美国国家公共电台 NPR--White House invokes the Defense Production Act for the baby formula shortage

White House invokes¹ the Defense² Production Act for the baby formula shortage

Transcript³

The Biden administration says help is on the way to address the nationwide baby formula shortage. How would the Defense Production Act, a legal vestige⁴ of the Cold War era, help?

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The White House says help is on the way to address the nationwide baby formula shortage. The Biden administration is invoking⁵ the Defense Production Act. And it's something we last heard about when we were talking about the COVID vaccine⁶ supply. NPR pharmaceuticals⁷ correspondent Sydney Lupkin is here to tell us more. Hi, Sidney.

SYDNEY LUPKIN, BYLINE⁸: Good morning.

FADEL: Good morning. So Sydney, remind us what the Defense Production Act entails⁹ and why it's being used to deal with the formula crisis.

LUPKIN: So it's a law from 1950 that gives the president and his administration special powers to promote the national defense. Specifically, it's been used to prioritize materials and contracts. The definition has been broadened over the years to include other things, like public health emergencies. So the Biden and Trump¹⁰ administrations both used the law to defend Americans against COVID-19 and get vaccine manufacturers the equipment and other tools they needed to ramp¹¹ up production. Now it's being used to respond to another major public health concern, not having enough infant formula to go around.

FADEL: So how will the Biden administration plan to use this act to end the shortage?

LUPKIN: So it's more or less going to bump formula manufacturers to the front of the line when they order things from outside suppliers.

FADEL: OK.

LUPKIN: So if, for instance, a soup company and a formula manufacturer ordered the same ingredient from a third party. The formula manufacturer will now be required to get that ingredient first. And that should help speed up production.

FADEL: But isn't ingredient supply problem what led to the shortage?

LUPKIN: So no, there simply aren't many companies that make formula in the United States.

FADEL: Right.

LUPKIN: Abbott is one of the major ones. And its Michigan factory shut down and issued a recall in February after several babies became ill. Two of them died of bacterial¹² infections. Now Abbott is working with the federal government and a third party, independent expert to get that factory back online quickly and safely. But that will take time to translate to more formula on shelves. And the situation is dire¹³ now.

FADEL: Yeah.

LUPKIN: So the administration is doing more, including invoking the Defense Production Act, which could help the whole industry ramp up.

FADEL: Is there a downside to using the Defense Production Act?

LUPKIN: There could be. Using the Defense Production Act can have ripple¹⁴ effects. After all, we're talking about finite resources.

FADEL: Right.

LUPKIN: When the Defense Production Act was used to ramp up COVID vaccine production in 2020, it resulted in the shortage of a thyroid drug called Tepezza. That happened because the factory contracted to make Tepezza was required, under the Defense Production Act, to package COVID-19 vaccine instead. So the Defense Production Act can be a blunt instrument. And folks wielding¹⁵ it try to do their due diligence to minimize those ripple effects, but they can still happen.

FADEL: And like you said, the situation is dire right now. So when can parents expect to see more formula on store shelves again?

LUPKIN: You know, unfortunately, this won't solve the formula shortage overnight. Again, hearkening back to when the Defense Production Act was used to make vaccines¹⁶, it mostly shortened existing production timelines. One vaccine manufacturer told me it was able to do work that would have taken a couple of years and condense it to six or seven months. But making formula isn't like making vaccines, so it's tough to say how fast this will go.

FADEL: OK.

LUPKIN: In the meantime, the Biden administration is allowing more baby formula importation. And it's using Department of Defense planes to pick up formula from overseas and get it here, bypassing normal air freight routes to speed things up some more.

FADEL: NPR's pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin. Thank you, Sydney.

LUPKIN: You bet.

1 invokes   

v.援引( invoke的第三人称单数 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• The Roundtable statement invokes the principles of the free market system. 企业界圆桌会议的声明援用了自由市场制度的原则。 来自辞典例句
• When no more storage is available, the system invokes a garbage collector. 当没有可用的存贮时，系统就调用无用单元收集程序。 来自辞典例句

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 vestige   

n.痕迹，遗迹，残余

参考例句：

• Some upright stones in wild places are the vestige of ancient religions.荒原上一些直立的石块是古老宗教的遗迹。
• Every vestige has been swept away.一切痕迹都被一扫而光。

5 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

6 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

7 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 entails   

使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The job entails a lot of hard work. 这工作需要十分艰苦的努力。
• This job entails a lot of hard work. 这项工作需要十分努力。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

12 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

13 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

14 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

15 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

16 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。