Thompson resigns HHS with poisoning message

Former Wisconsin governor sends a few parting warning shots on food terrorism while leaving a history of conflicting interests on more common poisonings


Thompson on the road again

For several years we lived within a few miles of the state of Wisconsin where departing Department of Health and Human Services chief Tommy Thompson was then the governor. Ours was Minnesota's Jesse Ventura. A fine, entertaining pair they were, both often providing reporters with wild, quotable stories.

The wildman lived up to his reputation yesterday at his resignation conference by issuing this disturbing threat assessment (as reported by the Washington Post):

"The big one is pandemic flu," Thompson said. He said the avian flu known as H5N1 has such "huge lethality" that the World Health Organization has estimated 30 million to 70 million people could die worldwide if a pandemic breaks out. "And we do not have a vaccine," he said. "We do not have a therapy for H5N1."

He said an arm of HHS, the National Institutes of Health, "is working on a vaccine," but that he remains "very concerned about pandemic flu because we're not prepared for it." He said such an outbreak "is a really huge bomb out there that could adversely impact on the health care of the world."

Thompson said he also worries constantly about food poisoning.

"I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," he said. "And we are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that."

Although inspections of food imports have risen sharply in the past four years, "it still is a very minute amount that we're doing."

Bravo, Tommy. Poisoning matters when the issue can be framed with terrorism. But what about the everyday poisoning experience throughout our country, particularly by poor children, who are forced to live in environments polluted by lead and pesticides -- at the insistence of the powerful chemical lobby? It's easy to find lots of good sources on how Thompson and the Bush Administration have been rife with conflicts on these matters. Here is a quote from an October 27 Orbis column:

More recent studies have indicated that even at levels below 10 micrograms/deciliter, learning problems in children can be demonstrated. In this context, about two years ago, Jean Carnahan and a group of other senators began pressuring the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tommy Thompson (a Bush appointee) to lower the lead standard form 10 to 5 micrograms/deciliter. At the time, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention was in general agreement.

However, before formal action could be taken by the CDC, Thompson nominated three industrialists to the Advisory Committee. Joyce Tsuji of Exponent (whose clients include a lead smelting company), Sergio Piomelli (who opposed lowering the lead standards in 1991) and William Banner (who provided written testimony on behalf of the lead industry in a recent Rhode Island law suit). While the pro-industry anti-public health agenda is now clear, the public remains unaware of this back door method of influencing CDC decisions.

Enjoy your Harley ride into the sunset, Tommy.