I feel like I need to wear a tin foil hat for saying this but... I suspect that Operation Stork Speed is less about making formula safer and more about instilling fear in formula and all of the effects from that :( I sure hope I'm wrong.
I have a feeling it is actually paid for by big formula companies. The same ones that lobby hard against paid maternal leave (bc the shorter a leave for a mom, the less likely she is to breastfeed and therefore has to turn to formula, more $$ in their pockets). I hope people see through this and like Jessica has said, follow the money and the science, behind it
I had this thought too. But I also think that conservatives in general have much to gain from promoting formula - stimulates the economy and big business, makes it easier for working moms to return to the workforce faster. I know that RFK is “not conservative,” but now that he is so woven into this administration I’m not sure if I believe that (or if I ever did).
BUT they disbanded the committee investigating PATHOGENS in baby formula after meeting with Abbott etc. Remember that Abbott’s lawyer for the Cronobacter lawsuits is now head of food safety at the FDA. As someone who is chronically ill and relies 100% on Ensure like many sick and elderly people, hearing that microbial regulations are becoming more lax and companies like Abbott know it is very scary and should be noted by parents, too. Heavy metals are not the only adulterants in baby formula. And this administration is clearly ok with unaliving the elderly and sick, so I’m very concerned with the many moves toward food deregulation that are happening every day.
Came here to point out the same. One of the biggest issues w infant formula over past few years has been pathogens. So dismantling National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food - the committee responsible single for food safety investigations- makes the dangers much worse! And great point about adult supplements!
Thank you so much for your thorough analysis of the facts, as always. I am currently nursing my 6 month old who has a CMPA. We supplement with one Nutramigen bottle a day. Due to the existence of BPA in Nutramigen, would you make a switch to an alternative dairy free formula supplement, in your expert opinion?
I can’t thank you enough for the time and effort you spent writing this. I’ve combo fed two kiddos and learned SO many things I never knew reading this. Curious to see how Operation Stork speed plays out and also hopeful that we will have independent testing done to verify their work.
Thank you for this great balanced analysis. Really appreciate it! One quick thought- before we start blaming farmers on poisoning us (doesn’t mean we can’t make positive changes in agriculture but farmers and agricultural science are indeed trying to grow us safe, healthy, abundant food!), inorganic arsenic pesticides were phased out starting in the 1980-90s and finished in the use in the early 2000s. Unfortunately this is a long lasting chemical in the soil- but farming methods have changed and it’s no longer used actively for anyone worried about this being a current practice
I do have one question: if the FDA put arsenic level of safety in rice cereal at 100ppb but in water at 10ppb- formula really isn’t water…and it isn’t rice cereal. It’s kind of in between. Is this why we’re just using the EU level of 20ppb to be our safety cut off here? Because we don’t have a cutoff for formula specifically in the US?
I work as an infant feeding lead in the UK. All our maternity unit have to be UNICEF BFI accredited or working towards it and now the neonatal units are doing the same. We as a service have to implement the WHO code in full despite it not being fully adopted inUK law. If parents want impartial information about formula we direct them to First Steps Nutrition. But it leaves influencers promoting formula as well as giving bad advise
The US is lucky they have you giving accurate information. Thank you
I LOVE your work. I’m a feeding and swallowing specialist in a level IV NICU. And your information helps my (our) practice so much.
I feel like I need to wear a tin foil hat for saying this but... I suspect that Operation Stork Speed is less about making formula safer and more about instilling fear in formula and all of the effects from that :( I sure hope I'm wrong.
I have a feeling it is actually paid for by big formula companies. The same ones that lobby hard against paid maternal leave (bc the shorter a leave for a mom, the less likely she is to breastfeed and therefore has to turn to formula, more $$ in their pockets). I hope people see through this and like Jessica has said, follow the money and the science, behind it
I had this thought too. But I also think that conservatives in general have much to gain from promoting formula - stimulates the economy and big business, makes it easier for working moms to return to the workforce faster. I know that RFK is “not conservative,” but now that he is so woven into this administration I’m not sure if I believe that (or if I ever did).
BUT they disbanded the committee investigating PATHOGENS in baby formula after meeting with Abbott etc. Remember that Abbott’s lawyer for the Cronobacter lawsuits is now head of food safety at the FDA. As someone who is chronically ill and relies 100% on Ensure like many sick and elderly people, hearing that microbial regulations are becoming more lax and companies like Abbott know it is very scary and should be noted by parents, too. Heavy metals are not the only adulterants in baby formula. And this administration is clearly ok with unaliving the elderly and sick, so I’m very concerned with the many moves toward food deregulation that are happening every day.
Came here to point out the same. One of the biggest issues w infant formula over past few years has been pathogens. So dismantling National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food - the committee responsible single for food safety investigations- makes the dangers much worse! And great point about adult supplements!
Thank you so much for your thorough analysis of the facts, as always. I am currently nursing my 6 month old who has a CMPA. We supplement with one Nutramigen bottle a day. Due to the existence of BPA in Nutramigen, would you make a switch to an alternative dairy free formula supplement, in your expert opinion?
I can’t thank you enough for the time and effort you spent writing this. I’ve combo fed two kiddos and learned SO many things I never knew reading this. Curious to see how Operation Stork speed plays out and also hopeful that we will have independent testing done to verify their work.
Thank you for this great balanced analysis. Really appreciate it! One quick thought- before we start blaming farmers on poisoning us (doesn’t mean we can’t make positive changes in agriculture but farmers and agricultural science are indeed trying to grow us safe, healthy, abundant food!), inorganic arsenic pesticides were phased out starting in the 1980-90s and finished in the use in the early 2000s. Unfortunately this is a long lasting chemical in the soil- but farming methods have changed and it’s no longer used actively for anyone worried about this being a current practice
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/tsp/PHS/PHS.aspx?phsid=18&toxid=3#:~:text=This%20phase%20out%20was%20completed,semiconductors%20and%20light%2Demitting%20diodes.
I do have one question: if the FDA put arsenic level of safety in rice cereal at 100ppb but in water at 10ppb- formula really isn’t water…and it isn’t rice cereal. It’s kind of in between. Is this why we’re just using the EU level of 20ppb to be our safety cut off here? Because we don’t have a cutoff for formula specifically in the US?
I work as an infant feeding lead in the UK. All our maternity unit have to be UNICEF BFI accredited or working towards it and now the neonatal units are doing the same. We as a service have to implement the WHO code in full despite it not being fully adopted inUK law. If parents want impartial information about formula we direct them to First Steps Nutrition. But it leaves influencers promoting formula as well as giving bad advise
The US is lucky they have you giving accurate information. Thank you
Makes me sad that the one premature baby formula on this list is in “worse choices”
What does this mean for families that used elecare for years in the past?
great article thank you so much
Great post 🔥🔥🔥