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Consumers International/ IBFAN speeches, WHO Executive Board Meeting

21 January, 2011 - 14:42 — Patti
30 years of IBFAN

Consumers International/IBFAN speeches at the WHO Executive Board Meeting, Geneva.  January 2011, WHO Geneva

How media reporting can derail health policy

18 January, 2011 - 19:16 — Patti

 

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.

BFLG response to Consultation on Bisphenol A in feeding bottles

14 January, 2011 - 15:24 — Patti

Consultation on Bisphenol A: The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Eng)

New Zealand ASA upholds complaint against Wyeth for S26 Lutien eye claim

6 December, 2010 - 22:30 — Patti

New Zealand ASA upholds complaint against Wyeth for S26 Lutien eye claim  

 Two magazine advertisements published in Littles were both very similar and featured the headline piece which read:

“SEE  THE WORLD  THROUGH THEIR EYES” 


EU to decide on DHA claims

29 November, 2010 - 13:40 — Patti

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).  

Commercial involvement in UK Start4Life: Baby Milk Action Comments

19 October, 2010 - 07:09 — Patti

Baby Milk Action response to Department of Health Questions regarding commercial involvement in Start 4 Life  October 2010

 What would your criteria be for supporting the inclusion of an organisation as a Start4Life partner?

 In addition to the submission made on behalf of the Baby Feeding Law Group and the Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition Baby Milk Action would like to make some additional comments regarding the consultation about Private Sector involvement with Start for Life.

The questions posed need to be rephrased. Baby Milk Action is not comfortable with being seen as supporting partnership with any for-profit company on any government health education scheme, especially on Start4Life. Our position has, from the start, been that the involvement of commercial companies in education schemes risks undue commercial influence of the messages being conveyed, increasing the likelihood that parents receive conflicting messages which are known to undermine the DH public health line.  We cannot stress enough the importance of  all governments taking seriously their responsibilities and obligations under the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Nutrition to provide truly objective, evidence-based information and support to parents.

Article in Archives of Diseases in Childhood

30 July, 2010 - 17:28 — Patti

 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: 

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