Opinion: Emergency spending bill won't help

The shortage of baby formula in stores across the U.S. has been in the news recently, and trying to get to the “root cause” of the problem has caused me some puzzlement.

My local newspaper informed me that “millions of babies in the U.S. rely on formula, which is the only source of nutrition recommended for infants who aren’t exclusively breastfed.”

After blaming the onset of the problem on supply chain shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I learned that in February of this year, formula producer Abbott Nutrition recalled several of their major brands. They also shut down one of their plants after the federal government began investigating four babies who contracted bacterial infections after using formula from this facility.

Since only a few manufacturers produce most of the baby formula in this country, the recall created the empty shelves one sees at markets across the country.

Let me assure readers that I love babies, my own and anyone else’s that I happen to meet in my daily wanderings. But whenever I read stories like the above it always causes me to wonder how, out of millions of babies who consume formula, it is possible to find the four infants whose usage could cause a plant shut-down that caused the other millions of babies to go without.

Just as a statistical matter, it seems as though many more than four cases would have presented themselves to investigators.

In an effort to resolve the problem, the House Appropriations Committee, led by Democrat Rosa DeLauro, proposed an emergency spending bill that would address the shortage. According to an AP article by Kevin Freking, “The funding would increase FDA staffing focused on the formula shortage to boost inspections, prevent fraudulent products from getting onto store shelves and acquire better data on the marketplace, lawmakers said.”

DeLauro additionally called out the FDA for a failure to demonstrate any sense of urgency to address safety concerns at the Abbott plant. Freking also noted that, “Federal regulators reached a deal this week to allow the company to restart the Michigan plant, but Abbott said it will take eight to ten weeks before products begin arriving in stores.”

As usual, the funding provided will do nothing to actually assist the plant in fixing the problem. Rather, it will provide more inspectors, data gatherers and supervisors who will hopefully help the FDA with their sense of urgency as to safety concerns in baby formula plants.

A final point: Waiting till May, more than two months after shut-down, to reach a deal that would allow Abbott to re-start is unacceptable.

Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:

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