linked to by IBD contains this amazing admission:
While there is little known medical evidence that the drinks are less safe than other alcoholic drinks, public health advocates say the drinks can make people feel more alert and able to handle tasks like driving.
So this isn’t based on science, but politics. The Obama administration excels at putting science under the bus when the facts get in the way of its ideology. More:
A Wake Forest University study found that students who combine caffeine and alcohol are more likely to suffer alcohol-related injuries than those drinking alcohol without caffeine.
Oh, really? I don’t know about you, but I’ve often had coffee (not spiked) after drinking a little bit (*hiccup*) too much at a bar. Apparently, these newer products (Four Loko, Joose; others mentioned here) came about when it was determined that Red Bull and vodka was a popular drink. But people have been drinking Jack Daniels and Coke for decades, or adding some whiskey or aperitif to coffee. Besides, there are more than enough people who drive drunk on other drinks that it is doubtful this study actually showed anything.
But that isn’t what’s important. The people and private business must be strictly controlled.