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The testing would have started well before this outbreak if the administration hadn't postponed the rule change: > After several high-profile disease outbreaks

The testing would have started well before this outbreak if the administration hadn't postponed the rule change: > After several high-profile disease outbreaks linked to food, Congress in 2011 ordered a fix, and produce growers this year would have begun testing their water under rules crafted by the Obama administration’s Food and Drug Administration. > But six months before people were sickened by the contaminated romaine, President Donald Trump’s FDA – responding to pressure from the farm industry and Trump’s order to eliminate regulations – shelved the water-testing rules for at least four years. I don't understand how "it had never actually started in the first place" is relevant at all. There were plans to help address this problem, but those plans were delayed by the Trump administration.

turc1656 8y ago
"I don't understand how "it had never actually started in the first place" is relevant at all. There were plans to help address this problem, but those plans were delayed by the Trump administration." It's relevant because of a comment another user made here, which explains why the tests are not effective and would almost certainly have not resulted in catching this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536230 The full Tweet thread linked to in that comment provides more info but the base theme is that the tests are not an appropriate solution because spot checks would not catch events like this. https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1067096098194550784 https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/10670960981...
- lkbm 8y ago
  That might be relevant, but it's a completely different argument than you initially provided.
  - turc1656 8y ago
    That wasn't me who made the initial argument. In any event, the original comment was regarding journalistic misrepresentation. The comment I responded to brought up the issue of relevance given an apparent solution. My comment merely addresses the issue of relevance that was raised.
    - lkbm 8y ago
      > That wasn't me who made the initial argument. My apologies. I wasn't paying attention to the names.
pbreit 8y ago
It's relevant because the whole thing was just a timing issue, not some program that had been operating and was halted. The USA in its 242 years had never done such a thing. Further, since such testing had never been performed, there's little or no evidence that it would have been effective in this instance. And why the 5 year delay under Obama? This is precisely my point that people incorrectly blame anything and everything on Trump.

turc1656 8y ago

"I don't understand how "it had never actually started in the first place" is relevant at all. There were plans to help address this problem, but those plans were delayed by the Trump administration." It's relevant because of a comment another user made here, which explains why the tests are not effective and would almost certainly have not resulted in catching this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536230 The full Tweet thread linked to in that comment provides more info but the base theme is that the tests are not an appropriate solution because spot checks would not catch events like this. https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1067096098194550784 https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/10670960981...

lkbm 8y ago
That might be relevant, but it's a completely different argument than you initially provided.
- turc1656 8y ago
  That wasn't me who made the initial argument. In any event, the original comment was regarding journalistic misrepresentation. The comment I responded to brought up the issue of relevance given an apparent solution. My comment merely addresses the issue of relevance that was raised.
  - lkbm 8y ago
    > That wasn't me who made the initial argument. My apologies. I wasn't paying attention to the names.

pbreit 8y ago

It's relevant because the whole thing was just a timing issue, not some program that had been operating and was halted. The USA in its 242 years had never done such a thing. Further, since such testing had never been performed, there's little or no evidence that it would have been effective in this instance. And why the 5 year delay under Obama? This is precisely my point that people incorrectly blame anything and everything on Trump.