change.gov Comment

All:

I placed the following comment on the Obama team's web site, change.gov:

"I am a small businessman who supported Barack Obama and Joe Biden. I am in the business of making medications and water conditioners to keep fishes alive and healthy. Our small company (7 employees) makes over 100 different products that are distributed world-wide. Over the past 8 years with the passage of the MUMS act (Minor Use Minor Species act) our entire industry has suffered under the burden of having, after about 30 years, to put chemical products intended for aquarium fishes (the so called "ornamental" fishes) through essentially the same process manufacturers must do for species intended for human consumption. The FDA has, wisely, not really started enforcing the requirements of the MUMS act. It is my hope that the new administration will take another look at this act and conclude that the requirements are burdensome for small businesses and move to reign in the FDA for future actions.

My company has been in the forefront of innovation of aquarium drugs and chemicals since the early 1970s, We have weathered (1) the Nixon administration's attempt to pare down the aquarium hobby/industry by restricting the importation of aquarium fishes into the US to 23 freshwater species, (2) the Regan administration's "pay to play" plan whereby manufacturers with EPA registered products had to essentially pay for the EPA's activities by paying yearly fees resulting in a drastic drop in registered products essential to not only the aquarium and aquaculture industries, but to just about every industry in the US, and (3) under the Bush administration the MUMS act has now been put in place to further burden the aquarium industry. "

For those of you with an interest in seeing the aquarium hobby/industry stay healthy I encourage all of you to also make your thought and ideas known to the Obama/Biden transition team.

==JFK==