Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called out the alleged corruption that led to the Trump administration's "calamitous" response to the cyclosporiasis outbreak.
In a Thursday letter, Warren slammed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration's handling of "the biggest outbreak of cyclosporiasis in U.S. history" and questioned if changes leading up to it had to do with political contributions made by Taylor Farms, the company whose lettuce allegedly spread the parasite.
"The Trump administration's systematic dismantling of the food safety system has hampered the federal government's ability to prevent, identify, and respond to the latest outbreak," she wrote. "Deep funding cuts forced the CDC's Parasitic Division to slash staff responsible for tracking and identifying parasites like cyclospora."
She also pointed out that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center was forced to close and relocate despite being a research hub with two labs that investigate cyclospora, as well as 3,500 personnel cuts at the FDA. However, she was concerned that the policies were fueled by corruption as well as incompetence.
"If these changes were motivated solely by ideology, it would reflect a dangerously bad set of policies by the Trump administration," Warren wrote. "But the specter of corruption — and quid pro quo politics — casts a darker shadow over these actions, particularly if political contributions from Taylor Farms' parent company may have influenced policy changes that subsequently endangered millions of Americans."
She noted in the letter that Taylor Fresh Foods "donated millions to political organizations aligned with the President, including more than $1 million directly to MAGA Inc., and has hired a former Trump White House official to lobby on its behalf." The donations came less than a week after the Trump administration's change to food traceability rules.
"These investments appear to be closely timed to favorable regulatory actions — decisions that were good for Taylor Farms," Warren wrote. "Decisions that were good for Taylor Farms, but appear to have increased the risk of food safety problems like the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak."
