Breast milk ban uproar
The British government's volte face on the ban on advertising breast milk substitutes has triggered alarm in medical circles. On March 1, the government tabled before Parliament a watered down regulation that will allow advertising in publications distributed through the public healthcare system. This law is at odds with a European Community directive last year which said that such advertising should be restricted to professional and scientific journals.
It also contradicts the government's professed commitment to the World Health Organisation's International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. The code, adopted in 1981, pushes for the stopping of all breastmilk substitute advertising -- a major step to ensure that mothers, freelance childcarers and health workers receive impartial advice and are cushioned against commercial pressures.
Pati Rundall of the pressure group, Baby Milk Action, complains that the government has turned a deaf ear to the advice of professional bodies such as the British Medical Association, the British Paediatric Association and the Royal College of Midwives.