Report warns of continuing violations of code on breast milk substitute marketing

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7450.1218-b

BMJ 2004;328:1218 (22 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7450.1218-b

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Report warns of continuing violations of code on breast milk substitute marketing

Susan Mayor

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Many manufacturers of breast milk substitutes continue to violatean international code on marketing, a new report published lastweek says.

The report analysed the promotional practices of 16 internationalbaby food companies and 14 bottle and teat companies betweenJanuary 2002 and April 2004. It was published by the InternationalBaby Food Action Network, a coalition of public interest groupsworking to reduce infant morbidity and mortality, as part ofits ongoing monitoring of compliance with the internationalcode of marketing of breast milk substitutes and relevant resolutionsof the World Health Assembly.

Results showed a growing emphasis on "closeness to breast milk"in advertising materials: manufacturers attribute this closenessto the addition of fatty acids derived from fungi, algae, orfish oil, with claims linking them to increased intelligence.

Some mothers believe claims that breastmilk substitutes increase intelligence

Credit: GIACOMO PIROZZI/PANOS

The report also found that health . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Misperceptions and misuse of Bear Brand coffee creamer as infant food: national cross sectional survey of consumers and paediatricians in Laos: Hubert Barennes, Todisoa Andriatahina, Vattanaphone Latthaphasavang, Margot Anderson, and Leila M Srour
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This article has been cited by other articles:

Barennes, H., Andriatahina, T., Latthaphasavang, V., Anderson, M., Srour, L. M (2008). Misperceptions and misuse of Bear Brand coffee creamer as infant food: national cross sectional survey of consumers and paediatricians in Laos. BMJ 337: a1379-a1379 [Abstract] [Full text]

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