19 



House bill 1412 also gives authority to FDA to indiscriminately 

 remove a single company from the interstate certified shellfish 

 shipper's list. This type of legislation gives whistleblower power to 

 competitors. FDA could target and close single companies that 

 could not afford to defend themselves in court, even if an error had 

 occurred. FDA already has the power to close a company for prod- 

 uct adulteration or unsanitary conditions. However, once a compa- 

 ny is removed from the certified shipper's list, it could take months 

 to get through the red tape required to be reinstated. Most compa- 

 nies could not survive this financially. 



My own company was inadvertently excluded from this list sev- 

 eral years ago through a simple clerical error. We were unable to 

 proceed with business for more than two months. We had no re- 

 course for retribution. 



I would like to make these final comments concerning business 

 in general. Any business, particularly a highly perishable seafood 

 business, cannot survive even temporary closures. Also, no compa- 

 ny forced to sign a consent decree by FDA has been able to remain 

 in business for even one year. Many members of our industry have 

 already lost their heritage, their livelihood, and the future of their 

 families and their employees' families over minor discrepancies 

 that do not represent actual public health hazards. A prime exam- 

 ple is the policy of zero tolerance for listeria monocytogenes, a 

 microorganism commonly found in the environment, and which 

 has never been documented as causing a single seafood-associated 

 illness from domestic seafood. 



Since the negative media campaign against seafood and shellfish 

 began in 1987, our industry production has dropped more than 40 

 percent nationally, with a concurrent drop in price of 60 percent 

 and overall losses of more than half of their businesses. Hundreds 

 of processing plants have been forced to close, resulting in the loss 

 of countless jobs. 



President Clinton has committed to increase jobs in this country. 

 Putting companies out of business for reasons which have no real 

 or widespread public health significance puts people out of work. It 

 is the small family businesses like ours which provide most of those 

 desperately needed jobs. 



The FDA and other agencies should not base their mission on ex- 

 panding their power to more easily close American businesses, but 

 should strive to work more closely with States and industry to help 

 solve any existing or potential problems. 



In view of the above facts and concerns, the shellfish Institute of 

 North America cannot support House bill 1412. I thank you again 

 for allowing me the opportunity to present some of my industry's 

 views. 



[The statement of Mr. Morgan can be found at the end of the 

 hearing.] 



Mr. Manton. Thank you, Mr. Morgan. That concludes the testi- 

 mony, and we will proceed with questions for our witnesses. 



Ms. Foster, if I may pose this question, it is my understanding 

 that currently NMFS has authority to close water only in emergen- 

 cy situations for 90 days. What mandates an emergency situation, 

 what measures can be taken to indefinitely close certain waters to 

 harvesting? 



