WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) grilled President Biden’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf on the administration’s failure to address the nationwide baby formula shortage affecting Louisiana parents and babies, despite repeated warning signs and opportunities to avert the crisis.
“The summer before this began, or a summer ago, there’s an eight percent increase in the shortage rate on shelves,” said Dr. Cassidy. “We had a problem a summer ago.”
Cassidy discussed the FDA’s dysfunctional leadership and unwillingness to fully return employees back to work.
He also highlighted the impact the shortage has had on families in Louisiana and across the country. Approximately 75 percent of infants receive some kind of infant formula. Mothers have struggled to find formula on store shelves, and in some cases, have travelled from town to town in search of formula.
Background
Earlier this month, Cassidy introduced the FORMULA Act to tackle the formula shortage and increase access to European-made formula.
Cassidy also joined several Senate colleagues this month in demanding answers from the FDA regarding its inadequate investigation into Abbott Nutrition’s Michigan manufacturing facility and failure to mitigate the nationwide baby formula shortage.
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