News

22nd September 2005

Legal loophole allows 'banned' milk advertising

New research suggests that women are being exposed to misleading messages about formula milk through clever advertising which exploits a loophole in UK law.

A MORI survey of 1,000 new mothers and pregnant women published by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF UK) suggests that manufacturers are finding ways around regulations banning the promotion of infant formula for babies.

The ban was introduced in the UK in 1995 in recognition of the importance of breastfeeding but 60 per cent of mothers believed they had seen infant formula advertising and a third said the advertising gave the impression that infant formula milk was ‘as good as’ or ‘better than’ breastmilk.

However, there is overwhelming evidence that bottle-feeding carries health risks, including gastroenteritis and respiratory infections. Mothers who bottlefeed are also more likely to develop breast or ovarian cancer.

Since the law banning advertising was introduced, manufacturers have concentrated on promoting their follow-on formulas and their company names, as well as certain ingredients in their formula milks.

The study found that many mothers are unclear about the distinction between the different types of formula milk.

Of the mothers who had used follow-on milk, nearly one in five said they started before their baby was three months old, despite the product’s higher mineral content, which is unsuitable before six months.

Andrew Radford, Director of UNICEF UK’s Baby Friendly Initiative, said, “Follow-on formula is not safe for younger babies so if they are being fed follow-on formula, this is really very worrying.”

The Baby Friendly Initiative is a global programme of UNICEF and the World Health Organisation which works with the health services to improve practice so that parents are enabled and supported to make informed choices about how they feed and care for their babies. In the UK, the Baby Friendly Initiative is commissioned by various parts of the health service to provide advice, support, education, networking, assessment and accreditation

They are calling for the European Commission to act to end the confusion and protect mothers and governments including the UK the flexibility to extend the advertising ban so the law does what it was originally intended to do.

Andrew Radford said, “When the advertising ban was introduced, it didn’t cover follow-on formula. The manufacturers have since changed the way they package and promote their follow-on formulas so that they’re almost identical to the regular infant formula.

"This means that a, supposedly legal, TV or magazine advert for a follow-on formula will also promote a company’s infant formula.”

An NOP poll commissioned by the Department of Health in August 2005 supports the findings that the majority of women who have seen formula advertising consider it to be infant formula advertising.

Where to next?