For His Work In Food Safety, Bill Marler Deserves A Spot In The Next Administration

There are times when a man would do well to win a certain job. And there are times when a job would do well to win a certain man.

The job of Food Safety Czar in this country would do well to win Bill Marler.

This country does not currently have a Food Safety Czar. It needs one. Someone to cut through the muck that swaddles numerous, discrete food-related government agencies. Someone with a history of going to bat for consumers, a successful history. Someone with a tireless passion for this work.

To the next President: If you intend to make food safety a priority, you'll want Bill Marler in your cabinet.

Who is Bill Marler?

Bill is a Seattle-based attorney who has been litigating foodborne illness cases for 15 years, since his landmark $15.6 million settlement with Jack-in-the-Box for its contribution to the widespread 1993 E. coli outbreak. Along with his partners at Marler Clark, he has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness in the US since - in the process making Marler Clark the nation's foremost law firm for foodborne illness cases.

In 1998, Bill and his partners spawned Outbreak, "a unique not-for-profit consulting company based on a radical notion: that the same lawyers who sue on behalf of victims of foodborne illness are best suited to help responsible companies with their food safety challenges."

Applying the logic in that last paragraph ... Why wouldn't the same lawyers who sue on behalf of victims of foodborne illness also be best suited to help responsible government with its food safety challenges? I think they would be. I think the next move for Bill Marler would be a spot in the next Cabinet ... as Secretary of a new Food Safety Administration.


"Our food supply needs to be safer and I can be an instrument of change. That's kind of how I use my blog."

One more thing, Bill Marler blogs. Boy, does he blog. Here's Bill talking about blogging: ¹


His recent blog entry, E. coli O157:H7 Is a Powerful and Deadly Bacterium, a brief history of E. coli contamination in this country along with workable solutions, exemplifies the talents he could bring to a future White House position.

Whoever takes up the task of comprehensive food safety in this country in the coming years, they would do well to reflect on Bill's solutions, that is, if the next Food Safety Administrator isn't Mr. Marler himself.
________¹ Maybe it's not a fair comparison, but I haven't seen FDA Commissioner Andrew Von Eschenbach, on his blog Andy's Take, being this open.