The Wall Street Journal just published a story trying to shift the blame for the baby formula shortage from the federal government to Abbott Labs. Maybe Abbott is to blame for problems at their factory but if the story is true it’s proof that federal regulatory agencies knew about the problem since February 2021. They knew a full year ahead of time a critical baby formula shortage could be in the offing.
A complaint filed under the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s whistleblower-protection program by a former Abbott employee in February 2021 alleged a host of problems at the company’s Sturgis plant. They included failing equipment in need of repair and formula released without adequate evidence that it was safe for consumption, the person familiar with the matter said.
Details of the complaint offer a fuller picture of the timeline leading up to the shutdown in February 2022 of Abbott’s plant in Sturgis, which has contributed to a severe U.S. baby-formula shortage. Abbott and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already have come under fire in recent months for what lawmakers said was a slow response to problems in Sturgis, including allegations made in a subsequent complaint by the same person sent to the FDA in October 2021.
Labor Department officials provided the February 2021 complaint to Abbott as well as to the FDA that same month, according to the government official. Abbott submitted a formal response to the complaint two months later, according to the documents and the person familiar with the matter.
Abbott Received Former Employee’s Warning on Baby-Formula Plant Earlier Than Previously Known – WSJ
Who knows if the story is true because it’s all from anonymous sources. But if it is the FDA had this information a year ago and they certainly know how many baby formula factories exist in this country. They also know how their regulations keep competition out in order to keep prices high. This further proves the baby formula fiasco is an epic fail of federal government regulation run amok and an incompetent Biden Administration.