FDA Rant - Pipes for inspection!!!

[briarblues]

Good Day All;
Please excuse this rant.
I now have two packages of new pipes that are being "detained" by FDA for "inspection". 8 pipes from Radice and 7 from Castello. 1 shipped by UPS, the other Fed Ex. Both are commercial shipments, and under $2000.00, thus need only an informal entry for customs. Both were held by the carriers for size and valuation and now by FDA. While frustrating, it is also a tad humorous.
Follow me on this …..
With FDA having "control" over everything tobacco related, which I guess includes, matches, ash trays, pipe cleaners and the like, they also have " control" over foods. Does this mean that plates, flat ware, dinning tables, table clothes etc are now also under FDA, and require inspection at US entry?
I am stunned, amazed, shocked, and disappointed, and at the same time, shaking my head in disbelief.
Regards

Michael J. Glukler

 

[woodsroad]

Directing this missive to your elected officials might prove entertaining.
On another note: I have never encountered shipping inspections when sending regular post. Using a commercial carrier is a crap shoot.

 

[mso489]

This is the first I've heard of FDA inspecting anything pipe related. How did you get notice of this? Were these shipped from overseas? FDA doesn't have inspectors to look at raw meat or chicken houses. It's a little hard to imagine them peering down the bowls of pipes. Do you have some kind of official communication about this? 'Sounds like a prank, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised at anything.

 

[mikethompson]

I feel like I am rapidly heading to the age where nothing surprises me anymore

 

[briarblues]

woodsroad - somehow I doubt any Canadian elected official would care. I have all overseas shipments land in the US, as it is usually much easier to clear through Canada customs by hand. Next time though … from Italy to Canada, direct. NO more FDA for me.
mso489 - notification came from both carriers in their tracking information. Both shipments began in Italy.
mike - man I hear that!!!!!
Regards

Michael J. Glukler

 

[homewaters]

Fingers and toes crossed!

 

[briarblues]

Just received an email. The Castello's appear to have been " accepted". No idea on the Radice's.
MJG

 

[cortezattic]

I'm wondering what it is they're inspecting for? What do they expect to find?

 

[snagstangl]

I'm guess used glass pipes? Or how would those glass pipes cost that much unless thier is something else in there.

 

[woodsroad]

My guess is that even the FDA doesn’t know what they are looking for. They’re just using the powers granted them by Congress. Use ‘em or lose ‘em.

 

[thomasw]

My guess is that even the FDA doesn’t know what they are looking for.....

Yes, that is likely the truth. This kind of search and seizure is a clear indication of abusive governing.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Sounds like this absurd has happened somewhere on the European Union soil.

 

[iajaffe]

I am in the medical industry and know your pain. I currently have a shipment of contacts (pins) from the US to China on hold with customs for 80 days. No recourse. No updates. No plan for release. No one to talk to about the reason for hold. Just on hold. This shipment worth a few hundred dollars is holding up our production of ten of thousands of dollars which is holding up the end users hundreds of thousands of dollars. For no reason. The customer will miss two quarters worth of sales. Un-freaking-believable.

 

[woodsroad]

You need to start trans shipping via a trade-neutral country

 

[briarblues]

Just received a tracking email from UPS. Appears the Radice pipes are now back with UPS in Louisville. I am assuming ( and we all know what that suggests ) the pipes cleared FDA.
Regards

Michael J. Glukler

 

[woodsroad]

Glad to hear it, Michael.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's not just foods and tobaccos. Those of us who use torches figured out a few decades ago that instead of buying a tank for oxygen, we could just use an oxygen-concentrator, used by people who need to use oxygen masks all the time. So, these are medical devices that require a prescription. When we first started buying these things from people who were upgrading to newer oxy-cons, we soon learned that you can't just buy one from somebody and start using it for whatever you wanted. They were FDA regulated machines. The FDA saw it as being in the same vein as someone buying someone else's pain pills and using them. Many were seized from welders and metal workers, many were arrested. Still today, you have to have a specialized medical dealer declare an oxy-con as no longer a medical device before you can use it to weld with.