| U S Department of Transponation |
Assistant Secretary | 400 Seventh St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20590 |
Office of the Secretary of Transportation |
United States Senator
780 Third Avenue, Suite 2601
New York, NY 10017-2024 Dear Senator Clinton: Thank you for your letter of November 5, 2002, to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on behalf of your constituent, Mr. Charles Lake. Mr. Lake raised a number of concerns, including concerns related to sanitary food transportation. Your letter was referred to the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), the agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that issues and, with others, enforces the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR), Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 171- 180. The Sanitary Food Transportation Act (SFTA) requires the Secretary of Transportation to develop, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), HHS, and the Environmental Protection Agency, a program to protect food in transportation. In consultations with its sister agencies, DOT determined that the USDA and HHS, the Federal agencies having primary responsibility for the safety of the Nation's food supply, had adequate regulations in place to ensure the safety of food in transportation. In 1997, the Administration proposed transferring authority for SFTA to HHS. This proposal was resubmitted recently as part of the Administration's surface transportation reauthorization proposal, which was introduced as S.1072, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003. (Pages 163 to 165 of this PDF)
If Mr. Lake is aware of violations of the HMR. committed by trucking companies he should report the suspected violations to RSPA's Hazardous Materials Information Center at 1-800-467-4922. If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me or Patricia Klinger, Director of External Communications, at (202) 366-4831.
Samuel G Bonasso
Acting Administrator