Joe Biden invokes Cold War law over baby milk shortage

The US government bought 1.5 million bottles of baby milk stored in Switzerland and now he is looking for airlines that will allow him to transport them to the United States, which suffers from an unprecedented shortage of that product.

(Read here: Outrage in the US over shortage of powdered milk for babies)

This will be the first mission of “Operation Fly Formula” (Operation to fly baby milk) that US President Joe Biden authorized last week. Within this package is part of the Cold War law that the president invoked to deal with the shortage.

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The formula that Biden has obtained is from Nestlé and the bottles that will arrive in the US are of the brand “Alfamino Infant”, “Alfamino Junior” and “Gerber Good Start”, all of them designed for babies who are allergic to protein of cow’s milk, detailed the White House in a statement.

Priority has been given to these types of products due to the difficulty of finding alternatives for babies with allergies and the scarcity of hypoallergenic formulas in the United States.

Biden announced last Wednesday two measures to supply the market in the face of the shortage of baby milk.

Measurements, point by point

First, he authorized the Department of Defense to use the contracts it has with commercial airlines to import the powdered milk from anywhere in the world, something it will do with the 1.5 bottles stored in Switzerland.

Second, Biden invoked a law dating from the Cold War to accelerate the production of that dairy food in the United States.

The law that Biden invoked is the so-called “Defense Production Act”, which dates from the start of the Korean War in 1950 and allows the US president. mobilize private sector resources through the Pentagon to respond to certain situations.

In recent weeks, finding powdered milk for babies has been a challenge for parents in different states of the country, an issue that has become a throwing weapon between Republicans and Democrats.

The shortage was caused by global supply problems caused by the covid-19 pandemic and difficulties at the production plant that Abbottthe largest manufacturer of infant formula in the US, has in Sturgis, Michigan.

Stock problems worsened in February when Abbott recalled formula leaving its Michigan plant, which was marketed under the brand names Similac, Alimentum and EleCare, after four babies suffered a bacterial infection and two of them died.

Abbott announced this week that it has reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to soon reopen its plant in Michigan.

EFE

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