Abbott Laboratories, the $40 billion conglomerate involved in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and supplements such as Similac and Ensure, has stated they will create a GMO-free version of Similac for parents who worry about GMOs inside their kids.
They cited a survey showing 20 percent of respondents wanted that option. The survey also noted that wealthier people in places like California and the Northeast were willing to pay more. Almost all baby formula uses corn and soy derivatives and more than 90 percent of those crops are GMOs, so this will be for niche consumers who don't regard cost as an object.
It's smart business, even if it won't actually make their children any safer. And Abbott needs some smart business. A few years ago the company settled with the government for over $2 billion because they were illegally marketing their Depakote epilepsy drug as an off-label dementia treatment. Now they have begun marketing Pedialyte to adults - and the gullible type who thinks a baby formula containing some corn that came from a GMO will harm a child is likely to be the perfect target market for both.
Abbott lawyers worried that court-supervised probation for the CEO and Board of Directors in that settlement would hinder their ability to run the company, but they are showing they can be quite creative about conflating science and feel-good fallacies.
