In late April, when parents and Republicans in Congress began sounding the alarm about the unacceptable scarcity of baby formula, I thought to myself, “Well, this is just another example of the compounding effect of the bad policies of this administration.”
But at that time, the facts had not come to light that this crisis is, in fact, another direct result of the mismanaged and misguided Biden presidency.
Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis plant supplied about one-fifth of all infant formula in the United States before it closed. Notably, the company also produced most of the formula for infants in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. That’s more than 43% of babies in the U.S. It is unfathomable that a facility this critical to the lives of our nation’s newborns can somehow slip through the cracks.
I am glad to see the Sturgis plant up and running again after closing due to heavy storms and severe flooding, despite knowing it could take a couple months for supply to hit store shelves. My heart especially goes out to those looking for specialty formulas. Our son, Sam, used a formula for sensitive stomachs. I understand how difficult it is to find the right formula for your child during a shortage. This is indeed a worst-case scenario for parents.
To ensure the Biden Administration is being held accountable, I believe it is important to break down, step by step, exactly how we got here.
In September of 2019, Food and Drug Administration inspectors found a handful of sanitary issues with the Sturgis plant but allowed managers to continue operating while they made necessary changes. The next inspection did not happen until September of 2021, two years later.
Around the same time, the FDA received a complaint of a child being hospitalized with cronobacter. On Dec. 1, the agency received a complaint of the death of a child. In January of 2022, they received a third complaint, this time of another hospitalized child. The FDA began a delayed follow-up inspection of the Abbott Sturgis plant Jan. 31. Meanwhile, the nationwide out-of-stock rate for infant formula was at 26%.
The agency received a fourth complaint on Feb. 17. Abbott announced a voluntary recall and hold of certain powdered formula produced at the Sturgis plant the same day. Extraordinary steps should have been taken then to avoid this crisis.
The FDA also received a whistleblower complaint, from a former employee at the Sturgis plant, in October of 2021, claiming the company maintained lax cleaning procedures, failed to take corrective measures, and released untested infant formula. But inspectors waited more than two months to interview them and another month to inspect the plant.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, we recently learned, from the Wall Street Journal, that a whistleblower actually came forward in February of 2021, nine months earlier than originally reported. If true, President Biden and his FDA must answer why these alarming claims were ignored.
There’s no doubt the recall, followed by the Sturgis plant closure, made an already growing problem become a crisis. Yet, it was foreseeable. There should have been more urgency. It should have been clear to the Biden Administration, in February at the latest, that we were going to have a problem. Unfortunately, this has become a pattern, a president focused on a woke, progressive agenda, while the basic functions of government are neglected.
One White House official made the excuse that their plate was full with “a million crises going on.” To me, that’s an admission that they took their eye off the ball, that they did not take the shortage seriously, and allowed it to worsen. Congress must get to the bottom of this failure and hold those responsible to account. But, in any case, the buck stops with President Biden. He must do better.
Original source can be found here.
