The bill he said might reduce the ability of the government to consider and weigh all necessary regarding what is the best interest of public health and safety.
He added that people who are significantly affected by the bill did not have an opportunity to comment on the measure.He said that from the reading of the committee reports, none were submitted by policy making level officials of the prior administration or by consumers of businesses.He added that the bill also go far beyond what is actually necessary to meaningfully safeguard public health and safety.The president in his referral letter recommended amendments to the bill one of which is that the provision saying that “Director of the Bureau of Public Health Services or his designee may ban the importation and sale of any canned, bottled or packaged foods or medicines that have been identified as being questionable sanitary condition or dangerous for human consumption by the United States Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization or other internationally recognized organization addressing food, drug and consumer safety.”The other changes Toribiong wants is that any business or establishment offering for public sale any canned, bottled or packaged foodstuffs or medicines not labeled in English or Palauan.He said the bill should require that the English and the Palauan translation should be affixed in the item.The measure will empower the Director of Bureau Services to ban importation and sale of food or medicine reported to be dangerous for human consumption.Senate Bill No. 8-9 intention is to expand the authority of the director to respond to dangerous products contained in food and drug products.It s goal is also to improve the ability of the Palauan government to inspect and destroy questionable products.The bill said that under the current law the director has no explicit authority to ban importation of food and medicine considered to be hazardous.“In many regions, it has been common practice for expired or potentially unsafe products to be fed to livestock that is then slaughtered and sold for human consumption,” the committee report said.It added that though it was safe before it is now in fact hazardous to public health.The bill also expand products that should be disposed, it includes those products with no expiration date.The bill also requires all canned, bottled, or packaged foodstuffs to be labeled in English or Palauan.Non-prescription medicine medication offered for sale should be also labeled in English and should include, name of drug, active ingredients, dosage and storage directions.
