 Episode 4 – The Baby Formula Shortage and Regulations As with education, progressives continue to insist that only bureaucratic experts know what's best for you and your family. Regulations are their key to protecting us all. The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, America's first consumer regulatory agency, was established in 1906 as part of the progressive push to impose scientific expertise on society. In reality, the FDA was to protect everyone from the free market. In July 2019, federal agents raided a warehouse in Philadelphia and seized $162,000 worth of black market goods. The illegal good was the organic German baby formula, HIP. The reason for the confiscation of HIP was that its label failed to include the words low iron. Baby formula sold in the United States is required to specify whether it is with iron or is low iron, irrespective of whether the iron content is already included in the nutritional information. Seizures of European baby formula are surprisingly common because the FDA urges Americans to purchase formula that complies with its regulations, such as Similac PM 6040, which in compliance with FDA regulations includes the words low iron on its label. With FDA support, Similac became the formula of choice in the United States. Tragically in 2021, it was this properly labeled low iron formula that caused a string of infant illnesses due to a factory contamination. This led to a nationwide shortage of domestic baby formula. If you were among the millions of parents who struggled to find formula to feed your children during the shortage, you might have asked, why did so much of the domestic supply of formula come from one factory? Why was there a 17.5% tariff on foreign imports of baby formula during this shortage? Why weren't there more US suppliers of baby formula to fill the void? To answer these questions, we need only look to the progressive agenda of increased government reliance. Nearly two-thirds of America's baby formula is purchased through the federal government's special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, WIC. And in 1989, Congress passed legislation requiring states to award single purchase contracts to whoever offered the lowest bid. Getting off a period of rapid consolidation in the formula industry. Abbott Nutrition, which owns Similac, emerged as the largest of four formula manufacturers, and its massive government contracts allowed the company to spend millions lobbying for regulations that would deter more competitors from entering the market. Economists refer to this phenomenon as regulatory capture. In 2020, just a year before the contamination that led to the formula shortage, Abbott advertised its dedication to consumer safety, publicizing its involvement in securing labeling requirements among other regulations. The baby formula shortage illustrates the continued danger posed to us all by the bureaucratic experts and their regulations. Not only did regulators fail to prevent the baby formula contamination, but they directly encouraged the growth of the company responsible, and by virtually eliminating alternatives, created a situation in which millions of parents struggle to feed their infant children.