MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022 - BABY FORMULA?

 MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022 - BABY FORMULA?

Recently baby formula has become a political issue.  Really!!!

Baby formula is a form of milk for newborn children for a couple of years.  It is an alternative to breastfeeding your infant.  Some mothers are too busy to breastfeed their children, others have tried and it just didn’t work out.

Aside, my wife decided not to breastfeed our children, so we had bottle feedings.  Actually, I liked that as I could hold my infant children, cuddle them and hold a bottle for them.  Then I could burp them - and occasionally get some undigested milk onto my burp towel.  In particular, I remember Steve, our firstborn, and giving him a bottle in the middle of the night.  It let my wife get her rest to recover from her busy days watching an infant, and I could cuddle, coo, and pray over our children!!!

A news article from last week states:

“Abbott Laboratories, the biggest U.S. supplier of powder infant formula including Similac, has agreed with regulators on steps needed to resume production at its Sturgis, Michigan, manufacturing plant.”

“Abbott initiated a recall of its infant formula products and closed its Michigan plant in February after reports of serious bacterial infections in four infants, worsening a shortage among multiple manufacturers that began with pandemic supply chain issues.” 

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Okay.  A manufacturing problem with potential bacterial issues.  This was coupled with COVID and supply-chain problems.  It seems as if consumers got worried about having enough formula when COVID hit and soon cleared a lot of the grocery shelves.  Demand waned.  Then demand increased, and the manufacturing plants already had slowed down.  

A second issue is that Abbott makes about 40% of the baby formula used in the United States.  With production down, the supply didn’t meet the demand (Hey that sounds like ECON 101 class!!).  

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Political pundits have brought the baby formula into question - in many states, Grocery stories do not have enough baby formula, while there seems to be enough baby formula at the border crossings.

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“Central to this issue is the 1997 Flores settlement, an agreement that sets standards regarding when U.S. immigration officials can detain unaccompanied minors, how those minors must be treated, and how and when minors should be released from federal custody.

When officials determine it is necessary to detain a child, however, the Flores settlement requires that minors be held "in safe and sanitary facilities."

<highlighted point> “The facility must provide food and drinking water, among other requirements. For infants, that means officials must provide baby formula.”

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So, a Federal Mandate says the United States must provide food and water for people coming into the United States.  Seemingly many immigrants are arriving at the United States border after long trips away from gangs, oppression, and local terror.  Many arrive with little more than the clothes on their back.

For twenty-five years, we (the USA) have been treating people at our borders like (gasp) real people by giving them food and drinking water.  And, as appropriate, giving the youngest of those immigrants baby formula.  

There might be suitable substitutes for most food products.  I have no idea what might be stored at border crossing points - maybe SPAM (which has protein and can last longer than other meats), crackers, bread, or vegetables - but depending on the season and the availability other items might be substituted.  

But, other than breastmilk, there seem to be fewer (or no) substitutes for baby formula milk.  Cow milk, goat milk, and other milk seem not to have the vitamins and ingredients to aid infants.  

Of course, the whole southern border (especially Texas) has been discussed as the number of immigrants has grown.  The former president wanted to build a wall to keep illegal immigrants out of the country

The reality is that the border patrol must provide food and water - and needs to have baby formula on hand to meet its mandated responsibility. 

So Civil Rights battles are being fought daily.  Are immigrants from Ukraine welcomed while immigrants from Central America are not welcomed?  

When do we look at the concept “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” that ALL MEN are created equal.  Can that happen?

So, we argue over baby formula.  Why is it stockpiled at the southern US border?  (Because it is mandated).  What happened to the other formula? (COVID complications, bacteria, and supply chain problems have closed down manufacturing).  

Hopefully, this will all be fixed soon.

LOVE WINS!!

Karen
May 23, 2022