Book description
On World Food Day in October 2008, former president Bill Clinton
finally accepted decade-old criticism directed at his administration's
pursuit of free-trade deals with little regard for food safety, child
labor, or workers' rights. "We all blew it, including me when I
was president. We blew it. We were wrong to believe that food was like
some other product in international trade." Clinton's public
admission came at a time when consumers in the United States were
hearing unsettling stories about contaminated food, toys, and medical
products from China, and the first real calls were being made for more
regulation of imported products. Import Safety comes at a
moment when public interest is engaged with the subject and the
government is receptive to the idea of consumer protections that were
not instituted when many of the Clinton era's free-trade pacts were drafted.
Written by leading scholars and analysts, the chapters in
Import Safety provide background and policy guidance on
improving consumer safety in imported food, pharmaceuticals, medical
devices, and toys and other products aimed at children. Together, they
consider whether policymakers should approach import safety issues
through better funding of traditional interventions-such as regulatory
oversight and product liability-or whether this problem poses a
different kind of governance challenge, requiring wholly new methods.
"In recent years consumers have been buffeted by one worry
after another. Is the pet food they buy safe for their animals? Are
the toys they purchase safe for their children? As public debates over
product risk have become more important, we've discovered a surprising
fact: the safety of imported goods isn't just a matter of writing
rules. Import Safety is a must-read for anyone trying to
understand how governments-and consumers-can negotiate the globalized
world."-Donald F. Kettl, Dean of the School of Public Policy,
University of Maryland
Cary Coglianese is Deputy Dean of Penn Law, Edward B. Shils Professor
of Law, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Penn Program
on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania. Adam M. Finkel is
Fellow and Executive Director of the Penn Program on Regulation at the
University of Pennsylvania. David Zaring, also with the Penn Program on
Regulation, is Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics
at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Visit the Penn
Program on Regulation Import Safety web site for contributor bios and
other details.
