The U.S. House has passed the Destruction of Hazardous Imports Act (H.R. 2715), kicking it up to the Senate.
The bill was advanced out of a subcommittee in May, passing with a 43-0 vote in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. On 20 July, the bill passed quickly in the U.S. House of Representatives after roughly 40 minutes of debate.
The bill would allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to destroy any food, drug, medical device, tobacco product, or cosmetic that is refused admission “if the item presents a significant public health concern,” according to a summary of the bill.
This marks the third time the bill has been submitted to the House by U.S. Representative Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) and Representative Troy Carter (D-Louisiana).
“American fishermen shouldn’t have to pay the price when bad actors bring contaminated and counterfeit products to the U.S.,” Carter said in a social media post.
During the House hearing on the bill, Carter said under current law, foreign exporters can ship contaminated or counterfeit products to the U.S., knowing they can always withdraw the shipment if the FDA flags it as problematic.
“They can then try to enter it through a different port, where it may not be caught, a practice known as port shopping. This undermines our food and drug safety systems,” he said.
The bill would also make it illegal to move any article that the FDA found was a potential threat to public safety and slated for destruction.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Representative Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky) also supported passage of the bill, saying it would strengthen the FDA’s enforcement authority over counterfeit and illicit products.
Seafood was a central part of the push behind the bill, and Carter said some seafood imports had been discovered to have been contaminated with carcinogenic drugs, pesticides, and “other harmful impurities.”
Higgins said the bill was originally crafted to address seafood imports but it would also close other loopholes.
“The House is prioritizing the health and safety of the American people by ensuring that predatory foreign actors are not offloading harmful products at our ports,” Higgins said. “Our bill empowers the FDA to destroy contaminated products, a necessary step to ensure radioactive seafood and counterfeit goods are not reaching American consumers. We are protecting the American people and domestic industry.”
The Southern Shrimp Alliance has pushed for passage of the bill. The alliance frequently puts out reports on the state of shrimp imports to the U.S., pointing out imports that were refused due to unauthorized contaminants or other issues. Under current law, those imports were allowed to be re-exported.
“On behalf of the U.S. shrimp industry, the Southern Shrimp Alliance thanks Congressmen Clay Higgins and Troy Carter for tirelessly working to get the Destruction of Hazardous Imports Act passed in the House,” Southern Shrimp Alliance Executive Director Blake Price said in a release. “Thousands of commercial fishermen working in the Coastal South have made their voices heard in the halls of Congress, and we hope that the Senate will follow suit, enacting commonsense, practical legislation that eliminates an undisputed vulnerability in our existing food safety laws.”
