Justice Dept. investigating Abbott baby formula factory
NEW YORK — The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the Abbott Laboratories infant formula plant in Michigan that was shut down for months last year due to contamination, the company confirmed.
The factory’s closure last February was a key cause of a nationwide baby formula shortage that forced parents to seek formula from food banks, friends and doctor’s offices. Production restarted in June.
The Justice Department has informed Abbott of its investigation and the company is “cooperating fully,” Abbott spokesperson Scott Stoffel said via email. He declined to provide further details.
The investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which said the Justice Department’s consumer protection branch is looking into conduct at the Sturgis, Michigan, plant that led to its shutdown.
Abbott closed the factory after the Food and Drug Administration began investigating four bacterial infections among infants who consumed powdered formula from the plant. Inspectors uncovered several violations at the plant, including bacterial contamination, a leaky roof and lax safety protocols. But Abbott has stated that its products have not been directly linked to the infections, which involved different bacterial strains.
Abbott is one of just four companies that produce 90% of U.S. formula, and its February recall of several leading brands, including Similac, squeezed supplies that had already been strained by supply chain disruptions and stockpiling during COVID-19 shutdowns.
The shortage was especially acute for children with allergies, digestive problems and metabolic disorders who rely on specialty formulas. The Abbott factory is the only source of many of those products.
The FDA has faced intense criticism for taking months to close the plant and then negotiate its reopening.
Elizabeth Holmes is a flight risk
Ex-Theranos CEO:
and shouldn’t be allowed to stay out of prison while she appeals her 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors, federal prosecutors said in a motion filed in federal court in Northern California.
According to court documents from Thursday, Holmes had a one-way plane ticket to Mexico booked for Jan. 26, 2022, three weeks after being convicted by a jury on four counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Holmes, who was CEO of Theranos during the company’s turbulent 15year history, was convicted in a scheme that revolved around the company’s claims to have developed a medical device that could detect a multitude of diseases and conditions from a few drops of blood. But the technology never worked, and the claims were false.
Holmes booked the flight without a scheduled return trip and only canceled it after prosecutors contacted Holmes’ attorneys about the “unauthorized flight,” prosecutors said.
In a Jan. 23, 2022, email responding to prosecutors’
concerns about the planned trip, Holmes’ attorneys said she had booked it before the jury’s verdict to attend a wedding in Mexico.
Holmes is scheduled to return to court on March 17 for a hearing on her request to stay out of prison while she appeals her conviction.
Brazil uprising: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva fired Brazil’s army chief Saturday just days after the leftist leader openly said
that some military members allowed the Jan. 8 uprising in the capital by far-right protesters.
The official website of the Brazilian armed forces said Gen. Julio Cesar de Arruda had been removed as head of the army. He was replaced by Gen. Tomas Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, who was head of the Southeast Military Command.
In recent weeks, Lula targeted the military with criticism after supporters
of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed through government buildings and destroyed public property in an attempt to keep Bolsonaro in office.
The uprising underlined the polarization in Brazil between the left and the right.
Lula said several times in public that there were definitely people in the army who allowed the rioting to occur, though he never cited Arruda.