Milk powder maketing slammed

Several civic groups yesterday urged the Department of Health (DOH) to tighten restrictions on the promotion of infant formula milk powder and food.

The Taiwan Academy of Breastfeeding, along with seven other associations, made the call at a joint press conference yesterday, saying the government should establish a committee to govern infants health issues, particularly to regulate the marketing of babies' formula milk powder and food in medical institutions.

Academy chairwoman Chen Chao-huei (陳昭惠) said that many formula milk manufacturers cooperate with medical professionals and promote their products in hospitals, clinics and pharmacies, which is a violation of international protocols.

Chairwoman for the Chinese Dietetic Society Chang Yueh-chi (章樂綺) said the UN's International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes was introduced to Taiwan by the Consumers' Foundation in 1983.

The code seeks to ensure newborns' health by strictly regulating how companies can sell infant formula milk and food.

However, according to research conducted by the National Taipei College of Nursing's Graduate Institute of Midwifery two years ago, close to 35 percent of mothers were given free product samples or advertisements by salesmen or medical staff in medical institutions.

Around 11 percent of the interviewees even reported that they had received follow-up phone calls from manufacturers after giving birth, Chen said.

In addition, in 2001 Taiwan failed an evaluation conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network, an NGO that monitors compliance with the code, 20 years after the code was officially issued, Chang said.

She added that the country did not pass the review because product marketing still prevailed in medical institutions.

"Offering free or sponsored baby milk powder is not a goodwill gesture. It is an effective marketing strategy that should not be encouraged because it seriously impedes breastfeeding," Chang said.

Calling babies "the youngest and the weakest consumers," she said governmental regulations still need to catch up with international norms.

Bureau of Food Safety director Hsiao Tung-ming (蕭東銘) admitted that the department's regulations and punishments for illegal baby formula milk and food marketing remain inadequate.

He said the bureau will promote an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) in the Legislative Yuan's next session to better regulate the products.