You seem to approach this from the point of view that all of the moral authority is some kind of a smoke screen for the ‘real’ beneficiaries of the lobbying, which are large corporations behind those with apparent ‘moral’ authority. I won’t deny that that occurs in some cases.

However, there is every reason to think that companies with quality products would embrace a certain amount of regulation to keep the ‘bottom feeders’ with unsafe products out of the market altogether. The reason is simply that sometimes, if you have a bad enough player, an entire business sector will end up being hurt by a couple of bad apples. So sometimes a whole sector will want to have better and increased regulation.

Dr. von Eschenbach [of the FDA] believes the agency can achieve its goals through voluntary guidelines. But the fresh-cut produce industry, hit hard by outbreaks in recent years, has been virtually begging for stronger intervention.
Tom Stenzel, president and chief executive of the United Fresh Produce Association, said the industry’s problems “can’t be solved without strong mandatory federal regulations.”
But after seven years of discussions about food safety advice on the farm, the agency has issued only voluntary guidelines; not even hand-washing is mandatory. After the E. coli outbreaks last year, sales of bagged spinach dropped 60 percent in October. Today sales are still down 20 percent.

http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2007/05/15/a...

You seem to approach this from the point of view that all of the moral authority is some kind of a smoke screen for the ‘real’ beneficiaries of the lobbying, which are large corporations behind those with apparent ‘moral’ authority. I won’t deny that that occurs in some cases.

However, there is every reason to think that companies with quality products would embrace a certain amount of regulation to keep the ‘bottom feeders’ with unsafe products out of the market altogether. The reason is simply that sometimes, if you have a bad enough player, an entire business sector will end up being hurt by a couple of bad apples. So sometimes a whole sector will want to have better and increased regulation.

Dr. von Eschenbach [of the FDA] believes the agency can achieve its goals through voluntary guidelines. But the fresh-cut produce industry, hit hard by outbreaks in recent years, has been virtually begging for stronger intervention.
Tom Stenzel, president and chief executive of the United Fresh Produce Association, said the industry’s problems “can’t be solved without strong mandatory federal regulations.”
But after seven years of discussions about food safety advice on the farm, the agency has issued only voluntary guidelines; not even hand-washing is mandatory. After the E. coli outbreaks last year, sales of bagged spinach dropped 60 percent in October. Today sales are still down 20 percent.

http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2007/05/15/a-good-question/