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Working for the Biden government is easy. No matter what goes wrong, it’s always someone else’s fault.
When Biden was asked point-blank about his response, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t see this problem coming:
BIDEN: "If we had been better mind readers, I guess we could've" taken action to address the baby formula crisis sooner.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 14, 2022
Buttigieg went on Face The Nation and was given an intelligent and hard-hitting question. September, February, it’s May, why is it taking so long? Preachy Pete pointed a finger at Abbot Labs for having failed to keep people safe.
Transportation Sec. Buttigieg blames the nationwide baby formula shortage on the Abbott plant shutdown:
“It’s got to be safe and it’s got to be up and running as soon as possible. This is the difference between a supply-chain problem…and a supply problem.” pic.twitter.com/CuAvpKMQuB
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 15, 2022
There’s a problem with his answer. Abbott Labs has already been ruled out as the source of the contamination for which Preachy Pete is blaming them.
Statement from Abbot Labs (full context here):
The facts about what was learned about the cases of Cronobacter have not been widely communicated. After a thorough review of all available data, there is no evidence to link our formulas to these infant illnesses.
It’s important to know:
Abbott conducts microbiological testing on products prior to distribution and no Abbott formula distributed to consumers tested positive for Cronobacter sakazakii or Salmonella.
All finished product testing by Abbott and the FDA during the inspection of the facility came back negative for Cronobacter and/or Salmonella. No Salmonella was found at the Sturgis facility.
The Cronobacter sakazakii that was found in environmental testing during the investigation was in non-product contact areas of the facility and has not been linked to any known infant illness. Specifically:
Genetic sequencing on the two available samples from ill infants did not match strains of Cronobacter in our plant. Samples from ill infants did not match each other, meaning there was no connection between the two cases.
In all four cases, the state, FDA, and/or CDC tested samples of the Abbott formula that was used by the child. In all four cases, all unopened containers tested negative.
Open containers from the homes of the infants were also tested in three of the four cases; two of the three tested negative. The one positive was from an open container from the home of the infant, and it tested positive for two different strains of Cronobacter sakazakii, one of which matched the strain that caused the infant’s infection, and the other matched a strain found on a bottle of distilled water in the home used to mix the formula. Again, neither strain matched strains found in our plant.
The infants consumed four different types of our formula made over the course of nearly a year and the illnesses took place over several months in three different states.
Drawing from his experience with bureaucracy and law, Hugh Hewitt put it bluntly: The shortage is the government’s fault. Abbott Labs will be kept in check not by government oversight but by the threat of massive lawsuits should negligence on their part lead to a kid getting seriously ill.
Maybe, instead of turning their attention to arguing for a Ministry of Truth, the FDA could get their crap together on communicating with the public about the ACTUAL status of Abbott Labs, and getting out of the way so that production can get ramped back up.
Oh, and if no evidence has been found of their baby formula actually being contaminated, maybe we could green light THAT food to go into public circulation, which would immediately impact the shortages while we wait for production to meet demand.
