Wally Olson on The Great Egg Recall
Reason Contributing Editor Walter Olson, who works at Cato and blogs at Overlawyered, weighs in at The New York Times about the great egg recall of 2010:
Advocates cite the current outbreak, at last report limited to two related Iowa egg farms, as reason to enact pending legislation that would intensify federal regulation of food-making in the name of safety. Large food and agribusiness companies have generally signed off on most of the new proposals as acceptable. Many smaller producers, on the other hand, suspect there will be less room for them, and for local variety generally, in this reassuring new world of business and government cooperation.
Olson notes that 2008's Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, aimed at protecting kids from tainted toys, had just that effect. "Big Toy," notes Olson, was able to handle the regs easily and is doing fine (even though they were responsible for the imports that raised concern). Small boutique vendors were and are screwed.
