[gumby]

> How can our government be failing us so miserably? Ensuring that our food is safe and properly labeled should be the most basic duties of a government.

In the United States food is regulated by the Department of Agriculture. Its FDA regulates food and drug safety. The rest of it works with farmers to increase production and ensure food is produced in volume at the lowest cost.

I think you can see the problem here :-(

We have the same problem at the Department of the Interior which regulates open space and its use and takes care of maximizing the land's economic value (i.e. grants mining and other extractive uses like grazing on public lands).

At least the interior department got free drugs and sex from oil company employees while as far as I can tell the ag department doesn't get that kind of "in kind" industry encouragement: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html

PS: Interior is also responsible with relations with the various tribes, which hasn't worked out too well for them either.