PASSED: Food and Drug Standards

[Mark Tom and Travis]

This proposal came out of a pool cue? Or was it in queue?

No matter, it's at vote now, and something tells me the upcoming debate will lead many ambassadors to knock down the Thessadorian Ambassador's door. If she's smart, she'll have it steel-reinforced.

edit: dammit, wrong nation again! This is Kenny.

[Puppetwank]

edit: dammit, wrong nation again! This is Kenny.

That's OK, it happens to me all the time. This is Yelda.

[Buchanan-1]

How do we pay for this? You need something in the proposal on how this will be paid for.

[Bears Armed]

Borrin o Redwood looks at a copy of the proposal under vote _

Food and Drug Standards
A resolution to reduce income inequality and increase basic welfare.

Category: Social Justice
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Greenlandic People

Description: OBSERVING the poor or irregular quality control in the food and drug industries of many nations

BELIEVING that such poor quality assurance in business endangers the consumer’s health and living standard

SEEKING to establish a firm system of quality control and standards in these industries and eliminate unsanitary and unethical food production

Hereby:

REQUIRES member-states to regularly inspect their quality control facilities in order to ensure that they are performing to the established international standards

DEMANDS that all food and drug products produced in member states must undergo safety and quality screening before being released to the consumer market

CREATES the World Assembly Food and Drug Regulatory Agency (WAFDRA)

CHARGES the WAFDRA with the responsibility to ensure that the food and drug regulatory agencies of member-states are performing satisfactorily; also to gradually implement reforms to the quality regulation authorities of member-states

MANDATES that such reforms shall include:
(A)The creation of a quality grade system by which all food and drug products shall receive a grade marking their relative level of quality and safety

(B)The establishment of forfeits for any businesses that attempt to evade safety standards upon their products; the nature and degree of such forfeits being left at the discretion of the WAFDRA and the establishment of appropriate legal consequences should any quality control facilities be found to be failing in their duty to assure the quality of the products they are charged with inspecting

(C)The creation of a team of WAFDRA inspectors who shall visit product inspection facilities on an annual basis or earlier upon the request of the committee in order to determine if they are still performing adequately to the standards of the WAFDRA

(D)The creation of an overall international standard to which all inspection facilities in member-states shall be measured against; also the creation of international standards by which to measure the safety of food and drug products

ASSERTS that in nations where there is no system of quality control the WAFDRA shall work with the national government to eventually establish such agencies

EMPOWERS the WAFDRA order the closure of any food and drug regulatory facilities that are found to repeatedly fail to succeed in ensuring the quality of the products being inspected; the closure shall be carried out by national law-enforcement

ORDERS that food and drug products being sold must bear upon them a label certified by the WAFDRA which clearly displays the quality grade that the product has been given by national quality-inspection facilities

NOTES that producers and vendors of de minimis quantities of food and drugs shall be exempt from the above clauses so long as they post visible notice at their place of sales that they are not operating under international standards

"A resolution to reduce income inequality and increase basic welfare? Excuse me, please, but where exactly is the aspect of this proposal that would 'reduce income inequality'?"



(OOC: As I pointed out during the drafting stage, this proposal doesn't fit the designated Category's requirements. It therefore should never have been allowed to reach this stage, but I couldn't be bothered to report it myself [as far as I can recall...] -- because I don't really care much about the WA, most of the time, these days -- and evidently nobody else did anything about it either. Oh well, you've already got the resolution about dealing with epidemics that was classified as 'International Security' but that doesn't really say anything within its description to meet the requirement that proposals in that category increase police/military budgets...)

[Omigodtheykilledkenny]

OOC: As I pointed out during the drafting stage, this proposal doesn't fit the designated Category's requirements.

Which is a pretty bitchy reason to oppose something. If you disagree with the category, you speak up (or file a GHR) before it goes to vote. You know that. Then again, if you "don't care...about the WA" enough to report an "illegal" proposal, why the hell did you bother posting here?

[Arkinesia]

In spite of what may be incorrect categorization, Arkinesia's government unanimously supports this resolution. We encourage all nations to vote in favor of this resolution.

Only bit of concern isn't much really, but just a clarification: why would the committee mentioned in Mandate (C) be needed? If there is already an annual inspection, well, I'd venture to say that's often enough. Seems like a needless expense to have the committee mentioned above.

[Bears Armed]

OOC: As I pointed out during the drafting stage, this proposal doesn't fit the designated Category's requirements.

Which is a pretty bitchy reason to oppose something.

OOC: I'm not "opposing" it, any more, I'm out of this thread from now on (and probably out of the Assembly as a whole, too), anyway.

[If you disagree with the category, you speak up (or file a GHR) before it goes to vote. You know that.

I 'spoke up' in this thread, hoping that that would be enough to get the author to do the right thing. When he didn't, I decided to leave it for anybody who cared more about the WA/GA nowadays to notice the fact and do something... but apparently nobody did.

[Then again, if you "don't care...about the WA" enough to report an "illegal" proposal, why the hell did you bother posting here?

Today was less of a "don't care" day than some of them... and I posted here so that people could take the fact of its technical 'illegality' into consideration when voting, of course...

[Glomeland]

Today was less of a "don't care" day than some of them... and I posted here so that people could take the fact of its technical 'illegality' into consideration when voting, of course...

OOC: I have to admit that I just really don't care about the category/strength anymore. As long as it's "close" to being in the right category that's good enough for me and I could care less what strength it's submitted with. I only look at the RPed effects and how well it is written. The gameplay stats changes don't even figure in to my thought process. *shrugs*

[Qumkent]

OOC: As I pointed out during the drafting stage, this proposal doesn't fit the designated Category's requirements.

Which is a pretty bitchy reason to oppose something.

OOC: I'm not "opposing" it, any more, I'm out of this thread from now on (and probably out of the Assembly as a whole, too), anyway.

[If you disagree with the category, you speak up (or file a GHR) before it goes to vote. You know that.

I 'spoke up' in this thread, hoping that that would be enough to get the author to do the right thing. When he didn't, I decided to leave it for anybody who cared more about the WA/GA nowadays to notice the fact and do something... but apparently nobody did.

[Then again, if you "don't care...about the WA" enough to report an "illegal" proposal, why the hell did you bother posting here?

Today was less of a "don't care" day than some of them... and I posted here so that people could take the fact of its technical 'illegality' into consideration when voting, of course...

OOC. Oh but apparently you don't care anymore, so why are you even contributing this ? If you thought it was in the wrong category then you could have done something about it, but you didn't you waited till now instead ? Heh interesting.

[Greenlandic People]

OOC: I'm only going to make one comment on the proposal category.

The description for the Social Justice category specifically describes industry regulatory proposals as falling under social justice. I think that seems like a pretty clear message.

[Dreamy Boy Bands]

This just seems to have way too much bureaucracy.

Description: OBSERVING the poor or irregular quality control in the food and drug industries of many nations

On what are you basing this observation? Have you seen the standards or quality of food in "many" nations, or are you just assuming they are all bad? Are you telling me the quality in my nation is subpar, or am I okay? My problem with this is that what may look like terrible food to me and may smell rotten may in fact be perfectly healthy. Many ethnic and tribal foods that I couldn't imagine eating have been consumed for generations. To judge the quality in other nations may not be easily done by someone not from that nation, unless specific categories for food are established (like overall fat/salt content, etc). However, with that you are then judging food preference as much as quality, and as of right now the WA has no business telling anyone to eat less fatty foods or something not full of sugar. Plus, this resolution is already overflowing with red tape, can you imagine if the WA was charged with measuring the salt content of every meal in every member nation?

REQUIRES member-states to regularly inspect their quality control facilities in order to ensure that they are performing to the established international standards

C)The creation of a team of WAFDRA inspectors who shall visit product inspection facilities on an annual basis or earlier upon the request of the committee in order to determine if they are still performing adequately to the standards of the WAFDRA

Member nations are required to routinely inpect their facilities, and the WFDRA will be coming in atleast once a year to check them too? Is this much inspection necessary? I understand the need for food and drug quality, but if international standards are set that every member nation must adhere to is it not enough for the member nation to simply apply them and regulate them themselves? Not only that, but is this team intended to service all member nations, or do you mean that each member nation is required to establish their own team? If it is one WAFDRA team performing all these inspections in all member nations, it is absolutely impossible for thorough checks to be done on all facilities in all nations on an annual basis, especially with new nations joining everyday. To keep up your team is going to rival the size of some nations. Imagine the cost of this! If you intend for each nation to establish their own WAFDRA team, you should say that and then that again raises the issue of why the need for two sets of inspections. Would it not be enough then to leave the member nation's government out of it and have the WAFDRA team handle all inspections?

NOTES that producers and vendors of de minimis quantities of food and drugs shall be exempt from the above clauses so long as they post visible notice at their place of sales that they are not operating under international standards

Is this really necessary? A church bake sale was mentioned earlier in the thread. Are they required to post this notice? If they don't what happens and to whom do they answer to?

(B)The establishment of forfeits for any businesses that attempt to evade safety standards upon their products; the nature and degree of such forfeits being left at the discretion of the WAFDRA and the establishment of appropriate legal consequences should any quality control facilities be found to be failing in their duty to assure the quality of the products they are charged with inspecting

It is the mandate of the WA to punish individual businesses now? If the WA is going to go after anyone I would rather it be my government or government inspection agency than the guy who owns the shop.

The idea behind this isn't bad but it just seems like there is a ridiculous amount of bureaucracy involved. Some of it seems like overkill in maintaining a standard that hasn't been determined and would be difficult to set as opinions on what is acceptable would differ from one person/nation to another.

[Greenlandic People]

I regret that a few nations seem to have slight misunderstandings regarding this resolution, and I believe that the blame for this falls on myself for not wording this specifically enough.

On what are you basing this observation? Have you seen the standards or quality of food in "many" nations, or are you just assuming they are all bad? Are you telling me the quality in my nation is subpar, or am I okay? My problem with this is that what may look like terrible food to me and may smell rotten may in fact be perfectly healthy. Many ethnic and tribal foods that I couldn't imagine eating have been consumed for generations. To judge the quality in other nations may not be easily done by someone not from that nation, unless specific categories for food are established (like overall fat/salt content, etc). However, with that you are then judging food preference as much as quality, and as of right now the WA has no business telling anyone to eat less fatty foods or something not full of sugar. Plus, this resolution is already overflowing with red tape, can you imagine if the WA was charged with measuring the salt content of every meal in every member nation?

The grading system isn't grading quality as defined by taste, ambassador. It is defining quality as related to the safety and freshness of the ingredients produced. You can sell the most disgusting cake imaginable, as long as it's safe to consume, you'll get high marks. Further, the committee would naturally include exceptiosn into their rulings for foods that are produced or stored in ways that are not fully safe as defined by modern science.

Member nations are required to routinely inpect their facilities, and the WFDRA will be coming in atleast once a year to check them too? Is this much inspection necessary? I understand the need for food and drug quality, but if international standards are set that every member nation must adhere to is it not enough for the member nation to simply apply them and regulate them themselves? Not only that, but is this team intended to service all member nations, or do you mean that each member nation is required to establish their own team? If it is one WAFDRA team performing all these inspections in all member nations, it is absolutely impossible for thorough checks to be done on all facilities in all nations on an annual basis, especially with new nations joining everyday. To keep up your team is going to rival the size of some nations. Imagine the cost of this! If you intend for each nation to establish their own WAFDRA team, you should say that and then that again raises the issue of why the need for two sets of inspections. Would it not be enough then to leave the member nation's government out of it and have the WAFDRA team handle all inspections?

The WAFDRA inspectors are not to inspect every facility by traveling there in person and looking around. A simple list of data and some written feedback from the national official responsible for the quality of the facilities would be enough to ascertain whether or not the facility is a spectacular failure or not.

The idea behind this isn't bad but it just seems like there is a ridiculous amount of bureaucracy involved. Some of it seems like overkill in maintaining a standard that hasn't been determined and would be difficult to set as opinions on what is acceptable would differ from one person/nation to another.

The standard is to be determined before any other clause is executed, clearly. And how do you propose to devise a "hands-off" approach to food safety?!

Yours,

Sigismund Ibsen,
World Assembly Delegate of Lavinium

[Rustika]

i do not agree with the proposal because think about it if a company has to reach certain standards then technically all companies will have to pay more they don't already reach the standard, which will put smaller companies out of business, also because of the extra payments the companies will be forced to higher the prices of consumer goods and drugs making it more difficult for people who already have difficulty making ends meet. So the question should we deny less privileged people the freedom of cheap food, after all if you are struggling with taxes does it really matter if your food is 1 grade lower than another persons?

[Shtone]

i do not agree with the proposal because think about it if a company has to reach certain standards then technically all companies will have to pay more they don't already reach the standard, which will put smaller companies out of business, also because of the extra payments the companies will be forced to higher the prices of consumer goods and drugs making it more difficult for people who already have difficulty making ends meet. So the question should we deny less privileged people the freedom of cheap food, after all if you are struggling with taxes does it really matter if your food is 1 grade lower than another persons?

agreed. let people eat what they want. if a company puts out food that is truly bad quality then no one will buy it, therefore that company will go out of business. let the people of each country decide what food is edible and what food is not. there's no need for international food regulation.

where is the line drawn? hypothetically if this bill was to pass, would mcdonalds be in trouble? that would mean a lot of lost jobs and a huge dent in the global economy. either that or mcdonalds makes better quality food, resulting in raised prices and more slowly and carefully cooked foods, which kinda defeats the purpose of going to mcdonalds. just trying to figure out where the bill stands.

[Gobbannium]

i do not agree with the proposal because think about it if a company has to reach certain standards then technically all companies will have to pay more they don't already reach the standard, which will put smaller companies out of business, also because of the extra payments the companies will be forced to higher the prices of consumer goods and drugs making it more difficult for people who already have difficulty making ends meet.

On the plus side, your people stop dying quite so much.

[Rustika]

how do they stop dying if they cant buy food?

[The Cattle Pasture]

Why does the WA keep presenting resolutions that violate the sovereignty of my nation? Then when there is a decent resolution put forward to better the interaction between the nations the resolution fails.
.
Anyway, my key complaint with this resolution is the fact that it hardly mentions the drug aspect. As I understand it this resolution is primarily trying to make the food healthier without presenting any real standards. That is fine, I am sure the new WAFDRA will define what is good and what is bad. However, where do recreational drugs fit in here? I am not just talking about somebody smoking Marijuana, but what if I develop a sort of beer with THC in it. Since smoked marijuana is akin to cigarettes in relative health while THC has very little health risk. I am just wondering if this sort of recreational drug will be a problem.
.
Another flaw is what happens with testing products? Lets say I develop a medicine that will increase the clotting of blood, and reduce the risk of open wounds. How long does this drug have to be tested? There are many unseen factors: what are the immediate side effect, what are the long term effect, when should the drug be introduced to the market if no effects are found in the first year of testing. Finally what does delay of testing have on patented products. What does this resolution do with new drugs and food product?
.
Furthermore, my nation has added fluoride to the national drinking water, to aid in the health of the people. What does this resolution say about public water systems? Will the WAFDRA have to inspect my water treatment plants? And what happens if there is a burst pipe? How much piping does my national government need to replace it the burst pipe contaminate the water system? Does my nation pay for this replacement if the pipe is burst by a private company(accident or on purpose)?
.
The point is, I do not think an organization so far removed from the public should tell the people of Cattle Pasture what they can and can't eat. That assault on my peoples freedom will not be accepted by my government. This resolution should be stripped down to mandating that nutrient facts be provided on all products. Possible side effects provided on all products. And an inspection team to ensure the truth of these postings.
.
Until you can prove to me that only these few basics are provided without such a massive assault on my sovereignty, I vote against.

[Gobbannium]

Why does the WA keep presenting resolutions that violate the sovereignty of my nation?

We direct the honoured ambassador to the discussion of every single resolution the WA has ever debated. Bluntly, all WA resolutions that do not originate from the Security Council violate the sovereignty of your nation, by definition.

[The Altani Federation]

how do they stop dying if they cant buy food?

Perhaps your government could do something to address the fact people can't afford decent food in your nation, rather than letting food and drug purveyors shovel dangerous or deadly crap down their throats because it's cheap?

We support this.

-Irina Misheli, Ambassador

[Greenlandic People]

The honored ambassador from FASTERCAT has sent me a message asking me to vote against my own resolution, presenting several arguments as to why i should do this. Instead, I will use the letter (which contains nothing that need be kept private) to make a few points here on the forum:

Your Excellency,
I see a few problems with the latest WA resolution Food and Drug Standards and ask for your and your member nations AGAINST vote.

CREATES the World Assembly Food and Drug Regulatory Agency (WAFDRA)

"The establishment of forfeits for any businesses that attempt to evade safety standards upon their products; the nature and degree of such forfeits being left at the discretion of the WAFDRA"

..I have always held the opinion that it's better to offer rewards for compliance rather than threaten sanctions for non-compliance. It also appears that penalties could be wildly arbitrary, and given the many different political philosophies in this world, selectively harsh.

While I can do little to change the personal opinion of honored ambassadors, I would like to point out that it has always been the assumption of this world body that the gnomes serving on her committees carry out their duties to the best and most honest extent possible. In that spirit, the penalties levied would be fully reasonable, and need not even be monetary if the nation is question does not operate on a currency system.

"EMPOWERS the WAFDRA order the closure of any food and drug regulatory facilities that are found to repeatedly fail to succeed in ensuring the quality of the products being inspected; the closure shall be carried out by national law-enforcement"

Our Sovereign nations own law enforcement agencies will be at the behest of a world governing body.

And you can object and request a further examination...thereby making this argument null.

"NOTES that producers and vendors of de minimis quantities of food and drugs shall be exempt from the above clauses so long as they post visible notice at their place of sales

Exit competition. Enter inferior product

This one boils my blood with its foolishness. De minimis refers to food sold by small, unlicensed vendors such as hot dog stands and bake sales. To clarify it will do nothing, I repeat, nothing to impede competition in commercial sized, licensed food producers and sellers

Yours,

Sigismund Ibsen,
World Assembly Delegate of Lavinium

[Nhihm]

Frankly, I do not see the need for an international consensus on food safety except on exported foods. If it is local food that is grown, prepared and eaten within one nation, why is there a need for an international standard? Each country can decide for themselves how to regulate their public food safety. If this motion changes to only put an international standard on exported foods, I will be in favor, but as it stands, I am firmly against.

[Teaberry]

The most exhalted ambassador of Teaberry notes this proposal to be ill-categorised, but will weigh it on its strengths regardless.

There. Those are its strengths. No, my script does not contain an omission.

Exactly why does the World Assembly need to act as a consumer advocate? It is the sovereign right of each member state to regulate its own markets without interference.

Perhaps the World Assembly should go back to what it was founded to do, promote mutual trust and understanding rather than covertly seek to undermine our governments by removing their authority and replacing it with its own. A revised proposal regulating international markets (by giving member states the framework to enforce standards on imports and the responsibility of adhering to them on exports) would meet Teaberry's approval.

[The Altani Federation]

The most exhalted ambassador of Teaberry notes this proposal to be ill-categorised, but will weigh it on its strengths regardless.

There. Those are its strengths. No, my script does not contain an omission.

Cute. Unsubstantive, but cute. You get an adulterated brownie made without regard to safety standards for your effort. Try not to vomit too much after eating it.

Exactly why does the World Assembly need to act as a consumer advocate? It is the sovereign right of each member state to regulate its own markets without interference.

Blah blah blah natsov natsov blah blah. If that's the gist of your argument, good luck. You do know the WA overrides your laws, right?

Perhaps the World Assembly should go back to what it was founded to do, promote mutual trust and understanding rather than covertly seek to undermine our governments by removing their authority and replacing it with its own.

The World Assembly was created to build international law. That's it. You can debate whether or not this particular issue is international in scope (we think it is), but the WA was not founded to make us all sit around campfires and sing songs, sorry to break it to you. It exists to create a canon of international law.

A revised proposal regulating international markets (by giving member states the framework to enforce standards on imports and the responsibility of adhering to them on exports) would meet Teaberry's approval.

Regulating international markets how?

-Irina Misheli, Ambassador

[Qumkent]

The most exhalted ambassador of Teaberry notes this proposal to be ill-categorised, but will weigh it on its strengths regardless.

Honoured, respected, perhaps even revered or excellent, but Exhalted ? What an extraordinary honorific for an Ambassador, even a people as formal as the inhabitants of the CSKU would never imagine an Ambassador need be exhalted.

There. Those are its strengths. No, my script does not contain an omission.

Need we remind your Excellency that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

Exactly why does the World Assembly need to act as a consumer advocate? It is the sovereign right of each member state to regulate its own markets without interference.

One might just as easily ask why the WA should not act as a consumer advocate, especially since it has the ability to effect the lives of many more hundreds of billions of persons than a single national government is able to, introducing the highest standards for an unimaginably greater number of people.

Perhaps the World Assembly should go back to what it was founded to do, promote mutual trust and understanding rather than covertly seek to undermine our governments by removing their authority and replacing it with its own. A revised proposal regulating international markets (by giving member states the framework to enforce standards on imports and the responsibility of adhering to them on exports) would meet Teaberry's approval.

When was this mission your Excellency refers to the work of the WA ? In what document is this foundational preocupation instituted ?

Yours,

[Buchanan-1]

why is my question on funding being ignored?