Panel: Give FDA power to recall

More power to the FDA. A presidential panel is set to recommend giving the agency the authority to recall products all by its lonesome. It would be a sea change; now, the FDA can only pressure companies to voluntarily withdraw their wares. The advisory committee--convened in response to the spate of toy, pet food, and toothpaste recalls--would also give the FDA power to cut off imports from companies that won't pony up all of their production info.

The recommendations are just that unless and until Congress takes action. And some say they don't go far enough; for instance, they don't call for "trace back," or a system to follow the production chain to find where contaminations occurred. Others said they'd be worthless unless adequately funded, and as we know from recent reports of overseas inspections, there's not much precedent for backing up power with pennies.

- read the report from CNN
- check out the article from the Wall Street Journal

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