Photo from Sen. Michele Brooks Brooks, right, has crafted a letter with Sen. Doug Mastriano seeking answers from Gov. Tom Wolf and the Department of Health over a shortage of baby formula.

State Sens. Michele Brooks and Doug Mastriano are seeking answers from the governor and Department of Health on their response to baby formula shortages.

“Within the past few weeks, this issue seems to have only escalated, and the reports throughout Pennsylvania of scarce formula stock and empty shelves at grocery stores and pharmacies are numerous and unacceptable,” a letter from the senators to Gov. Tom Wolf and Acting Secretary of Health Denise Johnson explains.

The Biden administration has said it is streamlining the review process for foreign manufacturers to ship more formula to the U.S. as well as reached a deal to reopen a Michigan plant that has been closed due to contamination issues, according to an Associated Press story.

The AP reports that “neither step will have an immediate effect on tight supplies that have left many parents searching for formula online or in food banks” but also note that “regulators said national industry data shows most U.S. stores, on average, still have 80% of their formula inventory in stock. They suggested some of the empty shelves seen in recent days may be due to panic buying by parents.”

Brooks and Mastrian post five questions to Wolf and Johnson: What is their plan to address the shortage? What is the availability in hospitals? How is the state working with the federal government?

They also asked about whether the state has a stockpile as well as the following: “Is there any credence to reports that baby formula is being shipped to the border for illegal immigrants while many Pennsylvania store shelves are empty?”

“While this issue is nationwide, Pennsylvania’s leaders cannot sit idly by and wait for the federal government to act,” they assert. “We have an obligation to be proactive for Pennsylvanians in addressing this matter and to have alternate plans in place before we face a statewide crisis.

Brooks and Mastriano call for communication to parents on efforts to resolve the crisis as well as public-private partnerships who may have access to formula.

They also urged “the Attorney General to monitor formula pricing and hold retailers and anyone having access and/or attempting to resell baby formula accountable for price gouging. Such individuals should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“While this issue is nationwide, Pennsylvania’s leaders cannot sit idly by and wait for the federal government to act,” Mastriano and Brooks suggest. “We have an obligation to be proactive for Pennsylvanians in addressing this matter and to have alternate plans in place before we face a statewide crisis.”