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VAN DREW ISSUES STATEMENT ON FDA AND ABBOTT LABORATORIES ENTERING AGREEMENT TO RESUME BABY FORMULA PRODUCTION

May 17, 2022 — Congressman Van Drew issued the following statement on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally reaching an agreement with Abbott Laboratories to resume baby formula production after months of being shut down. 

“While this announcement is great news for mothers and families all across the country and will help ease the burdens this shortage has caused, the FDA and the Biden Administration should have come up with an effective plan right after the Michigan plant was forced to shut down,” said Congressman Van Drew. “It is still estimated that it will take six to eight weeks for baby formula to hit our shelves, which could have been avoided if the FDA was proactive in working with production facilities to ensure that this supply shortage would not have resulted in this national crisis. This major plant was shut down in February and we have had no indication from the FDA on plans to re-open this major plant until this week when the catastrophic effects of their lack of planning came to fruition. President Biden must start working with other countries immediately to increase the importation of formula so parents can sleep at night knowing that they are able to feed their babies.

“President Biden and his administration need to stop leading from behind and start actually working for the American people.” 

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