Formula for a Shortage

The author should maybe consider that there are some possible downsides to a totally free market in food and drug products, and in particular look at the historical events which led to the creation and empowering of the FDA. e.g. &quot;The Sulfanilamide Disaster&quot; [0], which killed 100 people because a company used antifreeze to create a liquid form of their drug (and it would have killed more if not for FDA efforts to track down shipments and recover the drug).<p>The shortage is certainly a terrible thing. It also would be a terrible thing if contaminated formula killed a bunch of babies. It may be that we have not struck the right policy balance between a free market and regulatory controls, but this screed is far from a nuanced reconsideration of the role of the FDA.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fda.gov&#x2F;files&#x2F;about%20fda&#x2F;published&#x2F;The-Sulfanilamide-Disaster.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fda.gov&#x2F;files&#x2F;about%20fda&#x2F;published&#x2F;The-Sulfanil...</a>

What happened to the FDA? Why would they block a healthier option? This must be incompetence or corruption.<p>European formula is healthier than the dorito mix formula sold in the US. I was shocked to see that some have corn syrup and high oleic sunflower oils as the first ingredient. If I was a parent in the US I&#x27;d be looking for an underground formula railroad.

If I&#x27;ve been following this story correctly:<p>FDA catches conspiracy to recklessly endanger (as in quite possibly murder) a huge number of infants over a vast geographic area. Perpetrators caught then not given sufficient help bypassing FDA procedures nor a reduction in oversight as they resume production and filling out paperwork they previously falsified.<p>Other competitors apparently non-existent probably thanks to free market forces and this competitor who used illegal methods to have lower costs than legal operation. I.e. bad batch costs saved by falsifying paperwork.<p>FDA hesitant to allow import of these products as foreign production would be out of its jurisdiction and the lowest international bidder is presumably saving more money than the factory they just closed, somehow..<p>Can the FDA single out specific EU countries and criticize their regulators or would it face massive pressure to approve all countries the US has a cozy relationship with that have an infant formula?<p>I.e. the UK which has no regulatory history relevant to it&#x27;s current restructuring as a non-EU Nation. Should thousands of US infants be among the first to iron out defects in a changing system for regulating potentially deadly products that is focused on being more cost effective for the UK?

You know, there is also Japanese baby formula. Why has the discussion been restricted to European?

The FDA is our most murderous bureaucracy.

What a funny story.<p>Most of it is completely disjointed from reality.<p>But please, keep pushing for the free market fallacy.<p>Lines such as: [the FDA only keeps stuff off shelves!] is quite naive at best. That’s _exactly_ what the FDA was and is for.<p>This reads like a first year business kid trying to sound involved.