It turns out that peanut company has a history of problems, but see if you can notice something interesting here:

As far back as 2007, salmonella-laced products were shipped by a Georgia peanut company that knew the peanuts probably were tainted and sometimes after tests confirmed that contamination, inspection records show.

Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could make it harmful to consumers’ health.

Food and Drug Administration officials earlier had said Peanut Corp. of America waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanuts that initially were positive for salmonella. But the agency amended its report Friday, saying that the Blakely, Ga., plant actually shipped some products before receiving the second test and sold others after confirming salmonella.

In 2007, the company shipped chopped peanuts on July 18 and 24 after salmonella was confirmed by private lab tests, the FDA report said. Peanut Corp. sold products “on or after the positive salmonella results were obtained.”

[SNIP]

Problems at the plant are not new. FDA inspectors found in 2001 that products potentially were exposed to insecticides, one of several violations uncovered during the last visit federal officials made before the current food-poisoning scare, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press.

So they had problems in 2001, Bush’s first year in office (and we don’t know exactly when, so it could have been when Clinton was President), but then the government didn’t check up on them again. They had problems in 2007, but it seems as though the government acted out of some sort of good faith. Now Bush is out of office and we find out this place is killing people.

Thankfully President Obama has ordered a full review of the FDA. We had so many problems under Bush when it came to food safety that it has to be more than just a case of bad luck. If it does turn out that people were dying because George Bush wanted to be the buddy with industry, then he should be charged with negligence in all the deaths and illnesses this lack of oversight has caused. Of course that would mean going against the Republican motto of “screw the people, save the corporations”.