From Team AOC <[email protected]>
Subject Baby formula crisis: Explained
Date May 24, 2022 7:41 PM
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[ [link removed] ]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress




This weekend, Alexandria hosted an Ask Me Anything session on Instagram
where someone asked about the baby formula shortage. 

So, we wanted to take a moment to share via email what’s going on and how
we ended up here. 

First, we want to acknowledge that this has been a scary event for
families with newborns. We see you.

Before we get into how we got here, is there a solution or end in sight for
the baby formula shortage? 

Yes, help is on the way. This week, the White House authorized “Operation
Fly Formula,” which means that the U.S. is working with allies to begin
imports of baby formula that meet U.S. safety standards to make up for the
current shortage.  

The first shipment of over a million bottles just arrived from
Switzerland.

The White House also invoked the Defense Production Act last week to
kickstart domestic production as well. In addition, the House passed a $28
million baby formula shortage bill despite 192 Republicans voting against
the bill (only 12 supported it).^1  

But, it’s important that we understand HOW we got here and how this
happened to prevent it from happening again. 

So what happened here?

In short, corporate monopolies are a major reason behind the baby formula
shortage. 

Did you know that the ENTIRE U.S. infant formula market is controlled by
just three or four companies? 

That means that if something happens to one supplier, the entire supply is
crippled. And that’s exactly what happened. This is actually a growing
structural problem within huge parts of our food system overall, but it
hit infant formula in a big way. 

Here’s how it went down:

One of those companies, Abbott Labs, had long been warned by the FDA about
increasingly dangerous conditions in their formula factories that were
endangering the safety of U.S. infant formula supply. 

However, while Abbott produced a huge portion of U.S. infant formula,
infant formula was only a tiny percent of their revenue (less than 5%). So
they didn’t really pay as much attention, investment, or care to their
formula business. It wasn’t their moneymaker. 

Abbott let their factories get worse, FDA inspections continued to show
flags, and whistleblowers came forward stating Abbott was falsifying their
records and ignoring consumer reports that babies were getting sick. 

In February, Abbott recalled some of its most popular formulas after four
babies became sick with bacterial infections after consuming some of their
products. 

Around this time, the FDA inspections of Abbott’s formula factories got so
bad that after repeated attempts and warnings, the factory had to be shut
down. It was just too dangerous. 

So Abbott, which controlled 48% of the market, halted production. 

To be clear, the underlying forces causing this shortage are rampant
throughout our entire food system. 

Alexandria sounded the alarm long before this crisis. 

During a congressional hearing, Alexandria warned that corporate
monopolies are threatening our food supply, risking price gouging, and
hurting wages. Our leaders have been warned about this for a long time. As
Alexandria said, “I hate being right about these things.”

It’s shocking that just a few Big Ag and factory farm companies control
major sectors of our food supply, like meat processing or soybean
production. 

[ [link removed] ]If you’d like to dig into this more and other topics from the last few
weeks, please watch and share Alexandria’s Instagram Live.

Our movement has always been about listening to the alarm bells, learning
from our past mistakes to prevent future crises, and holding corporations
accountable.

We can do better, and that’s what Alexandria and our movement is fighting
for. 

Thanks for being in it alongside us. 

Team AOC
 

Alexandria is up for re-election in November and our campaign relies
exclusively on grassroots donations. It’s one reason why we are the #1
small-dollar funded campaign in Congress.

[ [link removed] ]If you can, please consider making
a $6 donation today
to keep Alexandria fighting for our agenda in Congress.

[ [link removed] ]Contribute $6

 

1 - [ [link removed] ]Washington Post


 

This email was sent to [email protected]. Email is the most important way we keep in touch with people like you, so thank you for reading to the end. Small donors like you keep us going. To contribute via check, please address to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress, PO Box 680080, Corona, NY 11368.



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