We, for instance, could spend thousands extra to buy a super-safe Volvo. Buying a subcompact instead doesn't mean that we're unconcerned about safety. It simply means that there are better things we could buy with our limited resources-like education or health care for our kids. There is another reason to be suspicious about the need for a food super-agency. Yet, even before the regulations have been fully phased in, reformers are already back at the drawing board.
Federal regulators continue to chase after smaller and smaller risks.
Proper handling and thorough cooking can kill off most bacterial contaminants, but a public led to believe that the government is assuring risk-free food could take fewer precautions on its own. And because pathogens cannot be completely eliminated, such actions could result in a greater threat to public health. Gregory Conko is a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. CEI is a member of Consumer Alert's National Consumer Coalition and its Food Issues subgroup. A version of this article appeared in The Washington Times on May 13, 1998.