Every year, America sees 76 million cases of foodborne illness, costing the country about $152 billion in lost work days, doctors' visits, and medications. This year alone, the U.S. saw 85 food recalls, including 550 million salmonella-tainted eggs.

Yet despite our obviously crippled food safety system, Oklahoma's Senator Tom Coburn refuses to support legislation to protect consumers' health, saying that it will cost the country too much money. If passed, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to issue mandatory recalls and conduct more frequent inspections of food production and processing sites. It would also take irresponsible food producers to task for their failure to protect consumer health.

Coburn says he will not back S. 510 unless Democrats figure out a way to pay for it. His lack of support threatens to crush any chance the legislation has of passing this year. Sign our petition asking Coburn to take Americans' health and safety seriously and support S. 510.