Had to create a throwaway to touch this, and I am _not_ an anti-vaxxer but...
One of the primary arguments of the anti-vax movement is not that "vaccines cause autism" but that the FDA is a poor, industry-captured steward of public health WRT the shit that they give the thumbs up to be fed or injected into kids. This story is a case in point for that argument.
Xanthan gum is on the GRAS list so hard to blame the FadA’s oversight. Having presented before them for study approval they seemed anything but industry captured.
I agree that the GMP manufacturing OVERSIGHT could be stronger but I’d say Congress bears more responsibility for that course of affairs. At the time this was written the cause was unclear though.
The problem claimed in the article was with manufacture, not with the product as a concept. You could definitely argue that the FDA needs a greater supervisory role for manufacture, but this wasn't an issue with the approval.
The article left that in doubt. They did not rule out the thickener.
FTA
> Did the cold processing method and the failures in sanitation cause NEC?
> Nobody’s sure. The FDA’s current theory is that the problem is the xanthan-gum thickeners themselves, because of the way they interact with an immature gut.
One of the primary arguments of the anti-vax movement is not that "vaccines cause autism" but that the FDA is a poor, industry-captured steward of public health WRT the shit that they give the thumbs up to be fed or injected into kids. This story is a case in point for that argument.