Photo Credit: Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times
Two years ago, as we were emerging from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new health crisis — an infant formula shortage — gripped the nation. The good news was that families across the country worked with friends, churches, synagogues, mosques, community groups and milk banks to ensure their babies got the nutrition they needed.
Now, new litigation involving preterm infant formula and human milk fortifiers threatens to upend access to these critical products. Once again, tort lawyers, sensing a big payday, have put greed before civic duty by putting at risk one of our most at-risk populations — premature infants.
Lawsuits alleging a link between necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, preterm infant formula and human milk fortifiers have popped up across the country. In March, an Illinois jury awarded $60 million to a woman whose premature infant died from NEC, an intestinal disease afflicting premature and low-birth-weight babies, finding that Mead Johnson (the manufacturer of Enfamil formula) failed to warn her about the potential risk of NEC.
These “failure to warn” claims are odd and out of place because parents don’t buy preterm infant formula or human milk fortifiers at the grocery store. These are highly specialized products that neonatal doctors in hospitals direct for specific use for infants. Preterm baby formula and milk fortifiers carry mandatory labeling language that is strictly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Two years ago, as we were emerging from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new health crisis — an infant formula shortage — gripped the nation. The good news was that families across the country worked with friends, churches, synagogues, mosques, community groups and milk banks to ensure their babies got the nutrition they needed.
Now, new litigation involving preterm infant formula and human milk fortifiers threatens to upend access to these critical products. Once again, tort lawyers, sensing a big payday, have put greed before civic duty by putting at risk one of our most at-risk populations — premature infants.
Lawsuits alleging a link between necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, preterm infant formula and human milk fortifiers have popped up across the country. In March, an Illinois jury awarded $60 million to a woman whose premature infant died from NEC, an intestinal disease afflicting premature and low-birth-weight babies, finding that Mead Johnson (the manufacturer of Enfamil formula) failed to warn her about the potential risk of NEC.
These “failure to warn” claims are odd and out of place because parents don’t buy preterm infant formula or human milk fortifiers at the grocery store. These are highly specialized products that neonatal doctors in hospitals direct for specific use for infants. Preterm baby formula and milk fortifiers carry mandatory labeling language that is strictly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
