Baby Milk Action questions adequacy of new baby milk law to protect infant health.

On March 1 1995, the government of the United Kingdom introduced a law which will allow baby milk advertising to mothers to continue to be distributed throughout the health care system. Baby Milk Action, the UK based breastfeeding advocacy group reports that after a year of negotiation and consultation which had resulted in proposals of a complete ban on advertising, the UK government in a dramatic turn around as a result of lobbies by the baby milk industry, weakened the proposals which are now in direct contravention of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes.

 

"Allowing any advertising of branded milks to mothers is a retrograde move as it has the potential for discouraging breastfeeding...Breastfeeding is the obvious choice and all formula milks are at best a third rate option".

Prof. F. Cockburn, Department of Child Health, University of Glasgow, March 1995

Critics state that despite falling breastfeeding rates and the overwhelming superiority of breastfeeding, the UK government relented to the pressures of the baby milk companies who see advertising in hospitals as a most effective promotional tactic.

UK breastfeeding rates are now lower than they were in 1980. The percentage of mothers still breastfeeding after 1 week has fallen by 4% and nearly all mothers breastfeed shorter than they intended. By 2 weeks only 50% of British babies receive any breastmilk at all. Government spending on breastfeeding support is a mere £130,000 compared to the spending by the baby milk industry of £5m to 12m per year to persuade mothers to bottlefeed. During 1992 the Department of Health Statistics reported that 11,554 babies were hospitalized for gastroenteritis. The price tag for hospitalization in addition to family distress was approximately £12m and a further 6m for cases treated by GPs.

Breastfeeding groups and professional organizations are working together to strengthen the new law by developing guidelines to ensure efficient monitoring and penalty for violations. Furthermore the groups are lobbying for legislation on a total ban of artificial feeding promotion.

The information for this article came from: Will the new baby milk law protect infant health in the UK? Baby Milk Action, March 1995

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