SAXTONS RIVER — I have a friend who says that until she met me she never worried about anything. Now she worries all the time. I assure her that is a good thing. After all, I tell her, there is so much to worry about these days we need all the worriers we can get.
I've been a worrier all my life. Maybe it comes with my Jewish genes. When I was a kid I worried about getting polio. As an adolescent I worried about losing my best friend or never having a boyfriend. When I was a student I worried about my grades, and when I started working I worried about not excelling. Then I got married and had kids - now there's a way to realize just how much there really is to worry about.
Gradually my worrying took on larger proportions. I started agonizing over the state of the country and then the world, so now I worry about everyone else's kids in addition to my own. Here, on their behalf, are just a few things I've been losing sleep over lately.
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• The FDA. I've known for a long time that our Food and Drug Administration isn't exactly the safety net we would like to think it is. In 1980 I served on an FDA Consumer Consortium in Washington, D.C., and I've known since then that it is a deeply flawed federal regulatory agency.
But it was less than reassuring to read in the New York Times recently that a former FDA lawyer testified to Congress that his past employer was “barely hanging on by its fingertips.” Other experts have revealed that the agency lacks the resources and skilled staff, including scientists, to carry out its mission. This is especially troubling to learn when we are increasingly aware of myriad tainted products, especially pharmaceuticals, coming from Chinese factories that aren't exactly up to snuff.
According to the Feb. 3 Times editorial, at the rate it's going, government investigators say it would take the FDA “13 years to inspect every foreign drug plant exporting to the U.S., 27 years to check every foreign medical device plant and 1,900 years to inspect every foreign food plant.” Is it any wonder I can't stop worrying?
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• GMOs. Related to FDA oversight is the issue of genetically modified foods. Deborah Whitman, an expert on this issue, points out three main areas of concern: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns. She says studies have shown that there can be unintended harm to other organisms from genetically modified organisms, thus setting off a chain of events that could alter our environment.
In terms of our health, new allergens may be created (think how scary it is when your kid is allergic to nuts or bees), while in general “introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health.” Economically, consumer advocates worry that patenting new plant varieties will raise the price of seeds, thereby squeezing small farmers and Third World countries out of the market.
Here's what another expert, Nathan Batalion, told Americans for Safe Food in 2000: “We are confronted with what is undoubtedly the single most potent technology the world has ever known [...] yet it is being released throughout our environment [...] with superficial or no risk assessments - as if no one needs to worry about its unparalleled powers to harm life as we know it - and for all future generations.”
Well, Mr. Batalion, for what it's worth, I'm plenty worried.
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• PBS. Since I believe that feeding our souls is equally important as nourishing our bodies, I am also worried about the latest threats to seriously cut federal funds for public broadcasting. Lest you think I am rehashing that old petition circulating on the 'net, readers should be aware that the Bush Administration recently proposed in its budget to cut half the $400 million already allocated to public broadcasting by Congress for FY 2009. The administration wants to see further cuts in 2010 and 2011. Additionally, the administration wants to cut funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and has refused, once again, to finance arts education programs.
Now, I don't know about you, but one of the things that soothes my tired mind when I'm worried is watching a great program on public TV, seeing a fine live performance, or reading a good book. Producing and sharing such works takes money, and in today's economy, individual donors just aren't going to be able to make up the shortfall. What's more, arts education for kids is deeply important. After all, only in our own creativity can we not fail, and learning to appreciate creativity in others is a way of understanding the wider world.
So is it any wonder I worry all the time? (And I haven't even mentioned my fear of flying, fascism or formidable signs of global warming.)
At least my kids called home today. There is that - and the hope that there are enough worriers out there that I can take an occasional day off.