U.S. looking abroad to ensure import safety
July 9, 2008
R.G. Edmonson, The Journal of Commerce
WASHINGTON -- Import safety is becoming a proxy war for two opposing philosophies of world trade, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt told the Import Safety Summit Wednesday morning.
Leavitt said the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies have embraced the idea that the United States is part of a global trading system, and are expanding their operations beyond the borders to partner with foreign governments and the private sector to develop and maintain standards for products destined for the U.S. market.
“There are others who want to inspect everything at the border,” Leavitt said. He did not identify what parties were acting in a “spirit of protectionism,” to use government inspection as barrier to global trade.
“The battle is not about safety, it is about our philosophy on trade,” Leavitt said. “We can’t inspect our way to product safety.”
At the conference, organized by a dozen trade groups and federal agencies, the watchword was collaboration between government and industry to create standards that would protect American consumers. Much of the emphasis was on the development of third-party certification of foreign products.
Leavitt announced two pilot programs to demonstrate the third-party concept. In one, the FDA will seek independent certification of farm-raised imported shrimp.
Leavitt also said that in a policy change, the FDA would work more closely with foreign governments’ inspection systems that hold products to the same standards as the U.S., to eliminate redundant inspection activity.
In the second pilot, FDA will work with its counterparts from the European Union and Australia on joint inspections of pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Leavitt said the goal is to increase the speed of global commerce without sacrificing safety, and that the U.S. has three choices. “We can fight and fail, we can accept the standards of others, or we can lead it and prosper.”
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