After Abbott, a major manufacturer of baby formula located in Sturgis, Michigan issued a safety recall in February, the Food and Drug Administration stepped in and closed the plant. This caused a crippling domino effect on the nation’s supply of formula.
There are only a handful of suppliers, but apparently no one at the FDA contemplated what consequences their actions would bring.
“They do recalls all the time without shutting the facility down,” says William Marler, a lawyer specializing in food-safety cases. “They could have recalled the product without shutting down the facility.”
Worse yet, FDA officials knew as early as February that their actions could potentially lead to a crisis, yet they did nothing.
This ineptitude resulted in supply dipping to 43% below normal, according to Datasembly, which tracks product data for retailers. Parents have desperately been searching for formula so their babies won’t starve to death. The logical place to look is Eurpoe, the world’s largest producer and exporter of the product.
Problem solved. Buy it online, right? Except the FDA didn’t let parents do that.
Parents trying to purchase directly from Europe had hundreds of dollars of formula seized by U.S. customs agents. It’s been reported customs agents have been destroying formula at the border. Why let babies starve instead of allowing the European formula in? The FDA says it’s because the product doesn’t meet their labeling requirements.
Meanwhile, US baby formula, where it does exist, is being packed, shipped and stockpiled at the US border with Mexico in preparation for an influx of immigration.
When you review these events alongside what else is going on at the FDA, including efforts to crush vaping, ban menthol cigarettes, and demonize smokers, you get a clearer picture of what this bureaucracy has become: untrustworthy, inept, and hopelessly lost. They’re so distracted in their efforts to stop you from smoking or vaping that they’ve dropped the ball on preventing a completely preventable food shortage.
FumaClub 