Kevin’s Law and Open Congress
Just watched Food Inc. While there was a lot to take in from the movie, the most moving story was that of Barbara Kowalcyk whose 2-year-old son died from eating a hamburger that was tainted with E-coli. After years of legal investigation it was revealed that the producer recalled the meat that caused her son’s death 2 weeks after his death.
Being a parent of a 2-year old this really hit home. I cannot imagine the heartbreak and frustration associated to her experience.
As a result of Kevin’s death a bill was introduced to congress in 2005 focused on protecting, “…public health by clarifying the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to prescribe performance standards for the reduction of pathogens in meat, meat products, poultry, and poultry products…” Needless to say the bill has not yet passed.
A quick Google search drove me to the bill (H.R.3160) on the Open Congress website.
From the website I was able to not only read the bill, but a wide variety of activity, including:
• Show my support
• Write my representative
• Subscribe to bill updates
• Create a widget
• Post a comment
• Contribute to a bill related wiki
• Read news and blog coverage
• See what representative support and oppose the bill
It is inspiring to see that technology can provide us with not only the ability for more transparency to the process, but with the ability to give scale to the voices of citizens. I truly hope that in this case it makes a difference.
