Take Emergency Action to Address the Deadly Baby Formula Crisis

I implore you to join Senators Gillibrand and Hirono to pressure both the FDA to expedite, AND pressure President Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act to resolve the deadly formula shortage IMMEDIATELY. We must take immediate action to invoke the defense production act AND pressure the FDA to expedite the process to end the deadly baby formula shortage in the US. Babies who rely on formula disproportionately experience poverty, racism, premature birth, disability, compromised immune systems, family separation, a horrifying and embarrassing lack of US family leave that forces nursing parents milk to dry up, and more. There are SO many families who need formula to keep their children alive every day. There is NO other option - THIS IS A LIFE OR DEATH EMERGENCY. These families cannot just switch formula without dire and deadly consequences. They cannot cobble together something from the pantry. They cannot survive on donor milk. Our most vulnerable infants will starve, and SOON, if you don’t do something IMMEDIATELY. Many families who have chosen or been forced to use brand need to maintain a specific formula that keeps their child alive. Many of the delicate systems of our most vulnerable children CANNOT survive a switch without life-long health consequences, or even death. These caregivers are over-worked, exhausted, many dealing with compounding medical issues to keep their child alive on top of the difficulty of raising an infant or older child with a disability. We CANNOT have formula makers suddenly pulling the plug, refusing to ramp up production to meet demand, and price-gouging families in their most desperate moments. As this country shuts down a pregnant person’s right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term, we are simultaneously leaving these newborns they have been forced to carry to die of starvation the moment they enter the world. This cruelty, in 2022, is entirely preventable. Moments like this are the reason the defense production act exists, and why FDA emergency expediting exists - to defend and protect our most vulnerable citizens. Take action immediately and compel formula producers to get their asses in gear right now.