Public health officials launch electronic safety reporting program

When it's fully operational, public health officials say, a new website will give consumers and companies a one-stop shop for reporting all manner of things gone wrong with the food on our shelves and the pills in our medicine cabinets. The website, which is the brainchild of the public health agencies Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, will start off allowing people to report concerns over human and pet foods, pet medicines and some clinical trials. Eventually, the public health agencies say, the website will expand to include other products like human medicines. The website is called the Safety Reporting Portal. It launched last week and contains a wealth of medical information.

"The portal will be a key detection tool in improving the country's nationwide surveillance system and will strengthen our ability to protect the nation's health," said Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg. "We will now be able to analyze human and animal safety-related events more quickly and identify those measures needed to protect the public."

This is a good thing. Health care writers know something many people do not: The numbers of food products recalled each week over safety concerns is surprisingly high. Most of these public health announcements, which fill the email in-boxes of public health writers, never actually make it into the health news of the day. The recall may be due to undeclared nuts or sulfites or other common allergens, as opposed to a chemical or bacterial contaminant. Still, if you are allergic to the undeclared substances, the omission could be harmful or even fatal. And you have to wonder how many times there is a problem with a food or drug product that never reaches the ears of the appropriate public health agency because the reporting process is cumbersome. The new website is more user-friendly, though it could do more to empower consumers. Right now it is more geared toward industry representatives, though later updates are expected to give more reporting capability to regular consumers. It's a positive step in the right direction. The reporting categories are below:

* Reportable Food Registry: Companies will have a more user-friendly way to report problems with foods, as will public health officials who have reason to suspect a problem.

* Pets: Pet owners and veterinarians will be able to use the website to report problems with pet foods and treats.

* Animal drugs: Manufacturers can report adverse reactions to pet drugs.

* Clinical Trials: Researchers can more easily report problems observed during the research phase.

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