This baby formula thing is
kind of puzzling, isn’t it?
Families with young children have been faced with empty shelves when they shop for their formula for the little ones, and many have gone to here and there, and to everywhere, to try and get the formula.
According to news reports, In mid-February, Abbott Laboratories, one of the country’s largest producers of baby formula, recalled many of its powdered formulas made at its Sturgis, Mich., plant after four consumers complained about bacterial infections in infants who had consumed those products.
Later in the month, Abbott Labs expanded the recall to include some other of its formulas based on a fifth complaint of a bacterial infection.
Moving into March, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) probe of Abbott’s Michigan facility found harmful bacteria on the surface of some areas near infant formula production. It also reported that the company did not have a control system covering all stages of processing to prevent microbe contamination.
However, tests that were later done on the recalled products did not definitively show that any illness was linked to the company’s powdered baby formula products.
In April, major civilian retailers, including Target and Walmart, put purchase limits on baby formula as Abbott Labs cut production of the powdered formula products.
In mid-May, the company announced that it could restart production at its Michigan facility within two weeks following approval from the FDA …
However, the company also said that it would take six to eight weeks for the product to hit the shelves after the resumption.
The House Oversight Committee announced that it planned to investigate the shortage. It has communicated with the four largest U.S. manufacturers of baby formula — not only Abbott, but also Mead Johnson Nutrition, Nestlé USA and Perrigo — seeking information.
Most recently, on May 16, Abbott Labs reached an agreement with the FDA on the steps needed to resume production at its Michigan plant, and in the meantime, the FDA said to try to make up for the continued shortage, the U.S. will allow imports of infant formula from foreign makers that do not usually sell their products stateside.
This whole situation is as bizarre as it comes, in particular when it came to light that pantries at the U.S./Mexican border, where many come into our country illegally, are fully stocked with formula.
Why is that? Are we trying to demonstrate to these people what a welcoming country we are, but doing it at the expense of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens?
And then, we have Hollywood chiming in, as it always seems to do, with the likes of Breast … err … Bette Midler stating that if formula is not available, “let them breastfeed,” which being the woman that she is, she should know is not an option for many American women.
In fact, that is precisely the reason why they are using formula, because they physically can’t—or don’t want to—breastfeed.
With a woman’s choice front and center in the news now with the abortion debate on full throttle, you would think that big mouths like Midler and the other Hollywood elite would support a woman’s right to choose, whether it is to abort a fetus or feed her child the way she wants to, but I guess that is over some people’s heads.
In fact, there is greater demand at facilities that gather breast milk now, as many women have resorted to using actual breast milk from other women to feed their children, but the jury is still out on the efficacy—and overall safety—of feeding your child someone else’s breast milk.
Yes, this entire situation is kind of strange, isn’t it?
I guess when you allow certain companies like Abbott to have a monopoly on production of formula, this was going to happen sooner or later.
And I feel that it is all tied into the after-shocks of the pandemic.
Things just are not right more than two and half years into the pandemic.
Things are awry, nothing works like it used to work, and yes, I don’t think worker production—including quality and pride in one’s job—exists anymore.
Checks and balances are at best glanced over, and not enforced, and it is bad enough when it happens at, let’s say, your local post office or the corner pizza parlor, but when it happens with something so essential as baby formula, people stand up and take notice.
But like I said, it was probably going to happen sooner or later anyway, so now, our legislators must make sure that it never happens again.
But leaving it all up to these legislators—who have proven to be wholly incompetent to begin with—is asking a lot.
Families with young children have been faced with empty shelves when they shop for their formula for the little ones, and many have gone to here and there, and to everywhere, to try and get the formula.
According to news reports, In mid-February, Abbott Laboratories, one of the country’s largest producers of baby formula, recalled many of its powdered formulas made at its Sturgis, Mich., plant after four consumers complained about bacterial infections in infants who had consumed those products.
Later in the month, Abbott Labs expanded the recall to include some other of its formulas based on a fifth complaint of a bacterial infection.
Moving into March, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) probe of Abbott’s Michigan facility found harmful bacteria on the surface of some areas near infant formula production. It also reported that the company did not have a control system covering all stages of processing to prevent microbe contamination.
However, tests that were later done on the recalled products did not definitively show that any illness was linked to the company’s powdered baby formula products.
In April, major civilian retailers, including Target and Walmart, put purchase limits on baby formula as Abbott Labs cut production of the powdered formula products.
In mid-May, the company announced that it could restart production at its Michigan facility within two weeks following approval from the FDA …
However, the company also said that it would take six to eight weeks for the product to hit the shelves after the resumption.
The House Oversight Committee announced that it planned to investigate the shortage. It has communicated with the four largest U.S. manufacturers of baby formula — not only Abbott, but also Mead Johnson Nutrition, Nestlé USA and Perrigo — seeking information.
Most recently, on May 16, Abbott Labs reached an agreement with the FDA on the steps needed to resume production at its Michigan plant, and in the meantime, the FDA said to try to make up for the continued shortage, the U.S. will allow imports of infant formula from foreign makers that do not usually sell their products stateside.
This whole situation is as bizarre as it comes, in particular when it came to light that pantries at the U.S./Mexican border, where many come into our country illegally, are fully stocked with formula.
Why is that? Are we trying to demonstrate to these people what a welcoming country we are, but doing it at the expense of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens?
And then, we have Hollywood chiming in, as it always seems to do, with the likes of Breast … err … Bette Midler stating that if formula is not available, “let them breastfeed,” which being the woman that she is, she should know is not an option for many American women.
In fact, that is precisely the reason why they are using formula, because they physically can’t—or don’t want to—breastfeed.
With a woman’s choice front and center in the news now with the abortion debate on full throttle, you would think that big mouths like Midler and the other Hollywood elite would support a woman’s right to choose, whether it is to abort a fetus or feed her child the way she wants to, but I guess that is over some people’s heads.
In fact, there is greater demand at facilities that gather breast milk now, as many women have resorted to using actual breast milk from other women to feed their children, but the jury is still out on the efficacy—and overall safety—of feeding your child someone else’s breast milk.
Yes, this entire situation is kind of strange, isn’t it?
I guess when you allow certain companies like Abbott to have a monopoly on production of formula, this was going to happen sooner or later.
And I feel that it is all tied into the after-shocks of the pandemic.
Things just are not right more than two and half years into the pandemic.
Things are awry, nothing works like it used to work, and yes, I don’t think worker production—including quality and pride in one’s job—exists anymore.
Checks and balances are at best glanced over, and not enforced, and it is bad enough when it happens at, let’s say, your local post office or the corner pizza parlor, but when it happens with something so essential as baby formula, people stand up and take notice.
But like I said, it was probably going to happen sooner or later anyway, so now, our legislators must make sure that it never happens again.
But leaving it all up to these legislators—who have proven to be wholly incompetent to begin with—is asking a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.