Protecting breastfeeding - Protecting babies fed on formula

Patti Rundall, Baby Milk Action Policy Director, on the BBC Politics Show East Midlands on 13 February 2010.

Send a message to Members of the European Parliament by going to:

http://info.babymilkaction.org/cem/cemfeb11

Cerelac in India Feb 2011"The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made"    Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944).

Please click here.

Please go to: http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/campaignblog260111

The debate about the value of the BMJ comment piece rages on, with misleading stories and headlines falsely implying that breastfeeding is a risk to health and that the UK guidance is a rigid dictate to mothers forbidding any food other than breastmilk until the clock strikes midnight at the end of the 6th month.  Since some of the media are also questioning whether the links between the authors and the baby food industry are relevant,  I thought it might be helpful to explain our concerns about the paper, its  timing and the authors' knowledge of the risks of media reporting.

see also new Policy Blog: http://info.babymilkaction.org/node/326

WHO breastfeeding recommendations under attack from industry-funded scientists

Press release 14 January 2011

The BBC,  the Guardian, The Times, The Sun and  other media are carrying stories - about a comment piece from four authors published in the British Medical Journal today challenging World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation that breastfeeding is exclusive for 6 months (no other foods or drinks introduced). The media coverage implies that the challenge is based on new evidence. In fact this is not a new scientific study nor a systematic review, but the authors review of selected past research, published in the 'Analysis' section of the BMJ. 

STOP PRESS: The EU Committee that met on the 6th December APPROVED the claim that DHA improves eyesight for use on follow-on milks and baby foods,   Members of the European Parliament and the European Council now have 3 months to comment. 

Please contact your local MEP and asked them to stop this claim being approved.

EU deadline for DHA, ALA and ARA claims

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) continues to plough through the hundreds of dossiers supplied by food companies who wish to make claims on foods (see UDs 41 & 42). We focus on children’s food and formula claims which fall under Article 14 of the European Nutrition and Health Claims Regulations (1924/2006).  

 Arch Dis Child published online July 26, 2010 J S Forsyth

http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2010/06/22/adc.2010.187294.full

International code of marketing of breast-milkand international governance --three decades later time for hostilities to be replaced by effective national substitutes 

An article  in  the Archive of Diseases in Childhood by Prof Stewart Forsyth (who declares long-standing collaboration with the formula companies) portrays a harmful message about Baby Milk Action and other groups monitoring and campaigning to stop the harmful marketing of baby foods. Below are some comments about the article and the media coverage it is generating: 

Baby Milk Action  response to the Department of Children Schools and Families consultation: Assessing the Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing - A Call for Evidence    July  2008

 One aspect of the new Education Minister, Michael Gove's policy that hasn't been questioned is what he means when he will check whether parents who want to set up new schools have a "dark agenda."

Good that he promises not to allow extremist religious groups,' fake theories' and 'bogus science' - but what about the corporate agenda?

Question tabled in the House of Lords by Lord Avebury, (Lib Dem Peer) 30th November 2009

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will discuss with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees the desirability of entering into a new partnership agreement with Nestlé, with reference to the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions. [HL378]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): We fully support the principles of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent resolutions adopted by the World Health Assembly and are committed to the promotion and encouragement of breastfeeding for infants. We have spoken with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and understand that they are in the process of considering their position.

6 Jan 2010 : Column WA99

Nestle challenged over its health claims strategy which  tells mothers in 120 countries that its baby milk will 'protect' their babies.

As Greenpeace activists cut through the ceiling of the Palais in Lausanne the Nestle AGM Nestlé, one of the world's most boycotted companies because of the way it markets baby milk, was challenged at its shareholder meeting about its failure to abide by marketing standards adopted by the World Health Assembly. 

"Good afternoon. Thank you very much for allowing me to  speak once more.....