All hail President Biden! Baby formula airlift is happening and parents everywhere should rejoice!

I mean seriously. This is something to cheer about. Right? One whole freaking planeload of pallets of specialized baby formula will solve everything!

Except this reverse Berlin Airlift solves …NOTHING. That’s right. This is a short term fix of a problem that has been brewing since last fall. 

“Baby formula shortages are worsening throughout the United States, causing parents to be increasingly concerned about how they will feed their infants,” The New York Times had reported in January. That same month, a Wall Street Journal report had listed many contributing factors for the scarcity of baby formula, but no one disputed that formula was becoming hard to find. Well before it reached crisis proportions, local media outlets from San Antonio, Texas, to Knoxville, Tennessee, to Columbus, Ohio described how shortages were impacting parents.

Yes, that’s correct. The Biden Administration has known about this issue for months now.

Here’s a local news report from NOVEMBER 2021 about how the baby formula shortage was about to get “worse.”

Reminder: Joe Biden didn’t mention it until May 13. pic.twitter.com/8Ny1eoSPyR

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 22, 2022

Furthermore, it’s been completely verified that the FDA has been stonewalling Abbott Labs reopening once it was determined that there was ZERO contamination at that plant. 

Now we are looking at continued formula shortages. So, what does the Biden Administration do? Waive the asinine FDA regulations and bring baby formula in from Europe.

Folks, I’m excited to tell you that the first flight from Operation Fly Formula is loaded up with more than 70,000 pounds of infant formula and about to land in Indiana.

Our team is working around the clock to get safe formula to everyone who needs it. pic.twitter.com/cX4KU0eDtZ

— President Biden (@POTUS) May 22, 2022

SLOW. CLAP. 

Am I thrilled that babies who need specialized formula will be taken care of? Absolutely. HOWEVER, there’s a problem. 

The formula was offloaded and taken to a Nestle distribution center. There, a standard quality control check will be conducted before the supplies are sent to hospitals, pharmacies and doctor’s offices, The Associated Press reported, quoting an administration official on-site.

That’s correct, the formula will be sourced to doctors and pharmacies BEFORE landing in the hands of parents and the mouths of babies. Again, this is not a quick fix and we are supposed to cheer that a plane carrying 70,000 pounds (not tons as the original White House tweet claimed) has landed. 

Here’s the issue with all of this. That ONE airlift will take care of about 9,000 babies for maybe a week. How many planeloads are needed? How many planeloads of formula from Europe are planned of the specialized formula and for how long? That’s unclear. In fact, the two plane loads that landed this weekend are the only ones until another 114 pallets arrives later this week. 

The urgency is lacking here. There are thousands of babies across the U.S. who need formula. And it’s nowhere to be found. So, to see the Biden Administration essentially slow-walking the solutions to this crisis doesn’t solve the problems for the rest of the babies out there who need regular formula. When is THAT formula coming? 

Or, when will Amazon be told they can allow purchases of formula from Europe? Keep in mind, purchases of formula from Europe are currently banned because the FDA in all their infinite heads-up-their-ass wisdom decided the LABELING of the formula was wrong.

This is ridiculous on its face. For starters, there’s already a massive private industry dedicated to moving products from one part of the world to another. The baby formula shortage isn’t the result of there not being enough planes to transport baby formula from Europe to the U.S.; it’s the result of the federal government making it nearly impossible to transport baby formula from Europe to the U.S.

As Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown explained earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) rules that prohibit many baby formulas made in Europe from being imported to the U.S. have nothing to do with health or nutritional safety issues. Often, those brands are banned because they fail to meet the FDA’s labeling requirements.

Abbott Nutrition is now being “allowed” to reopen their Michigan plant. They’ve pledged to ramp up production exponentially plus start a fund to help the critically ill babies families with medical expenses. HOWEVER, because of the FDA’s stonewalling, the production of regular baby formula will take up to two months to hit the shelves, and the Administration has the media going to bat by continuing to blame Abbott Nutrition for this crisis. 

Meanwhile, as the Administration wants us all to cheer that the solution has arrived via airlift, those still needing regular formula are supposed to call food banks or their local WIC office to get formula. Expect THEY don’t have any formula either!

The government causing a baby formula bottleneck with ridiculous regulations and then causing a baby formula shortage with incompetence and then acting like a hero for flying in baby formula is the most government thing in the history of government things. https://t.co/zKoO1vjI3q

— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) May 22, 2022

Yes, the Biden Administration built this crisis. There is nothing to celebrate regarding this baby formula airlift. Nothing. 

If an average baby needs 7 7oz bottles/day, that's about 6 of the arriving 8 oz bottles/day. 1.5 million bottles ÷ 6 = 250,000 baby-days.
So this WEEK'S shipment will feed 250k babies for 1 day.
Great work, everyone, try not to hurt your shoulder with the back-patting. pic.twitter.com/AAgjOZW9Rb

— Kieran #PhloxPox 'Driveby' Eleison (@KieranEleison) May 22, 2022

Exit questions: How long will the “standard quality control checks” of the formula take? Or will they slow walk that as well?

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Feature Photo: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click