As America begins to sort through the finger pointing and blame, it seems that we may be wise to look to European standards instead. David Nelson, a Congressional investigator, recently told the House panel that had the F.D.A. inspected the Chinese plant a disaster of this magnitude could have diverted. Perhaps we should demand tighter regulations on the nation’s drugs, medical devices, and food.

The New York Times recently added that the F.D.A. officials have admitted they mistakenly failed to conduct an inspection of the Changzhou SPL plant, but said that an inspection would not have been able to uncover the contamination, the Times goes on to add that the agency finally conducted an inspection of the facility in February and found so many problems that the F.D.A. blocked the plant from exporting to the United States.

Errors such as these show a degree of laxation that has proven to be mutually devastating for both the people of this country and the F.D.A. With the advent of social media and blogs, every individual has the potential to become the “David” to “Corporation Goliaths.” To effectively address the issue of competency in the minds of their consumers companies may have to put the pressure on regulatory policy in Washington, something we are not likely to see anytime soon.