Following all the uproar in China over melamine in infant formula and in light of U.S. pets dying by the thousands a couple of year ago due to melamine in pet food, it would seem that the FDA would have alerted Americans to melamine in infant formula. Well, that’s how it would seem to a reasonable person.
However, when melamine was discovered in infant formula instead of alerting the American citizens, the FDA called the manufacturers. We must all assume, although I am a skeptic, that the FDA was warning the manufacturers. That doesn’t seem to be the case.
Less than two months after federal food regulators said they were unable to set a safety threshold for the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula, they announced a standard that allows for higher levels than those found in U.S.-made batches of the product.
Food and Drug Administration officials on Friday set a threshold of 1 part per million of melamine in formula, provided a related chemical isn’t present. They insisted the formulas are safe.
As late as October the FDA stated that it was unable to set a safety contamination level for melamine in infant formula. Within a few weeks, it seems that the FDA has reversed its position. This is the same FDA that has allowed tainted heparin into the country, imported from China.
The Associated Press broke the story that melamine levels had been found in infant formula in the U.S.
The setting of the standard comes days after The Associated Press reported that FDA tests found traces of melamine in the infant formula of one major U.S. manufacturer and cyanuric acid, a chemical relative, in the formula of a second major maker. The contaminated samples, which both measured at levels below the new standard, were analyzed several weeks ago.
Perhaps we should feel relieved that the FDA finally decided to set a standard.
The standard is the same as the one public health officials have set in Canada and China where in September the problem of melamine in infant formula first surfaced. But it is 20 times higher than the most stringent level in Taiwan.
The FDA says the infant formula is safe.
“The levels were so low … that they do not cause a health risk to infants,” Sundlof said. “Parents using infant formula should continue using U.S.-manufactured infant formula. Switching away from one of these infant formulas to alternate diets or homemade formulas could result in infants not receiving the complete nutrition required for proper growth and development.”
However, not everyone agrees.
Reacting to news of the contaminated formulas, members of Congress, a national consumer group and the Illinois attorney general have demanded a national recall, something the FDA said made no sense because it had no evidence suggesting that the formula would be dangerous for babies at the levels of contamination found.
The FDA said last week that they had made an error during the testing of the formula.
After saying it made an error in its data, the FDA on Wednesday produced these results: Nestle’s Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron had two positive tests for melamine on one sample; Mead Johnson’s Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron had three positive tests on one sample for cyanuric acid.
It is difficult to believe that we should trust the FDA on this matter, or any other. First of all, the primary concern of the agency was that of the manufacturers. Secondly, the FDA changes the story so often that it is difficult to remember which lie the agency last told. And, finally, according to its own admission, they make errors in its data.
Let’s hope that when the new administration takes office, someone will have the good common sense to overhaul the agency that is supposed to protect the American people rather than the corporations who must be paying them off. This is not a one time occurrence. The FDA has repeatedly failed in its duties for the past several years. And, each time they fail they have an excuse, usually a lack of funds. However, on closer examination in testimony before Congress within the past year, it has become more than evident that while funding may be insufficient, there is not enough competence within the FDA to manage additional funding. It is clearly obvious that some of the scientists who are trying to do a good job but their efforts have been stifled by those who run the agency.
It’s time for a complete overhaul, from top to bottom.
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