Podcasts about Oversight

Part 2 of my interview with Daniel A. Wilson, LIVE from Moose Lake, Minnesota's MSOP (Minnesota Sex Offender Program). Daniel has been very instrumental in exposing the horrors that happen in this shadow prison disguised as a hospital and bringing to light all of the injustices that are happening there. Whether people believe it or not, we are all at risk of the same things happening to us, innocent or not. Thank you for watching this segment of Joshua "The World's Mayor"..... #MSOP #Minneasota #ShadowPrisons #LiveManaNetwork #theworldsmayor #Joshua

Part 1 of my interview with Daniel A. Wilson, LIVE from Moose Lake, Minnesota's MSOP (Minnesota Sex Offender Program). Daniel has been very instrumental in exposing the horrors that happen in this shadow prison disguised as a hospital and bringing to light all of the injustices that are happening there. Whether people believe it or not, we are all at risk of the same things happening to us, innocent or not. Thank you for watching this segment of Joshua "The World's Mayor"..... #MSOP #Minneasota #ShadowPrisons #LiveManaNetwork #theworldsmayor #Joshua

Aug. 11, 2022 - State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli discusses the state pension fund's returns for the fiscal year, including what this means for taxpayers moving forward. As part of a web extra, the Long Island Democrat considers whether his office should be highlighting state contracts going to major political donors.

Reed Rubinstein, the Senior Counselor and Director of Oversight for America First Legal (AFL) , joined WMAL's "O'Connor and Company" radio program on Thursday. AFL Launches Investigation into Biden's Vice Presidential Records Involving Hunter Biden AFL Initiates Investigation Into DOJ, Nat. Archives & Records Admin Over Raid Of Trump's Home For more coverage on the issues that matter to you, visit www.WMAL.com, download the WMAL app or tune in live on WMAL-FM 105.9 FM from 5-9 AM ET. To join the conversation, check us out on Twitter: @WMALDC, @LarryOConnor,  @Jgunlock, and @patrickpinkfile.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Key Takeaways:Audit committees can ensure smooth ICFR implementation by encouraging early planning, helping secure adequate resources, being familiar with management's process to identify risks and management's processes and controls in place to manage those risks.Boards should be particularly focused on controls addressing areas of the business that are inherently higher risk.IT systems are critical and thorough evaluations of the IT environment and the IT general controls should be done early to avoid the late detection of control flaws over systems and relevant data that may have pervasive impacts on the effectiveness of the entire internal control environment.Depending on the severity of any deficiencies, the board should understand the root cause of the deficiency and what management's plans are to remediate; and further, hold management accountable to their remediation plans.Board should ensure that the control environment is continually reviewed and that management takes into account, among other things, changes in risks, policies and procedures that may require enhancements to the controls environment.

On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court decided West Virginia v. EPA. In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that EPA exceeded its authority under Clean Air Act Section 111 when it issued the 2015 Clean Power Plan, which sought to control carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants by imposing limits based on a “system” of shifting power generation away from fossil fuels and towards renewable fuels at the grid-wide level. Although the Supreme Court stayed the Clean Power Plan in February 2016 before it could take effect, the Court's decision in West Virginia v. EPA was the first time it pronounced on the Plan's merits.This case is a major development in administrative law. For the first time, a majority opinion of the Supreme Court used the phrase “major questions doctrine” to describe its methodology. The Court determined that the Clean Power Plan dealt with issues of such “economic and political significance” that it required a clear statement of Congressional intent to authorize this specific type of action. Because the CAA contains no such clear statement, the Clean Power Plan was unlawful.Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Alito, wrote a concurring opinion expanding on the “major questions doctrine” and its relationship to the constitutional principle of non-delegation. Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Breyer and Sotomayor, wrote a dissenting opinion arguing the Court improperly placed “major questions” at the beginning of its statutory analysis—instead of conducting a traditional Chevron-style textual inquiry and concluding with “major questions.” Further, the dissent states that Congress provided EPA with the authority to require “generation shifting” in the CAA's use of broad language authorizing the Agency to identify a “system of emission reduction” to address air pollution.Please join our legal experts to discuss the case, the legal issues involved, and the implications going forward.Featuring:-- David Fotouhi, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, former Acting General Counsel, EPA-- Justin Schwab, Founder, CGCN Law; former Deputy General Counsel, EPA.-- Moderator: Garrett Kral, Associate Member of the Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group's Executive Committee; former Special Advisor for Oversight, EPA.

Aug. 9, 2022 - In the wake of a monitoring visit to Sing Sing Correctional Facility this year, the Correctional Association of New York has a new report on how the state prison system can be improved. The group's vice chair, Rev. Stephen Phelps, explains what they found and outlines the latest recommendations.

Matt and Nic return for another week of deals and news. In this episode:  Is there any hope for ETH PoW forks? Is Ethereum unforkeable? More 3AC shenanigans of the week The 3AC Toyota Century situation The 3AC boys have some unexpected supporters  A bipartisan bill proposes giving the CFTC oversight over the spot market What's up with the croissant diet NYDFS fines Robinhood Crypto Michael Saylor steps down from this CEO role at Microstrategy The SEC charges 11 individuals involved in the Forsage ponzi The other Nick Carter is in trouble for endorsing Safemoon Another cross chain bridge is hacked What happened with this Solana wallet hack? Matt loses the tip of his finger Coinbase partners up with Blackrock Sponsor notes: Subscribe to the Coin Metrics State of the Network newsletter

This week in airplane news: The drama over leaded avgas continues with GAMI and Swift saying they have solutions, the DOT has found a lax oversight of Southwest Airlines by the FAA, a strange story of a co-pilot who somehow exited an airplane during flight, and the EAA has announced record crowds at Airventure! The Co-founder and GAMI and the CEO of Swift Fuels both testified before congress this week on the topic of leaded aviation fuels. GAMI and Swift have solutions for replacing 100LL with lead-free substitutes. The hang up on implementing these new fuels seems to be regulatory oversight. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/congressional-subcommittee-meets-in-outrage-over-leaded-avgas The DOT has validated allegations of whistleblower complaints that the FAA mismanaged oversight of Southwest Airlines. Among the validated allegations, the airline failed to properly certify 88 B737s that were brought overseas. The report says the airline's upper management was cozy with an unnamed former acting FAA Admin, who was previously the Deputy FAA admin. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-admits-lax-oversight-of-southwest-airlines After an emergency landing in Raleigh airport, the co-pilot of the plane was found 30 miles south of the airport, having somehow fallen out of the plane. The co-pilot did not survive. The plane landed due to the right main gear having fallen off. How the co-pilot ended up in a suburban backyard is unclear at this time. https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/southeast/co-pilot-falls-from-plane-north-carolina/ The EAA says that nearly 650,000 people attended Airventure this year, setting a new record! “We introduced a tagline of ‘Unlike Anything Else' for this year's AirVenture event and 2022's fly-in proved to truly be unlike anything else,” said EAA CEO and Chairman Jack Pelton. “We had seven days of nearly perfect weather, along with this year's programs and activities, which brought out people and airplanes in numbers that we haven't seen before.” https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/airventure/eaa-reports-record-crowds-at-airventure-2022

Around the Blockchain is your favorite Cryptocurrency show discussing Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and the top altcoins. Our four crypto experts CryptoWendyO, Altcoin Daily, Tim Warren, & Ben Armstrong. Tune in for their insightful crypto analysis.

Plus, we talk about the plan to shut down the MBTA's Orange Line and climate legislation with U.S. Sen. Ed Markey.

The Government Accountability Office looks at every agency at one time or another. Some more often than others. No one is exempt from this oversight, even the overseers within the executive branch. GAO has a continuing list of recommendations for the Office of Management and Budget, which it recently reiterated. Federal Drive host Tom Temin got all the details from the GAO's director of strategic issues, Michelle Sager.

CHRISTOPHER LUXON to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions? Dr LIZ CRAIG to the Minister of Housing: What actions is the Government taking to increase the supply of housing outside the main urban centres? KAREN CHHOUR to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she agree with the statement in yesterday's report on the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People's Commission Bill by Jonathan Boston and David King that "locating the Monitor so close to the centre of power creates the risk of a vicious cycle of increasing levels of abuse and the potential for abuse to be swept under the carpet", or does she agree with Minister Davis's statement that for those who submitted against the bill, it was "just another thing to grizzle about"? ANGELA ROBERTS to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: What progress has been made on supporting people into jobs in the regions? NICOLA WILLIS to the Minister of Revenue: Has Inland Revenue advised him why some people who haven't lived in New Zealand for several years have received the cost of living payment, and will Inland Revenue be investigating what specific errors have led to these payments being made? IBRAHIM OMER to the Minister for Trade and Export Growth: What progress has the Government made on its Trade for All agenda? Dr SHANE RETI to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by all his statements and actions around the health workforce? ANNA LORCK to the Minister for Economic and Regional Development: What recent announcements has he made on Government support for regional economies? Hon LOUISE UPSTON to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she agree with the Prime Minister that "it does matter to us as a Labour Government that we have people in the dignity of work"; if so, why are 55 percent more people receiving jobseeker support for longer than one year as at the June 2022 quarter compared to the September 2017 quarter? Hon EUGENIE SAGE to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries: Will he commit to further action in New Zealand's exclusive economic zone to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as seamounts, in light of the United Nations workshop under way in New York and relevant United Nations resolutions, including 6472, 6668, and 71123? TAMATI COFFEY to the Associate Minister of Health (Maori Health): What recent announcements has he made regarding the roll-out of Kaupapa Maori primary mental health and addiction services? MARK CAMERON to the Associate Minister for the Environment (Biodiversity): Does he stand by the exposure draft of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity that objectives, policies, and methods developed under it "must, to the extent practicable: enable new occupation, use and development of Maori Lands"; if so, will he extend the same criteria to all New Zealanders with significant natural areas on their land?

“Master of FOIA” Chris Horner talks about his long-time fight against global warming extremism. Christopher C. Horner is a former senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. An attorney in Washington, D.C., Horner has represented CEI, scientists, and members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on matters of environmental policy at the federal court level and before the U.S. Supreme Court. Horner is the author of four books including two best-sellers: “Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed” (2008); and “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism” (2007), which spent six months on The New York Times best sellers list. Chris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chris_C_Horner Government Accountability & Oversight: https://govoversight.org/ Climate Litigation Watch: https://climatelitigationwatch.org/ Chris Horner's books: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism) (2007) https://www.amazon.com/Politically-Incorrect-Global-Warming-Environmentalism/dp/B000NDFFQS Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed (2008) https://www.amazon.com/Red-Hot-Lies-Christopher-Horner-audiobook/dp/B001M5G78G Power Grab: How Obama's Green Policies Will Steal Your Freedom and Bankrupt America (2010) https://www.amazon.com/Power-Grab-Christopher-C-Horner-audiobook/dp/B003I7E7SI/ The Liberal War on Transparency: Confessions of a Freedom of Information "Criminal" (2012) https://www.amazon.com/Liberal-War-Transparency-Confessions-Information/dp/1451694881/ Tom Nelson's Twitter: https://twitter.com/tan123 About Tom (includes other podcast appearances): https://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2022/03/about-me-tom-nelson.html Substack: https://tomn.substack.com/ Notes for climate skeptics: https://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2019/06/useful-notes-for-climate-skeptics.html ClimateGate emails: https://tomnelson.blogspot.com/p/climategate_05.html

Seresto Flea and Tick Collars for dogs and cats have been sold to Americans since 2013. During that time, the EPA has received approximately 100,000 reports of illnesses and 2,500 reports of deaths of animals that wore a Seresto Flea and Tick collar, by far the most reports received about any flea and tick treatment on the market. In this episode, hear testimony from scientists about the Environmental Protection Agency's disturbingly lax review processes for pesticides in pet products and learn why your vote in November is likely to determine if these popular but dangerous products will stay on American shelves. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Listen to the latest episode of Jen's new podcast with Andrew Heaton and Justin Robert Young — We're Not Wrong Episode 12: About The Never Ending Ukraine War, Biden's COVID and Mike Pence (LIVE FROM BERLIN) To report an incident directly to the EPA via email Report.Pesticide.Incident@epa.gov View the shownotes on our website at https://congressionaldish.com/cd256-poisonous-pet-collars Executive Producer Recommended Sources CD200: How to End Legal Bribes Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics. Public Affairs: 2011. Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD254: Baby Formula Shortage CD234: AWOL Recall: The Rock and Play Sleeper Reports on Seresto and Pesticides “Oversight Subcommittee Report Reveals EPA Failed to Protect Pets, Owners From Dangerous Flea and Tick Collar.” Jun 15, 2022. House Committee on Oversight and Reform. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy. June 2022. “Staff Report: Seresto Flea and Tick Collars: Examining why a product linked to more than 2,500 pet deaths remains on the market.” Lauretta Joseph. May 19, 2022. “Notification of Evaluation: The EPA's Response to Reported Incidents of Unintended Effects from Pet Collar Pesticides, Project No. OSRE-FY22-0120” Johnathan Hettinger. Sept. 24, 2021. “Is your pet wearing a Seresto flea collar? Company reports thousands more adverse incidents.” USA Today. Jordan Liles. Mar 8, 2021. “Did Seresto Flea Collars Cause 1,698 Dog and Cat Deaths?” Snopes. Johnathan Hettinger. Mar 2, 2021. “Popular flea collar linked to almost 1,700 pet deaths. The EPA has issued no warning.” USA Today. Jen's highlighted copy Lawrence J. Dyckman et al. July 1995. “Pesticides: EPA's Efforts to Collect and Take Action on Exposure Incident Data, GAO/RCED-95-163.” U.S. Government Accountability Office. Lobbying “Lobbyist Profile: Ryan Canfield.” 2022. Open Secrets. “Employment History: Ryan Canfield.” Open Secrets. “Elanco Animal Health.” Open Secrets. The Hearing Seresto Flea and Tick Collars: Examining why a product linked to more than 2,500 pet deaths remains on the market June 15, 2022 Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy Witnesses: Faye Hemsley & Omarion Hemsley, Owners of Deceased Pet Thomas Maiorino, Owner of Deceased Pet Jeffrey Simmons, President and Chief Executive Officer, Elanco Animal Health Incorporated Nathan Donley, Ph.D, Environmental Health Science Director, Center for Biological Diversity Karen McCormack, Former Scientist, Policy Analyst, and Communications Officer (ret.), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency Carrie Sheffield (minority witness), Senior Policy Analyst, Independent Women's Voice Clips 1:20 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): As early as 2015, just a few years after the collar entered the US market, an EPA investigation found that among similar products, the Seresto collar “ranked number one” by a wide margin in terms of total incidents, major incidents and deaths, even after factoring in companies' relative sales. Those findings weren't enough to drive the makers of Seresto collar or the EPA to act. 1:50 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): In 2016, Canada's equivalent of the EPA known as the PMRA, concluded based on a review of the same American data available to the EPA that the collar posed too great a risk to pets and their owners to be ever sold in Canada. 2:10 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): Even as the death count rose, the EPA allowed Seresto to remain on the market here without even so much as requiring additional warning labels that regulators mandated in places ranging from Australia to Colombia to the European Union. 2:30 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): The companies that manufactured the Seresto collar first Bayer animal health and then later Elanco were also aware of the risks, the incidents and the deaths, but they too failed to act. Instead, they hired third party industry insiders to conduct so-called independent reviews of the incident data, which ended up protecting their $300 million a year market but ended up endangering pets. So the Seresto collar stayed the same and so did the consequences. 4:15 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): This particular collar has caused 100,000 incidents reported to the EPA and over 2500 pet deaths reported to the EPA. 4:30 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): The steps that we are asking for today are crucial, because it's important to protect our pets and our families, too. I now call upon my distinguished colleague, Mr. Cloud for his opening statement. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX): Thank you, Chairman. This is the first hearing of the Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee this year, and we've been in session for 52 days this year. And our first hearing is on pet collars. And I do realize that our pets are a huge part of our lives, they enrich our families, they provide companionship for my kids, they've helped foster responsibility and compassion and care, important ethics we need in our society. Just recently, our family mourned the loss of our guinea pig, biscuit. And so pets are a huge part of our family lives. But I have to admit that when I saw that this was going to be on the agenda for this week, I cannot help but be concerned, especially coming from South Texas about the 1000s 10s of 1000s of human lives that have passed away due to fentanyl and due to an open border and due to the policies of this administration to continue to aid and abet cartels. And I realized that this is the economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee. And so I think about economic policy happening right now and where the minds of the American people are. Gas is now averaging $5 A gallon nationwide. For the first time in history. We have not had a hearing. Inflation is at a 40 year high. We have not had a hearing, the American people cannot find baby formula. We still haven't had a hearing. I've mentioned fentanyl is killing Americans, especially our teens at unprecedented rates. We have not had a hearing. Biden's systemic elimination of the safe and secure border he inherited has led to the worst humanitarian and national security crisis in this country's history. We have not had a hearing this term, we could talk about how inflation is affecting the cost of owning a pet, including the increased cost of food, toys, accessories, but we're not talking about that either. Instead, we're holding a hearing on the pet collar, which fights fleas and ticks. And as any pet owner knows fleas and tick management is an essential part of pet care. But I'm not sure it's an essential part of congressional oversight, especially when we take in mind where the American people are at. And frankly, I've talked to a number of people in my district and others who live in other parts of the country and they are really surprised that this has risen to one of the top priorities of commerce at this time in juncture. The subcommittee Republicans would rather explore efforts to help American consumers during these trying times, we would gladly have joined the chairman in holding a hearing on the shortage of baby formula. Moreover, we have welcomed the chance to explore TikTok's troubling practice of showing dangerous content to minors, an investigation you all started last year. In fact, it's now come to light that teenagers are using tick tock and other social media platforms to purchase illicit drugs including unknowingly in many cases, in most cases, fentanyl. Social media platforms are also using it to recruit young people into the gig economy of human trafficking. A hearing on that crisis could be incredibly important. And on the subject of our nation's youth, CDC bureaucrats have actively pursued an agenda to close schools during the pandemic instead of following the science damaging our children's financial, mental, physical, emotional, and also their learning for years to come. But we still have not had a hearing. Americans are facing incredible economic issues which require us as elected officials to listen and to respond. I do appreciate the fact that our pets play an important part of our lives. We should be kind to animals and we should teach our children to do the same. But I do care immensely more about the human lives that we were elected to serve. 10:20 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): A recorded vote has been requested — we will pause while the we will get the clerk out. 12:00 Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL): Mr. Chairman, it's already been about what? A minute and a half. Where's the clerk? Is the clerk on lunch and not here today? Rep. Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): I think the clerk is on the way Mr. Donalds, thank you. Rep. Donalds: Is the clerk sitting in the side office just hanging out? I mean, come on, Mr. Chairman. 21:20 Clerk: Mr. Cloud? Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX): Yes Clerk: Mr. Cloud votes yes. Mr. Keller? Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA): Yes Clerk: Mr. Keller votes yes. Mr. Franklin? Rep. C. Scott Franklin (R-FL): Yes Clerk: Mr. Franklin votes yes. Mr. Clyde? Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA): Yes. Clerk: Mr. Clyde votes yes. Mr. Donalds? Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL): Yes Clerk: Mr. Donalds votes yes. 26:31 Thomas Maiorino: My name is Thomas Maiorina. I reside in Mount Laurel, New Jersey with my wife Monica. I am the father of three boys. My youngest son, Robert turned 12 in 2011. After years of asking for a dog, he wore us down and we decided to rescue a dog from a southern shelter for my son's birthday. After researching online, we adopted a mixed breed mutt that Robbie and his two other brothers named Rooney. Rooney swiftly became a loved member of our family. A bit rambunctious, she was just what a 12 year old boy needed. She loved the run and chase anything the move in the yard. By all measures, we took great care to ensure Rooney had a healthy and happy life. We took her on daily walks, sometimes three a day, hikes on park trails. We monitor her diet and made sure she was seen by the veterinarian as needed, and she received all of her shots. Because she was a bit rambunctious and we lived in a wooded area where there's a lot of wildlife, we were constantly concerned about the problems of fleas and ticks. We consulted with a veterinarian after getting Rooney to determine the best way to protect her against this. We use a variety of prevention methods for the first few years and when we changed veterinarians in approximately 2013 or 14, the new veterinarian strongly recommended that we use the Seresto flea and tick collar, based on all of our options. We heeded that advice and purchased Seresto collars from our local PetSmart. The collars were intended to provide protection for up to eight months. We noticed that after fixing a collar to Rooney's neck, she began to itch and first had that treated and tested for allergies. We took her to the vet several times during 2018 seeking to find the cause for the ever increasing itching. After several visits and multielement medications, they were unable to determine the cause and we switched to a specialist in 2019 to seek further assistance, where they provided allergy shots and other medications to address the worsening itching and related symptoms. Rooney's behavior then became more erratic as the months wore on she began linking her paws so feverishly they would bleed. She also developed bleeding patches on her stomach. Ultimately, in October 2020, Rooney suffered horrendous grand mal seizure in the presence of myself and my wife. The damage done by the seizure was irreversible. She was a shell of her former self and ultimately, the family decided the most humane thing would be to put Rooney to sleep at the age of nine. In early March 2021, I read an article online about Seresto pet collars resulting in the deaths of 1700 Pets without any warnings from the EPA or the manufacturer. I sought out legal representation not because I wanted financial compensation, but because I took great pains to care for Rooney. The final 18 months of her life were agonizing to watch if I could help prevent another family from going through what my family went through. I wanted to act. I'm here today in furtherance of that effort. I appreciate the committee taking the time to investigate this matter. And thank you for your time. 33:30 Jeffrey Simmons: There are a few points I'd like to emphasize upfront. First, the EPA approved Seresto following more than 80 safety and toxicity studies, all of which show that Seresto and its ingredients have a strong safety profile. Second, more than 80 regulatory bodies around the world have approved Seresto. Seresto is widely used and more than 80 million collars worn over the past decade to protect dogs and cats from fleas and ticks around the world. 34:00 Jeffrey Simmons: Third, adverse event reports are not intended to be, and in fact are absolutely not, proof of causation. Reports require further investigation and analysis to determine cause. And after years of review, our pharmacovigilance team made up of veterinarians and other experts who study adverse event reports has not identified a single death caused by the active ingredients in the collar. 36:45 Jeffrey Simmons: No product is without risk. What matters is whether those risks are reasonable. And in light of the benefits and numerous studies and the incident report data for Seresto demonstrate the product does not pose an unreasonable risk and has a strong safety profile, which is why the American Veterinary Medical Association opposed canceling Seresto's EPA registration. 38:05 Nathan Donley: My name is Dr. Nathan Donley. I'm the science director for the Environmental Health Program at the Center for Biological Diversity. I have a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology from Oregon Health and Sciences University. The last seven years of my professional life have been spent researching how pesticides impact people and the environment and the regulatory failures that can actually facilitate harm rather than prevent it. I published three peer reviewed scientific articles and five technical reports on this subject. I've authored over 100 technical scientific comments to the EPA on pesticide documents, including flumethrin and imidacloprid, the two active ingredients in the Seresto collar. I've read through 1000s of pages of FOIA documents I requested on matters related to the approval and continued use of Seresto. 39:40 Nathan Donley: While other agencies like the FDA have robust systems in place to surveil harms from products under their purview, EPA only requires minimal information be submitted four times a year and they delegate this responsibility to the pesticide industry itself. The limited information that is collected includes only the pesticide product name, where the incident occurred, and the severity of the incident. That's it. Oftentimes, the agency doesn't even know if the incident involves a dog or a cat. Even though the EPA determines what incident information it collects, it then turns around and laments that the incident data are insufficient to take regulatory action to protect public health, the environment and our pets. It's a system designed to achieve nothing other than maintaining the status quo. Worse yet, reported incidents significantly underestimate the true scope of harm. The EPA recently estimated that only one in 25 pesticide incidents involving another pesticide called Kamba was actually reported to the authorities. That's only a 4% reporting rate. Given that 100,000 people have reported their concerns about Seresto, this is very alarming because the true number of harmful incidents to pets could be potentially far higher. 41:05 Nathan Donley: The EPA's counterpart in Canada was so concerned about Seresto incidents and harms of pets and humans that it denied Seresto approval in 2016. Canada analyzed U incident data and determined that Seresto collars had an incident rate 50 times greater than the average flea collar and 36 times greater than Canada's trigger for review. 41:25 Nathan Donley: EPA has no trigger for review of any pesticide product, no matter how much harm is being reported. And because the agency has no mandated trigger for reviewing pesticides like Seresto, rather than choosing to use incident reporting data to inform a robust regulatory process and take dangerous products off the market, EPA routinely chooses to do nothing at all. And that's especially troubling when you consider that Seresto is just one of 18,000 pesticide products currently approved by the EPA. 42:40 Karen McCormack: My name is Karen McCormack. At the present time I am a retired government employee after working over 40 years at the Environmental Protection Agency. During my career at EPA, I first worked in an EPA laboratory as a research coordinator. And in that capacity, I conducted research on numerous pesticides. Later I transferred to EPA headquarters in Washington DC, and worked in various positions in the pesticide program as a scientist, policy analyst, and a communications officer. I also worked in a number of offices at EPA including the Office of the Assistant Administrator for Pesticides and Toxins. Although I'm retired from EPA, I'm still closely following a number of environmental topics and one of those topics of interest to me has been the impact of flea and tick pet products on cats and dogs. 43:30 Karen McCormack: The US Environmental Protection Agency is charged with regulating products that contain pesticides and in ensuring that all pesticide products are safe to use. Before 1996, EPA did not consistently require manufacturers to conduct animal safety studies for pet products containing pesticides. Because pet products with pesticides were available readily in commercial stores, consumers thought they must be safe. This is not necessarily the case. Flea and tick products are designed to kill insects, and they often contain poisonous chemicals. When combined with pesticides that are used outside the home and in the water and food that people drink and eat, the aggregate risks from all these sources of pesticides can be high, especially for children who are vulnerable to toxic chemicals -- much more vulnerable than adults. And it wasn't until the passage of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act that EPA began to examine the risks from sources other than food, including risks from pet products containing pesticides. After the passage of FQPA, pesticide manufacturers were required to submit to EPA animal safety studies and incident reports showing harm to animals and humans exposed to pesticides and pet products. Between 2012 and the present time the EPA received an increasing number of incident reports related to the use of flea and tick pet collars for dogs and cats. The toxic effects that were described in these many incident reports from the use of certain pet collars ranged from mild effects, such as skin irritation to more severe effects such as intense tremors, seizures, paralysis, organ failure and death. The largest number of incident rate counts that EPA received during this period were from the use of pet collar called Seresto. 45:35 Karen McCormack: Between January 2012 and the present time, EPA has received over 100,000 incident reports, and these incident reports include human incidents as well as pet incidents. These reports also include at least 2300 reports of pet deaths. The number is most likely a very low estimate of the actual number of incidents that are occurring since many pet owners do not know that they can report incidents to EPA and they may not know how to correlate the adverse effects in their pets with a particular pet product. 46:30 Karen McCormack: There are no independent organizations that rank the safety of pet products. And the sales data which is needed to rank the safety of pet products is considered confidential business information by the manufacturers. EPA's risk assessments also do not tell the full story of what pet products are safe, as they rely heavily on industry generated studies that were conducted on mice and rats rather than dogs and cats. And EPA's risk assessments also are based mainly on studies that were conducted with only one pesticide in Seresto rather than the combined pesticides in this pet product. 47:10 Karen McCormack: Although the original manufacturers of Seresto, Bayer, did conduct a number of efficacy and safety studies in dogs and cats treated with Seresto, the company did not conduct two very critical studies that are important for determining the safety of a pet product. These tests include a pet transferable residue study, a petting study, to determine the exposure of humans to Seresto. And they did not conduct a study that measures the amount of pesticide that gets in the blood of treated dogs and cats. 48:45 Carrie Sheffield: My name is Carrie Sheffield and I'm a senior policy analyst at the Center for Economic Opportunity at Independent Women's Forum. We are a nonprofit organization committed to increasing the number of women who value free markets and personal liberty. 2:44:20 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): Let me just show you some analysis that was conducted by Elanco, which we would just refer to as well as the EPA, as well as the Canadian equivalent of the EPA, which is called the PMRA. Essentially, we look at this chart here, and we see that at the top Elanco computed that 0.51% of pet deaths were “possibly or probably” caused by the Seresto collar. The PMRA in Canada, looking at a sample of pet deaths concluded that 33% of those pet deaths were possibly or probably caused by Seresto collars. And the EPA here, concluded that 45% were possibly or probably caused by pet by the Seresto collar. Now, sir, I think originally, you said that there is no scientific evidence, no evidence of a causal link, this is clearly evidence, it was so compelling that the Canadian equivalent of the EPA never allowed for Seresto collars to be sold in Canada, correct? Jeffrey Simmons: Yes, I'm aware of that decision. I would also add that 80 other countries have approved this product, we've had over 80 million collars actually used. I'm not familiar with this data comparison, but what I can say is following the EPA regulatory process around the oversight, that we have pharmacovigilance, close to 200 veterinarians and staff on our team, looking at the data through the way the EPA wants us to we have not seen a linkage from the active ingredients. Rep. Krishnamoorthi: I understand that sir, I understand you haven't seen the linkage, although other authorities have and their scientists who are not paid by you have done so. 2:46:25 Nathan Donley: This is what we commonly see, quite frankly, when the regulated industry is doing their own research. It commonly finds that their products are safer than when government agencies or academic scientists take on a similar analysis. 2:46:55 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): We have FOIA documents from the EPA, and emails internal to the EPA talking about the Seresto collar. Here's just one of them. This is from an employee who basically voiced their opinion about recent coverage of the Seresto controversy, he said, “looks like the sh*t has hit the fan….will be interesting seeing where this goes. I hope there is a FOIA for all communications on this so that our emails are made public. We have been screaming about Seresto for many years.” I presume that you've heard some of these screams and concerns, correct, Ms. McCormack? Karen McCormack: That's correct. A number of EPA employees have contacted me and given me detailed descriptions about what's happening with Seresto and they were very upset that EPA refused to do anything about it. 2:48:25 Karen McCormack: A number of the scientists, and this is not unusual, feel that the decision makers are not considering the science and they're making decisions based on political reasons. I don't know if I have time to talk about this, but I did look at the science that the Canadian government did, the causality analysis. They looked at the consistency and toxicity of effects from exposure of pets to Seresto. And what they found was very disturbing. It was so disturbing that they decided the risks were too high to approve Seresto and they could not be mitigated by putting a label statement on the product or by issuing warning labels, so they refused to approve Seresto. 2:49:25 Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX): Thank you, Ms. McCormack, for acknowledging that the EPA sometimes makes political decisions, so that's something we'll definitely be coming back to next term. 2:55:05 Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA): Are the active ingredients for Seresto in the United States different from the active ingredients for Seresto collars in other countries? Jeffrey Simmons: No, I do not believe they're any different than the other 80 countries. Rep. Porter: In other countries like in Colombia and Australia, the warning labels for Seresto collars classify the collar as highly toxic and as poison. 2:55:50 Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA): Does the label in the United States have language? Like highly toxic or poison? Yes or no? Jeffrey Simmons: It does not. Rep. Porter: Okay. So the warning label here in the United States, though does say that mild reactions may occur and mentions hair loss, scratching and redness. The most severe symptoms listed are eczema and lesions. This is the warning label: does it mention the potential for death? Jeffrey Simmons: It does not. Rep. Porter: So a pet owner looking at this label that we're looking at would have absolutely no reason, no way to know that Seresto may have caused roughly 100 pet deaths. That's what both the Canadian Pest Management Agency, the PMRA, and the EPA found. Will you change this label, so that it includes deaths as a possible side effect? Jeffrey Simmons: Congresswoman, we do not believe the scientific data warrants a label change. And again, that is not just the 80 studies were submitted. There's been 20 additional added studies since and all of the oversight data that's been done on the 33 million pets over the 10 years. So again, following an EPA regulated process, we're always open if a data warranted, some need for a change, we would do that. 2:57:30 Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA): The EPA encouraged both your predecessor, Bayer, and your company, Elanco, to update the warning label. Yet, you just said that you never have. So the federal government did in fact advise you to update the label and you failed to do so. Is that correct? Jeffrey Simmons: I do not believe that is correct. We are in regular engagement with EPA. We have not received any formal…there's no data that warrants that and there's been no formal engagement on that. 2:58:15 Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA): The EPA asked Bayer, the predecessor here, in 2019 to help the agency collect data on adverse incidents for cats and dogs using the Seresto collar. EPA asked Bayer to split the registration for cats and dogs, so the agency could better understand and evaluate the risks for each type of pet. They refused, saying that change might have, “an adverse impact on sales” and they also said, “it would be a substantial increase in work.” Mr. Simmons, are you willing to make that change and split the registration for cats and dogs as the EPA requested? Or do you believe it's too much work? Jeffrey Simmons: I am willing to engage with the EPA on anything that the scientific data and the engagement under the regulatory body of the EPA merits the right thing to do. We believe the 80 studies and all of the pharmacovigilance data that we've submitted to them stands that this is a safe product. 3:00:10 Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA): I feel obligated to begin by stating the obvious this afternoon. Today's hearing is a colossal waste of time and resources. 3:13:25 Rep. Henry Johnson (D-GA): And the only reason that the public knew about the harm caused by this pesticide is because the Center for Biological Diversity publicly petitioned the EPA to cancel registration for Seresto flea collars. If they had not bought this to light, do you think we would even know of the dangers presented by these collars? Nathan Donley: No, we wouldn't. You know, the investigation that came out in USA Today in 2021 really brought this to the public attention. And if there wasn't that amount of pressure from the public, this would just still be completely unknown. EPA, for the last 10 years, has not done anything to alert consumers to the harms associated with this product or any other pesticide products where there are a very high number of incidents. 3:15:10 Karen McCormack: I think some of the people at EPA are programmed to go along with whatever industry says. It makes life easier for you, you can go home earlier and you can also get promoted easier if you go along with what industry says. It's unfortunate a problem there. And I've seen it over the years and it's very hard to do something about it. 3:15:40 Karen McCormack: Canada's analysis was very scientific. It was not only based on incident data and sales data, it was based on the toxicity of the two pesticides in Seresto. And they looked at the consistency and what happened eventually with the pets that were exposed to Seresto. 3:19:20 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): And so because of the tremendous number of pet incidents, the tremendous number of deaths, even when factoring in sales, I sadly have no choice but to recommend that the EPA commence a notice of intent to cancel proceedings and to fully investigate what's going on with the Seresto collar, and I respectfully request Elanco to voluntarily recall these collars at this time, pending this further investigation. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Sports with Rod 7-29-2022 …Dan Snyder finally appears before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform …Tom Brady burns Max Kellerman …Cardinals QB, Kyler Murray is mad at the wrong people

Hello and welcome back to the Tes News Podcast The stories discussed on this episode: https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/7-ways-dfes-send-reforms-could-fail (7 ways the DfE's SEND reforms could fail) https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/ps1bn-support-staff-pay-rise-could-break-school-budgets (£1bn support-staff pay rise could ‘break' school budgets) https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/edtech-schools-education-technology-regulation (Should schools have greater oversight of edtech?)

Today's headlines: The DOJ has confirmed that it is investigating Trump himself in their January 6th criminal probe, while also investigating numerous arms of criminality, including the pressure campaign against Pence. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform committee found that gun manufacturers that sell assault style rifles have purposely employed ethically questionable tactics. Instagram head Adam Mosseri stated that the company does not intend to take predominant feedback from users into account. Senator Joe Manchin announced yesterday that he plans to support a deficit reduction package that will address climate change and prescription drug reform. Meanwhile, WNBA star Brittney Griner testified in Russian court yesterday, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the administration has made an offer to the Kremlin to exchange Griner and American Paul Whelan for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout. Finally, Dr. Oz failed to report his ownership of a Garden State apartment, home to friends tied to groups involved in Armenian genocide denial. Resources/Articles mentioned this episode: NBC: Merrick Garland calls Justice Department's Jan. 6 probe the ‘most wide-ranging investigation in its history' Washington Post: Justice Dept. investigating Trump's actions in Jan. 6 criminal probe CNN: 'The gun industry has flooded our neighborhoods': House hearing highlights assault-style weapons Washington Post: Instagram knows you don't like its changes. It doesn't care. Axios: Manchin announces support for climate, tax, health care deal CNN: Brittney Griner testifies she signed documents without understanding what they said after being stopped at Moscow airport Daily Beast: Dr. Oz's Turkish Nationalist Pals Living in His Secret N.J. Condo

Southwest Airlines and the FAA are responding to some serious allegations about safety oversight. A Dallas police officer shot a suspected drug dealer he was trying to arrest. Crews making progress fighting fires around North Texas. KRLD All Local - July 28, 2022

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi joins John Williams to talk about yesterday’s Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing in which the congressman questioned gun manufacturers about their ads on social media.

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi joins John Williams to talk about yesterday’s Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing in which the congressman questioned gun manufacturers about their ads on social media.

Fellow Meri Baghdasaryan chats with Julie Owono, Member of the Oversight Board, on the Board's first annual report, decisions, and future.

The Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill passed its second reading in parliament last night. David spoke to the Green MP and party spokesperson for Children Hon Jan Logie on the matter.

Here's what we're following today: The latest monkeypox updates COVID infections dipping Woman claims anti-Asian harassment at Halsey concert Sheriff Villanueva again refusing to testify to civilian oversight committee  This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people. Support the show: https://laist.com

Appraiser Talk is diving into the appraisal regulator system this week to talk about where state regulatory agencies fit in the regulatory landscape.

Today we're talking to Albert Fox Cahn, Founder and Executive Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P); and we discuss S.T.O.P.'s mission to push back against surveillance and avoid having a dystopian surveillance state in the future, evaluating the effectiveness of surveillance for stopping crimes vs. the invasion of privacy, and why it takes organizing on a local level to curtail state surveillance.  All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! Check out more about Albert and S.T.O.P at https://www.stopspying.org/post-act

The Defense Authorization Bill for 2023 has people concerned over the elimination of congressional oversight into domestic military and national guard activity. The bill creates a Space National Guard alongside Space Force which will also have no oversight from Congress. A week after passing in the House, an Intelligence Committee advanced provisions to require a review of UFO reports and oral history interviews dating to 1947. Additionally, they seek investigation into actions by the intelligence community ‘to obfuscate” and “manipulate public opinion” about UFOS. The Pentagon acted at the same time to change the name of their UFO investigation office to All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and to begin investigating “transmedium” objects. NASA also just commissioned a study to observe events in the sky “that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena.” With Russia and China following along in different ways this may be the beginning of a new space or weapons race - an alien contact race. But the question remains: by establishing new military space agencies and acknowledging that UFOs are real, and that they may pose a threat, are we not creating the weapons and warnings of an alien threat just as Dr. Carol Rosin warned would be a monumental lie.

July 22, 2022 - It's a period of transition with ethics oversight in New York, but the one constant might end up being Gary Lavine, a former JCOPE commissioner and current appointee to the new watchdog. The Syracuse attorney discusses his years of oversight experience and reflects on the new accountability structure.

Rep. James Comer, from Kentucky, is a ranking member on the Committee on Oversight and Reform and is here with an update on the committee's investigation into the Biden family, the border and the administration's lack of response. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Radioactive materials are commonly used in medical and industrial devices. But even in small amounts, in the wrong hands, these materials could be used to make dirty bombs. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for licensing,…

Jason Foster, Founder and President of Empower Oversight Whistleblowers and Research, discusses another instance of the secret-hand of government coming out, stealing another piece of transparency from the American public. Foster discusses the revelations that the NIH has complied with requests from Chinese researchers "multiple times” to delete “Coronavirus genetic information” from their databases, with the first request and deletion being as early as March of 2020. Commenting, “why would you let a Chinese researchers request to remove information that could be related to the pandemic, that's related it curent coronavirus genetic sequences? Why would you delete that? Saying, that specific deletion "was requested in June of 2020, right in the height of the pandemic, and the NIH did delete them."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AP correspondent Norman Hall reports on FDA Commissioner.

The City of St. Louis is getting a new department. It's the Division of Civilian Oversight, which will investigate police misconduct, officer involved shootings, etc. That will no longer be handled within the police department. KMOX's Maria Keena goes in depth.

Oversight by Jake Bryant

Mr. Paoletta served for a decade as Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations for the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his tenure, Mr. Paoletta managed nearly 200 investigative hearings, many of which involved high-profile issues and investigating some of the largest U.S. corporations. Many of those investigations led to substantial revisions to federal law, regulations and public awareness on significant issues of the day.Mr. Paoletta most recently served as General Counsel for the Office of Management & Budget in the Executive Office of the President during the Trump Administration. As General Counsel to what many consider the most powerful agency in Washington, D.C., Mr. Paoletta worked daily with agencies across the federal government to ensure programs were implemented consistent with the President's policies. Mr. Paoletta also worked closely with the other component offices within OMB, such as the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which reviews and signs off on every regulation issued by federal agencies. Mr. Paoletta also served as Counsel to Vice President Pence during the first year of the Trump Administration.During his time in the Trump Administration, Mr. Paoletta helped prepare many nominees for confirmation hearings, including Cabinet nominees, several Court of Appeals nominees, and two Supreme Court nominees. Mr. Paoletta also served in the White House as Assistant Counsel to President George H.W. Bush. In that position, he played a key role in the successful confirmation effort of United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.Source: https://www.schaerr-jaffe.com/mark-r-paoletta

A new report from First Voice says there are gaping holes in police oversight in this province. They've got some ideas to improve the system.

Proposed Bill Gives Biden Power to Use US Military Against Americans, Suspends Congressional Oversight https://www.infowars.com/posts/globalists-pushing-new-lockdowns-worldwide-including-us-monday-live/

HOUR 1: Why doesn't baseball showcase its best at the All-Star Game? Your best audio of the day in Sound Check. Justin Jefferson goes bold.

Public transportation heading in and out of Boston was under the microscope during the first of a series of oversight hearings at the State House. WBZ's Karyn Regal reports.

Today is Friday, July 15. Here are your top stories from around the Fargo, North Dakota area. InForum Minute is a product of Forum Communications, brought to you by reporters from The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and WDAY TV. For more news from throughout the day, go to InForum.com.

On today's episode of The Confluence: Allegheny County's newly appointed controller tells us his priorities as he joins county government and becomes the newest member of the Jail Oversight Board; after the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center closed last September, researchers asked some who had spent time at Shuman what alternatives to the center they want created; and a look at the reaction to the renaming of Heinz Field, now that the lease between the condiment company and football team is coming to an end. Today's guests include: Corey O'Connor, Allegheny County controller; Sara Goodkind, professor with the University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work; and Brian Batko, reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Risk management came to the forefront for many organizations during the Great Recession. Now, in the midst of the Great Resignation and other highly disruptive events, risk management continues to be vital. An annual report on the state of risk oversight takes a closer look into where organizations stand and what they can learn about their own gaps. Mark Beasley, CPA, Ph.D., a professor at North Carolina State University and director of the school's ERM Initiative, explains more in the latest episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast. Click here for the report's most recent edition, and for more resources, visit this page.

LOTS of experts will tell you that corporate governance is all about strategic oversight. I'm here to argue that there's a lot more to good governance than that. Background music is Of the Stars by KC Roberts & the Live Revolution   SCRIPT: Let's get something important out of the way right off the bat: good corporate governance and board effectiveness aren't the same thing. In fact, there are plenty of incorporated entities out there that don't even have functional boards of directors, but that doesn't mean they don't have good governance if we stick with the definition of good governance from a few episodes back. Either way, if there is one challenge that's generic to just about every BOARDroom I've been in, it's the struggle to find the right balance between the board's focus on operational matters vs it's focus on strategy – or, how much do we reflect on the past vs. how much do we dream about the future? It's *very* common for people who talk about corporate governance to emphasize that the board has little to no role in operations, and should spend as much time and energy as possible on future-oriented strategic matters. We've talked about this a bunch of times before on OMG so I won't belabor it. Suffice it to say that I believe boards can and should focus on whatever they think is going to result in the best decisions for the organization and its stakeholders. But even in a case where a board chooses to focus on day to day minutiae, or even to run the organization entirely, that doesn't relieve them of their obligation to make sure that the organization has a well-articulated purpose, strategy, strategic plan, and objectives. Either way, it's pretty clear that strategic oversight is not the same as good governance.

In the third hour of The Vince Coglianese Show, Vince speaks with Ranking Member of the House Committee of Oversight and Reform, Congressman James Comer (KY-1) about Hunter Biden's spiraling out of control corruption.  Vince asks listeners to chime in as to what they think the left represents. For more coverage on the issues that matter to you visit www.WMAL.com, download the WMAL app or tune in live on WMAL-FM 105.9 from 3-6pm. To join the conversation, check us out on social media: @WMAL @VinceCoglianese See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vince Coglianese speaks with Ranking Member of the House Committee of Oversight and Reform, Congressman James Comer (KY-1) For more coverage on the issues that matter to you visit www.WMAL.com, download the WMAL app or tune in live on WMAL-FM 105.9 from 3-6pm. To join the conversation, check us out on social media: @WMAL @VinceCoglianese See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following up on our recent deep dive into the housing crisis, today we’re taking a deeper look at affordable housing. There’s not enough of it in this economy, but getting more built is a hard nut to crack. But what exactly is affordable housing? And, what’s considered affordable these days? Experts say there are generally two large buckets. Big “A” affordable housing is publicly subsidized units that are intended for low-income households. Small “a” affordable housing is generally considered housing priced at no more than 30% of a household’s budget. Either way, there’s a shortage. “Part of the issue is that after the last recession, we had more higher-income renters who were stuck in the rental market or who chose to stay in the rental market longer. So then we just see rents continue to rise,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which just released a report on the state of the nation's housing. On today’s show, Airgood-Obrycki makes us smart about the realities of America’s affordable-housing crisis and its impact on the broader economy. In the News Fix, we’ll discuss a new report that may offer clues about where all the affordable homes may have gone. Plus, the Federal Reserve takes consumers’ attitudes about inflation seriously. But it turns out that measuring those attitudes isn’t exactly a hard science. We’ll explain. Then, we hear from listeners about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, mortgage rates and old school typing rules. Here’s everything we talked about today: “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2022” from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University “Biden administration creates plan to increase affordable housing” from Marketplace “Where Have All The Houses Gone?” from the House Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations “The Strange Art of Asking People How Much Inflation They Expect” from The Wall Street Journal “At least 50 people found dead in abandoned 18-wheeler in San Antonio” from The Texas Tribune “Two Spaces After a Period or Just One? Please Get It Right!” from Patrick’s Place blog Do you use two spaces after a period? Let us know. Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org. You can also leave us a voice message at (508) 827-6278 or (508) U-B-SMART. Your donation powers the journalism you rely on. Give today to support Make Me Smart.

Following up on our recent deep dive into the housing crisis, today we’re taking a deeper look at affordable housing. There’s not enough of it in this economy, but getting more built is a hard nut to crack. But what exactly is affordable housing? And, what’s considered affordable these days? Experts say there are generally two large buckets. Big “A” affordable housing is publicly subsidized units that are intended for low-income households. Small “a” affordable housing is generally considered housing priced at no more than 30% of a household’s budget. Either way, there’s a shortage. “Part of the issue is that after the last recession, we had more higher-income renters who were stuck in the rental market or who chose to stay in the rental market longer. So then we just see rents continue to rise,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which just released a report on the state of the nation's housing. On today’s show, Airgood-Obrycki makes us smart about the realities of America’s affordable-housing crisis and its impact on the broader economy. In the News Fix, we’ll discuss a new report that may offer clues about where all the affordable homes may have gone. Plus, the Federal Reserve takes consumers’ attitudes about inflation seriously. But it turns out that measuring those attitudes isn’t exactly a hard science. We’ll explain. Then, we hear from listeners about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, mortgage rates and old school typing rules. Here’s everything we talked about today: “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2022” from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University “Biden administration creates plan to increase affordable housing” from Marketplace “Where Have All The Houses Gone?” from the House Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations “The Strange Art of Asking People How Much Inflation They Expect” from The Wall Street Journal “At least 50 people found dead in abandoned 18-wheeler in San Antonio” from The Texas Tribune “Two Spaces After a Period or Just One? Please Get It Right!” from Patrick’s Place blog Do you use two spaces after a period? Let us know. Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org. You can also leave us a voice message at (508) 827-6278 or (508) U-B-SMART. Your donation powers the journalism you rely on. Give today to support Make Me Smart.

John Solomon and Amanda Head host ‘Just the News, Not Noise' delivering the pressing news of the day and giving you Information without indoctrination while rising above the rhetoric. Interviews with House Oversight Committee Leader Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Alan Dershowitz, US Congressional Candidate Mike Collins (R-GA), Senior Vice-President of Gun Owners of America Erich Pratt, Founder of Women for Fairness in Sports Marshi Smith, and Comedian Michael Loftus.To see the daily show, go to americasvoice.news each Monday through Friday at 6pm Eastern Time or watch any time at JustTheNews.com/tv.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After multiple formula-related infant deaths were reported to the FDA in February, samples from Abbott Laboratories' Sturgis, Michigan baby formula production facility tested positive for cronobacter, triggering a recall and a subsequent formula shortage. In this episode, Jen uncovers monopoly and neglect in the baby formula production industry, lack of oversight by the FDA, and the United States' refusal to adopt the World Health Organization's International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! View the shownotes on our website at https://congressionaldish.com/cd254-baby-formula-shortage Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD234: AWOL Recall: The Rock and Play Sleeper The Formula Shortage Abbott. Jun 15, 2022. “Update on Abbott's Sturgis Plant and Formula Production.” “Testimony of Robert M. Califf, M.D., Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, Infant Formula Crisis: Addressing the Shortages and Getting Formula on Shelves.” May 26, 2022. U.S. Senate. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. May 18, 2022. “Guidance for Industry: Infant Formula Enforcement Discretion Policy” [FDA–2022–D–0814]. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Annie Gasparro and Jaewon Kang. May 12, 2022. “Baby Formula Shortage Could Leave Parents Scrambling for Months.” The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Feb 2022. “FDA Investigation of Cronobacter Infections: Powdered Infant Formula.” Baby Formula Monopoly Matt Stoller. May 13, 2022. “Big Bottle: The Baby Formula Nightmare.” BIG by Matt Stoler on Substack. Sam Knight. Apr 23, 2022. “Company Responsible for Tainted Baby Formula Has Monopoly Over Aid Program Sales.” Truthout. FDA Failure Letter from Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. March 24, 2022. U.S. House of Representatives. Poisoned Baby Food House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy Staff. Feb 4, 2021. “Report: Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury.” Operation Fly Formula Brenda Goodman and Deidre McPhillips. Jun 10, 2022. “How far will Operation Fly Formula shipments really go to fill America's store shelves?” CNN. The White House. May 22, 2022. “Biden Administration Announces Second Operation Fly Formula Flight.” White House Briefing Room: Statements and Releases. 60 minutes Segment Bill Whitaker. May 22, 2022. “Medical Middlemen: Broken system making it harder for hospitals and patients to get some life-saving drugs.” 60 Minutes. The WHO Code and Formula Marketing The World Health Organization. Apr 28, 2022. “Scope and impact of digital marketing strategies for promoting breastmilk substitutes.” The World Health Organization. Apr 28, 2022. “WHO reveals shocking extent of exploitative formula milk marketing.” The World Health Organization. #EndExploitativeMarketing Petition. La Leche League International. “International WHO Code.” Bonnie Goldstein. Jul 13, 2018. Paper Cuts: No Match for Mother's Milk. Project on Government Oversight. Baby-Friendly USA website. The World Health Organization. Jan 27, 1981. “International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes.” Fisher-Price Update Katie Porter [@RepKatiePorter]. Jun 15, 2022. “Following yesterday's news of previously unreported infant deaths in Fisher-Price products, I'm calling on the company to immediately recall all…” Twitter. Laws H.R.7791: Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022 Jen's Highlighted PDF of Public Law 117–129 H.R.3182: Safe Sleep for Babies Act of 2021 Audio Sources INFANT FORMULA CRISIS May 26, 2022 Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions The committee concluded a hearing to examine the infant formula crisis, focusing on addressing the shortage and getting formula on shelves. Witnesses: Robert M. Califf, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration Clips 37:26 Dr. Robert Califf: Frankly, the inspection results were shocking. Standing water, cracks in key equipment that presented the potential for bacterial contamination to persist, particularly in the presence of moisture, leaks in the roof, a previous citation of inadequate hand washing and current poor foot sanitation, bacteria growing from multiple sides, and many signs of a disappointing lack of attention to the culture of safety in this product that is so essential to the lives of our most precious people. 38:14 Dr. Robert Califf: As soon as we receive positive cronobacter results from environmental samples at the facility that we collected during the inspection, we contacted Abbott to ask the company to issue a voluntary recall. The need to take urgent action to protect the most vulnerable of all of our people -- infants -- presented a dilemma. This was the largest plant of the dominant manufacturer, and it was the sole source of a number of metabolic formulas essential for viability of infants with no substitution possible, because Abbott had no backup plan. We knew that ceasing plant operations would create supply problems, but we had no choice given the unsanitary conditions. 50:50 Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC): Why haven't you waived labeling requirements from trusted manufacturers in countries like the UK, Australia or Canada? Couldn't manufacturers provide temporary labels on imported formula? Cans if the label is printed in a language other than English until US manufacturing is restored? Some countries have higher nutritional requirements. Why can't we provide a waiver for their products to come into the country? Dr. Robert Califf: We've waived many of the requirements that are the ones that make sense, but the directions have to be clear to Americans in language that's understandable so the formula can be mixed correctly. An error in mixing up the formula for example, can lead to a very sick infant not getting the right nutrition. 2:16:18 Dr. Robert Califf: We saw the lack of quality in the system and the lack of accountability for the problems that were there. And so we had to invoke the Justice Department to negotiate a consent decree, which is essentially Abbott saying, “Yes, we had all these problems. Here's exactly what we're going to do to fix them.” For legal reasons, I can't discuss the exact details of the negotiation, but let's just say that it took a little armwrestling to get to the point where the Justice Department got Abbott to sign the consent decree. FORMULA SAFETY AND SUPPLY: PROTECTING THE HEALTH OF AMERICA'S BABIES May 25, 2022 Committee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Witnesses: Robert M. Califf, Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner, Food Policy and Response, Food and Drug Administration Susan Mayne, Director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration Chris Calamari, Senior Vice President of U.S. Nutrition, Abbott Robert Cleveland, Senior Vice President of the Nutrition Business Unit for the US and Europe, Mead Johnson Nutrition Scott Fitz, Vice President of Technical and Production, Gerber Clips 41:55 Robert Califf: Because of the lack of the diversification of this market in the absence of a central hub for integrating supply chains, we concluded early on that getting the Sturgis facility up and running safely was a top priority. But we had no confidence in the integrity of the Abbott quality program at this facility. Accordingly, we initiated proceedings toward a consent decree, which requires Abbott to undertake steps to assure safe production of formula, including hiring an outside expert with reporting to FDA. 43:03 Robert Califf: Despite the overall numbers showing diminished but steady supply, we knew that distribution was an issue. Some areas were experiencing significant shortages, but overall, there was enough formula to go around. About a month ago, the reports of shortages on the shelf proliferated, although there was not a drop in production. This increase in consumption most likely represents heightened concern of parents and caregivers about shortages, leading to an understandable effort to purchase ahead to ensure adequate supply at home. This type of cycle has happened with other products throughout the pandemic, and we realize that the only solution is to have adequate supply to make sure shelves are stocked. 45:57 Robert Califf: Abbott's enormous market share left it with a responsibility for producing safe infant formula that was not met. We will do everything in our power to work with Abbott to make this happen as quickly and as safely possible, but this timing is an Abbott's control. 46:35 Robert Califf: Across the industry we regulate, we are seeing evidence that the just-in-time distribution system, market concentration, and sole-source contracting are leading to shortages. Multiple reports to Congress call for improved supply chain management. Until regulatory agencies have digital access to critical supply chain information and personnel to do the work, we will continue to react to supply chain disruptions rather than intervening to prevent them. 1:01:113 Robert Califf: It's really important for people to go to the HHS website: hhs.gov/formula. There you'll find the hotline for all the manufacturers and helpful information about where to go. 1:04:12 Robert Califf: You would be surprised to know there's no just-in-time system where all the FDA employees can see what's going on. What we really need is access to the information that the manufacturers have about each of their individual supply chains. They each have their individual supply chains, but there is no national system to make sure the supplies getting where it needs to go. 1:05:11 Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA): Did FDA not have a data analytics tool to monitor the supply chains of various products, including infant formula? Robert Califf: We requested funding for a tool and because we didn't get the funding, we cobbled it together. It's a start, but it's nowhere near — you know, again, I was at Google for five years. The technology at FDA, and in many federal agencies is outmoded and needs an upfit, there's just no question about. 1:07:33 Susan Mayne: We have been in discussion with infant formula manufacturers throughout COVID, but discussion is not the same thing as data and we do not have the authorities to demand data from the companies to get necessarily all the information that you would want to have to really monitor the supply chains as Dr. Califf indicated. 1:10:30 Robert Califf: But given what we saw, the only way we could have confidence was through a consent decree, where we literally have oversight of every single step. When we met with the CEO yesterday, there were hundreds of steps that they went through that they're having to do, many of which have already been done. So it's only if we have direct oversight over it that I would have confidence, but I do have confidence that we are seeing every single step both physically in-person, and also through following the documentation and the outside expert. 1:10:53 Rep. David B. McKinley (R-WV): How will the passage of last week's FDA Bill increase the production of baby formula? Robert Califf: Production is increasing already — Rep. David McKinley The criticism, that they said that on these various tweets — it was not just one there were several — that said it was unnecessary. So I want to know, how do we increase, how do we get back to production? How to put in $28 million? How would that how's that gonna increase production? Robert Califf: Well, remember, the Abbot plant needs to get up and running, we've got to oversee and micro detail to make sure that it's done correctly. And as we bring in supply from other countries, remember, we already have overseas plants that we import from on a regular basis, almost double digits. So as we bring that product in, we've got to inspect it, make sure it's of the quality that we expect in America of formula and we need to upgrade our information systems, as I've already said, to make sure that as all this goes on, we can keep track of it and make sure that we're coordinated. 1:44:55 Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA): Is there any early warning system for products like baby formula? And not just the ingredients but for formula itself or manufacturer would let you know if they're running short or anticipate a shortage? Robert Califf: First of all, let me thank you for being a pediatrician. I sometimes call the Academy of Pediatrics just for the positive vibes that you all exude as a profession. But no, there is not such a warning system. We've repeatedly asked for that authority and have not been granted it. The industry by and large has opposed it. 1:52:21 Susan Mayne: What the data show is, we can't rule in or rule out whether or not those infants, their cronobacter was caused by this plant. The data just simply can't be used to inform it. Rep. John Joyce (R-PA): But the genetic testing you did. It does not match from the plant, correct? Susan Mayne: That is correct. But what we did not have is any sampling done at the same time that the product was manufactured that was consumed by the individuals who got sick, so we didn't have that every director 2:08:57 Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH): I know that in this part of the country, I'm in New Hampshire, we have milk banks of mother's breast milk. And I'm wondering what is the regulation by the FDA? And can we assure our constituents that breast milk from milk bank is safe and is thoroughly vetted by the FDA? Robert Califf: You're asking some very good questions. I'm gonna refer this to Dr. Mayne who probably would have the best answer. Susan Mayne: Thank you, Congresswoman. So human breast milk is regulated as a food. And so that is reassuring and they have to have proper screening protocols and things like that in place to make sure that the donors that are donating the milk, get that, that's critical for human food safety. So that's how I would respond. Thank you. 2:26:28 Robert Califf: You would think that a critical industry like this would have resilience plans, redundancy, but we don't even have legal authority right now to require that the firms have a plan for potential failures and resilience. That's something we've asked Congress for every year for a while, and we're asking for it again. So I hope that it happens this time. I'd also add that this is not unique to this industry. We are seeing this across the entire device and medical supply industry with frequent failures as exemplified by the 60 minutes show and the contrast medium problem that I talked about. We have gone to a just-in-time, large single source contracts that lead to lack of diversification in the industry and the industry has fought us tooth and nail on requiring that there be insight into their supply chains, so that the sum of all of the industries leads to the the avoidance of preemption. We'd like to be able to stress test and prevent these things from happening rather than waiting until they happen, and then scrambling. 2:58:58 Susan Mayne: What we've seen is, first the strain of the COVID 19 pandemic, then the strain of the recall, and now we've got the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And one of the things that we know is the Ukraine region is one of the world's biggest exporters of products like sunflower oil. Sunflower oil is used as an ingredient in many food products, including infant formula. And so we have been working with the manufacturers should they be unable to maintain their supply of sunflower oil, what they would replace it with and make sure that that would meet the nutritional requirements for infant formula. 3:26:28 Chris Calamari: We plan to start production at Sturgis the first week of June. We will begin with the production of EleCare, before turning to the production of other formulas and Similac. From restart, we estimate that it will take six to eight weeks before product is available on shelves. 4:28:51 Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY): Your testimony also mentions global supply chain challenges as a factor the company has had to contend with. What, if any, steps has Gerber taken to maintain its production and distribution supply? Scott Fitz: Thank you for the question. Certainly, our industry is not immune to the global supply chain challenges brought on by the pandemic. We struggled with materials supply issues, intermittent materials supply issues, whether it be ingredients or packaging components, we struggled struggled with the material quality issues related to the pandemic, we've had transportation and logistics issues, just getting trucks and truck drivers available to move the products and supplies that we need. And we've had COVID related labor challenges and higher turnover than normal are all things that have impacted us. Through the course of the pandemic though we've we've resolved these on an ongoing basis, one at a time as they've come up. We are putting trying to put in more robust business continuity plans in place for critical components and ones that we know we will have challenges with in the future. 4:30:50 Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY): Did you not think the FDA should be notified or at least aware of your struggle? Scott Fitz: Should FDA be aware of our struggle? Rep. Tonko: Yeah, should you have shared those concerns for supply chain? Scott Fitz: If it could help, we would certainly be willing to do that. Yes. Rep. Tonko: What should you have told us during the last year? Scott Fitz: Well, as I testified, the issues that have come up for us, we've been able to resolve. Through the last six months our in-stock rates have averaged 86%. 4:35:55 Chris Calamari: On the horizon, we see in the manufacture of infant formula agricultural oils are absolutely essential, paper is absolutely essential, the cost of fuel to supply and distribute the product is essential. So I would call out those key elements ranging from agricultural oils to the cost to deliver the product would be the biggest areas of focus. 4:41:42 Robert Cleveland: We reached out and spoke to the USDA almost immediately seeking flexibility, for example in the size format. And while that sounds small, it's very significant because what that means is the WIC consumer doesn't have to look for one particular size of product at the shelf. They can find any size of the shelf to fulfill their their benefits with and that's allowed us to continue production and step up to meet the requirements of those consumers. We've since worked with the USDA to find a number of other ways to flexibly administer the program, because really, the focus for the WIC consumer is the same as the others, making sure she has safe access to formula and doesn't have to compete with non-WIC consumers to get it. So the more sizes, the more formats, the more manufacturers that the program can support, the more likely she is to have her needs met. 4:47:35 Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA): The baby formula industry in our country is really unique in that about 90% of the product is made right here in the United States. And the vast majority is made by your three companies [Abbott, Gerber, and Mead Johnson]. And so it should be no surprise that when something goes wrong, like what happened in Sturgis, it really rocks the whole industry and the facility in Sturgis is responsible for 40% of Abbott's formula on the market and makes up about 20% of the total formula on the market in the US, and that is really significant, especially when this year Similac has the contract with WIC. 5:10:40 Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA): Okay, the supply chain issues, is that because some of the ingredients were coming from other countries? Chris Calamari: Representative, yes, so global supply chains are such that we have ingredients coming from global sources and that is the nature of our supply chain. 5:19:29 Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO): Let's say my daughter, who has a six-week-old baby, called me up and said, “I need to get some formula for my baby. And my store shelves are bare.” What can we tell them between now and all of the emergency measures we put into place to start putting formula on the shelves? Who should they call? Where can they go to try to get some of this limited product right now? What's the practical suggestion? Robert Cleveland: It's very unfortunate that you have to answer that question or ask that question, but let me do my best to answer it. I think the shelves — the reality is they don't have anywhere near the product that they do. So one of the things I've often said during this crisis is it takes a village to raise a child. In this case, sometimes it's taking a village to find infant formula. So the first thing to do is work with your network of family and friends, and as they go to the stores, look for the product that's there. And I've seen many mothers and grandmothers and fathers and cousins doing this on the shelf. You can call our Consumer Response Center. Now to be fair, those folks are doing a phenomenal job of fielding waves and waves of calls. But we will help you if you call. That's one other resource. The physician's office is another. Sometimes they do have the samples that are required, and they can help transition between finding product on the shelf. And then I would be sure to look online as well as in-person at the store and be open to other formats. Many mothers and fathers have a particular type of format they like. You may need to be more flexible in the format that you use. But all infant formula regulated by the FDA is safe for your infant, whether it's a liquid or a powder or what size it's in. And so I would say shop widely. See your doctor or enroll your family friends, give us a call if you need to, and be flexible. THE INFANT FORMULA CRISIS May 25, 2022 Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Witnesses: Ginger Carney, Director of Clinical Nutrition, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Sarah Chamberlin, Executive Director, National PKU News Michael Gay, Owner and Manager, Food Fresh Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy, Consumer Reports Linkedin Clips 32:29 Michael Gay: WIC's rigid rules have made it difficult for the program to be responsive to critical shortages throughout the pandemic and now during the formula crisis. Substitutions may be easily available when situations like this arise. The emergency waivers instituted by the USDA during the pandemic have provided flexibility in some states, but those waivers were only available because of the pandemic. To prevent this issue from happening in the future, Congress should allow WIC vendors operating during severe supply shortages, disasters or public health emergencies to automatically substitute limited WIC approved products impacted by supply chain disruptions. The USDA should direct states to include product substitutions for WIC in their emergency preparedness plan. These changes would have allowed families to immediately switch to another formula in states with shortages allowing for smooth continuation of feeding infants. 33:27 Michael Gay: Secondly, there's a significant need for USDA to examine the long term effects of cost containment, competitiveness and peer grouping formulas for WIC vendors. States operate a peer group system to monitor vendor prices and determine reimbursements are cost competitive. These cost containment measures have led to reduced retail embursement and reduced retailer participation in the program, leading to fewer locations for families to access formula. 33:55 Michael Gay: WIC infant formula cost containment measures have led to extreme consolidation in the formula marketplace, leaving it highly vulnerable to supply disruptions like we are experiencing now. These contracting policies must be reviewed to ensure future food security of the nation's babies and families. 41:50 Brian Ronholm: The evidence suggests that the agency was too slow to act, failed to take this issue seriously, and was not forthcoming with information to parents and caregivers. The infant formula crisis exposed a greater structure and culture problem that has long existed FDA. This was merely one symptom of the overall problem, and it is clear that confidence in the food program at the FDA is eroding. A big reason for this is the food program has second class status within FDA, and it's resulted in serious problems. The FDA also lacks a single, full-time, fully empowered expert leader of all aspects of the food program. As you know, in recent decades, most FDA commissioners have been medical specialists who naturally focus on the programs impacting medical products. This is certainly warranted considering the impact these programs have on public health. And the pandemic is a perfect example of this. However, this usually results in intense competition for the commissioner's time and support and focus on the food program is typically what has suffered under this dynamic. It has become impossible for an FDA commissioner to possess the bandwidth to provide leadership and accountability to a set of offices that regulates 80% of our food supply. 51:45 Ginger Carney: I would want to warn parents not to make homemade formulas — the American Academy of Pediatrics warns against that — they should not dilute the formula, as both of these situations can lead to disastrous results and lead possibly to hospital admissions. 56:40 Brian Ronholm: Splitting out the food safety functions of the agency as it exists now and creating separate agencies while still remaining under the HHS umbrella would be an effective approach that would get to the issues that I think everyone has become aware of during this crisis. 59:32 Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT): We now have 15 agencies at the federal level who deal with some form of food safety, the principal ones are USDA and FDA. It should be one single agency! 1:06:30 Michael Gay: In a rural area such as ours, probably 85-90% of my formula is WIC formula, which is just down to one type of formula. So even like today, for example, or my truck Monday, I got about 20 cases of Gerber formula in a different variety, but that's not approved on what and the Georgia WIC office just approved some substitutions for formulas that were, you know, prescribed by the doctor with the contract formula. So therein lies the problem is there's no easy way to substitute that for the customer. 1:23:29 Brian Ronholm: Four companies that control 90% of the market and only three of them actually bid on WIC rebate contracts. Abbott is by far the largest one and I believe they have contracts in 30 or 31 states, I think it was the latest figure. So when those contracts come up, these companies submit based on their ability to meet the demand in a particular state, and Abbott is usually the only one that's big enough to do that. We mentioned that they have a large part of the market, I think when it comes to the WIC market, they have approximately 55 to 60% of the WIC market. So that's a significant size of the market that it really needs to be examined so when situations like this hit, how does it impact that particular….And it's obviously going to have a bigger impact because these companies use the WIC market to get into the overall non-WIC market to even increase the share of their market, so that creates further shortage problems. 1:40:35 Ginger Carney: One thing that we really haven't talked about is the WHO code for marketing breast milk substitutes. And that's what these formulas are, they're breast milk substitutes. So if we look at the WHO code in other countries, other developed countries are abiding by the WHO code and this gives guidelines for how companies can market their infant formulas in a safe way. So maybe we should go back to that and think about what is it about the WHO code that would benefit all of our families in the country so that they are assured when they do have to reach for infant formula when breastfeeding cannot be an option or will not be an option? What are the things that are marketed directly to our families that tell them about the formula? 1:44:20 Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL): Half of all US formula consumption goes through the WIC program, which provides free infant formula as we've been talking about today, where states negotiate bulk discounts in exchange for market exclusivity. Now, I'll take you back to 1989 when Republican President George Bush enacted legislation requiring all state WIC programs to use competitive bidding for the purchase of infant formula. In practice, this means that the state of Florida for example is required to use a single supplier for the entire state supply of WIC baby formula. The competitive bidding process has yielded $1.3 billion to $2 billion a year in savings and allowing WIC to serve about 2 million more participants annually because of the discounts. However, when there's a supply shock caused by one of the four market participants, like what happened with Abbott in this case, it creates a serious risk to infant health across the country. 1:48:00 Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL): We know that in Europe, they consistently produce a baby formula surplus. But there are rigid labeling and nutritional requirements for formula containers here in the US that the FDA requires and they prohibit the sale of many European-made products, even though the formulas themselves meet FDA nutritional and purity standards. So what sort of policy changes would you like to see undertaken to ease restrictions on baby formula imports, while still ensuring that the product meets our safety standards? Brian Ronholm: Yeah, I think it's critical that we maintain those safety standards that FDA has set on infant formula, that's absolutely critical. There's a comfort level with consumers when they're able to purchase something that they know is an FDA inspected facility overseas. But to your point, sometimes these regulations, these really strict regulations are thinly disguised trade protection measures. And so you know, that's certainly an issue that we'd have to examine carefully to make sure that we can have that access. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

11:24 - Commanders: breakdown of a wild day for the Commanders in their workplace-misconduct scandal that featured major reveals by Congress' House Committee on Oversight and Reform, a congressional hearing at which it was announced that Dan Snyder is being subpoenaed, a letter from Dan and Tanya Snyder and Jason Wright to Commanders employees and a statement from Ron Rivera 38:43 - Guest: Neal Mollen, a lawyer who practiced labor and employment law for three-plus decades and is an adjunct professor at George Mason's Antonin Scalia Law School, on what now for Dan Snyder now that he is being subpoenaed and much more off the second congressional hearing on the Commanders' workplace-misconduct scandal 01:02:43 - Nationals and Orioles: analysis of the Nats' 7-0 rain-shortened six-inning loss at the O's from each team's perspective, including a monster game for Austin Hays, another bad game for Patrick Corbin and another good game for Tyler Wells https://HelloFresh.com/Galdi16 and use the promo code Galdi16 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices