The Biden Administration blames everyone but itself for everything going wrong in the country today, from inflation to the baby formula shortage. The Wall Street Journal today walks through all of the distortions the federal government has imposed on the baby formula market, which includes trade restrictions on imports from Europe:
America’s baby-formula shortage illustrates how bigger government can make big business bigger, thereby limiting competition and choice. This is especially worth noting as Democrats push to expand entitlements and government control over the private economy with Medicare for All, free child care, universal pre-K and more.
But the story gets worse. Yesterday a White House press spokesperson blamed Abbott’s baby formula for the deaths of two infants. Abbott has responded appropriately on Twitter—here’s the unrolled thread:
At the White House press conference today, the Press Secretary mistakenly said that our formulas were tainted and killed two infants. The deaths of these infants are a tragedy. 🧵 [1/11]
The facts, however, are critical: A comprehensive investigation by Abbott, FDA and CDC found no evidence that our formulas caused infant illnesses. Specifically… [2/11]
CDC concluded its investigation with no findings of a link between our formulas and infant illnesses.
We conduct microbiological testing on products prior to distribution and no Abbott formula distributed to consumers tested positive for Cronobacter or Salmonella. [3/11]
All retained product tested by Abbott and the FDA during the inspection of the facility came back negative for Cronobacter and/or Salmonella. No Salmonella was found at the Sturgis facility. [4/11]
The Cronobacter sakazakii that was found in environmental testing during the investigation was in non-product contact areas of the facility and has not been linked to any known infant illness. [5/11]
Genetic sequencing on the two available samples from ill infants did not match strains of Cronobacter in our plant. Samples from ill infants did not match each other, meaning there was no connection between the two cases. [6/11]
In all four cases, the state, FDA, and/or CDC tested samples of the Abbott formula that was used by the child. In all four cases, all unopened containers tested negative. [7/11]
Open containers from the homes of the infants were also tested in three of the four cases; two of the three tested negative. The one positive was from an open container from the home of the infant, and it tested positive for two different strains of Cronobacter sakazakii… [8/11]
…one of which matched the strain that caused the infant’s infection, and the other matched a strain found on a bottle of distilled water in the home used to mix the formula. Again, neither strain matched strains found in our plant. [9/11]
The infants consumed four different types of our formula made over the course of nearly a year and the illnesses took place over several months in three different states. [10/11]
The formula from this plant did not cause these infant illnesses. [11/11]
Good for Abbott for fighting back against the reckless White House.
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