来源：《华盛顿邮报》
原文刊登日期：2022年5月18日
It’s hard to imagine the United States would be in a situation where the most basic of foodstuff is not available for babies, but that’s exactly where we are in 2022. The baby formula shortage is a national emergency, and the White House and congressional leaders should have been prepared for it months ago.
很难想象美国会陷入婴儿得不到最基本食物的境地，但这正是我们在2022年所面临的情况。婴儿配方奶粉短缺是一个全国性的紧急事件，白宫和国会领导人几个月前就应该对此做好准备。
How the nation ended up in this mess is telling. This is a uniquely American crisis. Our neighbors in Canada and Mexico still have plenty of baby formula on their shelves. What’s different in this country is that the United States relies primarily on three companies — Abbott, Gerber and Reckitt — to supply the vast majority of baby formula for the nation. This has become a highly concentrated market, and imports of baby formula are almost nonexistent. Abbott had to shut down a big formula factory in February after several babies became sick and two died from a rare infection. We still lack clear answers about what happened. But it could have been predicted that, with a major supplier impaired, a baby formula shortage would turn into a red-siren emergency.
美国是如何陷入这场混乱的，很能说明问题。这是美国独有的危机。我们的邻国加拿大和墨西哥的货架上仍然有大量的婴儿配方奶粉。美国的不同之处在于，其主要依靠三家公司——雅培、嘉宝和利洁时——来为这个国家提供绝大多数的婴儿配方奶粉。这已经成为一个高度集中的市场，进口的婴儿配方奶粉几乎不存在。今年2月，雅培公司不得不关闭一家大型配方奶粉工厂，原因是几名婴儿患病，两名婴儿死于一种罕见的感染。我们仍然不清楚发生了什么。但可以预见的是，随着一家主要供应商产能受损，婴儿配方奶粉短缺将演变为紧急情况。
The simple solution, from the outset, would have been to import more formula from abroad. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it was streamlining its review process so that foreign manufacturers could begin shipping more formula into the United States. That should have happened weeks ago. The FDA also reached a deal with Abbott on how to reopen the shuttered factory in Michigan.
从一开始，简单的解决办法就是从国外进口更多配方奶粉。美国食品和药物管理局星期一宣布，它正在简化审查程序，以便外国制造商可以开始向美国运送更多的配方奶粉。几周前就该这么做了。美国食品药品监督管理局还与雅培公司就如何重新开放关闭的密歇根工厂达成了协议。
The situation is still dire. Supplies of formula have been 40 percent out of stock, and it could take two months before it is widely available again. On Wednesday, the White House took the much-needed steps of announcing “Operation Fly Formula” to speed up foreign formula imports by using Defense Department air cargo contracts and invoking the Defense Production Act to speed delivery of ingredients to domestic formula producers.
形势依然严峻。配方奶粉的库存已经缺货40%，可能需要两个月的时间才能再次普遍买到。周三，白宫采取了迫切需要的措施，宣布了“飞行配方行动”，通过利用国防部航空货运合同，加快外国配方奶粉的进口，并援引《国防生产法》加快向国内配方奶粉生产商交付配料。
As with most crises, the families that are the hardest hit are low-income households that can’t afford to pay high prices or drive around to multiple stores and families that have children with special medical conditions.
与大多数危机一样，受影响最严重的是低收入家庭，他们无力支付高昂的价格或开车前往多家商店，以及有患有特殊疾病的孩子的家庭。
The nation needs a full and rational accounting of this mess. Longer-term, we should open the U.S. market up to more imports from abroad. The trade deal the Trump administration struck with Canada and Mexico that made it even harder to import formula from Canada has had unintended consequences. In the 21st century, the United States should be capable of feeding the smallest and most helpless among us.
国家需要对这一混乱局面进行全面、合理的解释。从长期来看，我们应该开放美国市场，让更多的国外进口产品进入美国。特朗普政府与加拿大和墨西哥达成的贸易协议，加大了从加拿大进口配方奶粉的难度，带来了意想不到的后果。在21世纪，美国应该有能力养活我们当中最弱小、最无助的人。