Risk assessment has become the international language of the science of regulation. It is as fundamental to public health programs as the stethoscope is to cardiology. Risk assessment is not at all controversial. It is part and parcel to public health protection programs throughout the world. Failure to incorporate risk assessment into the U.S. regulatory process would make this country an outlier, perhaps a pariah, in the world community and, specifically, in the scientific and medical communities.
Food safety is a big problem today throughout the world, in countries of all kinds.
It has always been a problem and always will be, but it is getting marginally better. The reason for the improvement in food safety in the U.S. is because of the scientific research and the application of that research to both medicine and regulation. S. 746 would materially improve the regulatory process in the food safety area. Since its inception, the Office of Management and Budget has applied a political or quasi-political calculus to its control of the regulatory process. S. 746 would require the imposition of a transparent approval process to food safety decisions, wherein the relevant science would provide the basis for decision-making.