Regulations

This was a big week in the world of regulation. How’s that for a hook? Bet you can’t wait to keep reading…

President Obama says reduce regulations. This is an incredibly easy statement to make. However, it is insulting to the thousands over the years that have created rules to protect the public from the free market. One of the things that the free market needs to thrive is a fully knowledgeable class of consumers. On the other hand, one of the things that most inhibits the free market is knowledgeable consumers that sees when the cost of items doesn’t match the usable value. How does the Western world ensure consumers are protected and informed? Regulations. So which of them are “just plain stupid” exactly?

Taco Bell’s “meat product” doesn’t meet the federal regulation for beef. According to the lawsuit, it’s also below the regulation for “meat product” at only 35% beef. To me, that may actually be a selling point. Mixing beef with oatmeal is a pretty green trick. But regardless, shouldn’t we know what comprises our food?

Pennsylvania’s new governor is ignoring the fact that PA is the last state to NOT have natural gas drilling regulations. We’re also in the middle of the “fragging” controversy. Shouldn’t we have some limits on how fast business can move before science can prove that, at least, we don’t do irreparable damage? There’s a similar row over growing genetically modified organisms. Biology here is pretty simple: plants cross-pollinate. Man-made round-up-ready genes will get out into the wild.

The bank failures and the mortgage crisis almost brought down America, despite regulations being in place. Maybe they weren’t the right ones, sure, but I doubt the families that lost their houses would say that we should let the banks do as they please unchecked.

Pharma industry recalls are both fresh in the mind and, unfortunately, continuing in the industry news. The apparent gap between FDA and EPA regulations on saccharine has been quoted ad nauseum: FDA says you can eat it and the EPA calls it a hazardous material. Quoting that as being an example of regulations gone wild is, itself, just plain ignorant. Most chemicals in bulk are hazardous. That’s why we can’t dump food process waste untreated into estuaries. A tanker full of whiskey is a bomb, for goodness sake. Delicious, sure, but a bomb nonetheless.

So what do we do about it?

One final, unrelated note. I hear that one of the followers of this little communication is in a show to open in February. I wish I were able to get back to Michigan to see it.