Page 20 - Wic Program News Today

In a nationwide switch to make WIC paperless, every participant in Georgia will have a debit card with electronic benefits by the end of the year. 

A switch to electronic purchasing will make using the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children  easier for low-income families. Sofi Gratas reports.

2020. we knew we have been essential workers all along, because we know we are the one that work to make sure that people get food on their table. and clothing. its so important for us to bring out to light the travel distances, the majority of the time farm worker women, we live in desert areas, desert food areas. its so hard for many of them to get the baby formula. sometimes its 45 minutes away. even the wic program at times does not provide the type of baby formula that their babies need. th...

Vicki Hankins has not been able to consistently find baby formula for months. She says the last time her family found the kind her son needs was on June 9.

FTC announced inquiry into infant formula shortage. Agency tasked by White House with investigating price gouging, unfair market practices in industry. Agency seeks public comment on factors that may have contributed to shortage, as well as impact on families and retailers.

So where do we go from here? what kind of lesson do you think america learns from something like this? you just heard economic adviser there talk about what seems to be really a monopolizing of just three u.s. companies that are in a position to make this kind of formula. so what are the lessons to be learned? where do you see the u.s. going from here? >> yeah. thats a great question. it was a little unusual. its certainly not in my everyday work as a pediatrician, but i do think the thing that ...

February, and it wasnt until mid may that they start to put forth a plan? this is a massive failure of the fda, and it just adds on to the other failures and slow pace they have moved at throughout the entire pandemic. this is devastating to hear right now. you have children who are being hospitalized in pulse -- multiple states because their parents are trying to make their own baby formula, or the children are having a reaction to a new, different type of baby formula, and this can cause a lot...

Again? >> well, number one, i think the fda needs to create pathways for innovation for new brands and new ideas to come to market. of course, it needs to be safe. number two, any time there are four companies that have 90% of the market share, it makes it challenging. we need to control that. number three, the wic program, we dont realize this, half the babies in the country are born into the wic program. you have to go state by state to get your product approved for each state to use your wic ...

Availability to return to normal, and that if these hail marys work. joining us now is democratic congresswoman rosa delauro from connecticut, and chair of the house appropriations committee. she introduced legislation to give emergency funding to the fda so that the resources to address the shortage. she also chaired hearing that address this issue earlier today. congresswoman dolores, and you for joining us this evening. earlier today the senate approved a bill by unanimous consent that would ...

Nutrition, more than 1600 of those proposals were enacted by the federal government within two years, excluding one with kind of a funny name. its called wick. sounds like a candle work, but it is spelled w i see. one of the problems identified that conference was that young poor mothers were struggling to come up with the money to feed not just themselves but their babies, as well. wic were supposed to fix that. in 1974 the first wic clinic open in pineville, kentucky. today the wic program pro...