Corporate Social Responsibility

Companies continue to violate baby milk code

Manufacturers of alternatives to breast milk are continuing to promote their products unethically and without sanction, despite almost 1.4m children dying every year because they are not getting enough of their mother's milk, research by Save the Children has found.

The research accuses companies of contravening World Health Organization (WHO) guidance by continuing to openly market certain baby foods and drink to babies from four months. The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until six months.

The report drew attention to the example of Cow & Gate, which in 2006 launched a marketing campaign to coincide with the launch of Healthy Start - a government scheme to promote health among pregnant women and young children. Infant formula was among the products promoted by the advertisements - direct advertising of infant formula is illegal under UK law. Cow & Gate claimed its baby milk was the "closest to breast milk". Following complaints by public interest groups, the Department of Health took action to clamp down on the advertising campaign.

Companies were also accused of enhancing their product's credibility and sales by forging links with health professionals and doctors. They do this, said Save the Children, by offering incentives such as prize draws and VIP trips, and creating conflicts of interest through their support of educational activities and research funding.

Substitutions for breastfeeding come at a terrible price. For example, Save the Children said that in Bangladesh improving breastfeeding rates could cut infant mortality by one-third. 

Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children chief executive, said: "It's incomprehensible why - when we know that breastfeeding can make the single biggest contribution to a baby's survival - that companies, for over 25 years, have been allowed to flout a UN approved code with little fear of retribution".

Save the Children is urging all infant formula manufacturers to comply with the United Nations-approved International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, and for the UK government to increase funding for breastfeeding promotion and go further in tightening the law on promotion of substitutes. The charity is also asking that the UN Children's Fund ensure that compliance with the Code becomes a measure of countries' implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

June 2007