Summary in seconds: President Biden’s response to baby formula shortage, whether it be a glitch in the supply chain or a crack in our system, Abbott’s facility fiasco, failures of the FDA, disparities even in shortages, monopolies of formula production and distribution, WIC program, and the Republican-suggested solution to formula shortage.
On June 1st, 2022, President Joe Biden emerged from a 50-minute virtual meeting with five baby formula manufacturers at the White House. In an attempt to address the deepening public concern regarding the formula crisis, the President said, “I don’t think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of the Abbott facility.” The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, attempted to “clarify” the President’s remarks by stating that the administration was aware of the situation since “Day one of the recall” of Abbott products in February, even if the President was not alerted until later.
Listening to the President struggle to explain the baby formula crisis made me wonder, how could this happen in the United States? Was this merely a glitch in the production-supply chain, or was it an alarming sign of cracks in the system?
Layers of Poor Oversight, Failed Policies, and Lack of Accountability
1. The Story of the Abbot Inspection and FDA Failure:
In October 2021, a whistleblower filed a complaint with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) citing concerns regarding regulatory violations and lax practices at Abbott’s Michigan facility. Months later, in February 2022, the FDA arrived at the Michigan plant to investigate the whistleblower’s claims, Later, in written testimony, the FDA revealed that hard copies of the whistleblower report were not forwarded from their mailroom to FDA leadership until February 2022.
After the inspection, the FDA commissioner Robert Cliff, during his sworn testimony before a House subcommittee about the baby formula shortage, described the Michigan plant as “egregiously unsanitary.” He reported bacteria growing in multiple locations in the facility, cracks in key equipment, leaks from the roof, standing water, and a previous citation for inadequate handwashing. Mr. Cliff noted that the inspection results were shocking. Top of Form
The FDA found five different strains of Cronobacter at the facility, a bacterium that can cause dangerous blood infection. The FDA revealed that four infants who consumed powdered formula from Abbott’s Michigan plant became ill, were hospitalized with Cronobacter infections, and that two of them later died. In February of this year, Abbott Laboratories, the maker of popular baby formulas, closed the Michigan facility and recalled its infant formula products. Abbott denied any link between its formula and the reported Cronobacter illnesses.
The closure of the Michigan plant exacerbated the problem of baby formula shortage, which was already suffering from the pandemic-related supply-chain problems. Additionally, Abbott’s recall of its infant formula products instigated panic buying and hoarding, making formula shortages even worse all over the country.
2. Disparity in the Baby Formula Shortages:
The baby formula crisis was not equally distributed across American families. The shortage disproportionately impacted poorer families, such as black mothers who live at or below the poverty level. They are more likely to return to work sooner than white mothers and often have jobs with less flexibility, which does not allow them time to pump and express milk for later use by their black babies. According to a 2019 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breastfeeding rates for black babies are lower than for white babies.
Adding to this disparity is the distribution of baby formula created by the WIC program. Almost half of the baby formula in the US is provided through the WIC program, which aims to help low-income women, infants, and children. Half of the babies benefiting from the WIC program receive their formula from Abbott plants. With the states granting exclusive contract rights for formula provided by the WIC program, any product shortages would leave families in affected states scrambling to find formula to feed their babies.
3. US Baby Formula Monopolies Have Failed Families:
In a recent letter to the Agriculture Secretary, a group of senators said, “The infant formula industry has reached an alarming level of corporate concentration.” Decades of market consolidation in the US have resulted in only four companies (Abbott, Perrigo, Nestle SA, and Mead Johnson) controlling 90% of the US supply of formula. This level of market concentration leaves little flexibility when something goes wrong, as the current shortages are a frustratingly illustrated. Furthermore, the role of the WIC program in creating state-level formula monopolies has made it hard it difficult for other brands to break into the market.
Unchecked market dominance, coupled with WIC contracts and heavy FDA regulations, has created an industry where “entry barriers are too high” and “competition is too great” for new formula makers to have a chance.
4. How to Be Part of the Problem:
In an attempt to solve the issue, a few Republicans suggested that the shortage problem is stemming from the Biden administration sending baby formula to feed undocumented immigrant babies at the Mexican border. In a rebuttal to these claims, The New York Times reported that the amount of baby formula purchased for migrants is “statistically equivalent to zero in terms of market share.”
Throughout my preparation of this article, I kept asking myself “why would babies in the richest and most powerful country in human history suffer from malnutrition and even die from hunger?” I do not know the answer, but I really wish it was just a glitch in the production-supply-chain not an invisible crack in the system of our republic.
Sources:
Cronobacter: is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria, that have been linked to cases of infection specially among powdered infant formula users. The infection is generally non-life-threatening among adults. However, in infants the infection is linked with neonatal bacteremia, meningitis, and necrotizing enterocolitis with a high case fatality rate.
US baby formula shortage, why is there a baby formula shortage in the US, and what can parents do?
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Biden says he wasn’t alerted to baby formula shortage until April. Companies knew ‘from the beginning.’
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* This article was previously posted on May, 2022 in my earlier blog “My Islam”