Declaration for the promotion of Breastfeeding and the Marketing of Artificial Feeding Products in the USA
(Artificial Feeding Product is replacing the term infant formula.)
Referencing by the Center for Breastfeeding Information (CBI)
Affirming that breastfeeding is a unique process that:
- Provides optimal nutrition for infants and contributes to their healthy growth and development; (1-14)
- Reduces incidence and severity of infectious and noninfectious diseases, thereby lowering infant morbidity and mortality; (15-33)
- Contributes to women’s health by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer (34-38)
- Provides social and economic benefits to the family and the nation, and these benefits are equally available at all economic levels; (39-43)
- Provides women with a sense of satisfaction and self-esteem when supported and when women are given accurate information to help ensure success and empowers them in making positive health decisions for their families; (44-48)
- Maximizes the positive impact of infant feeding (minimizes the impact of artificial feeding products) on the ecology. (49-50)
Believing that, in the light of the foregoing considerations, and in view of the vulnerability of infants in the early months of life and the risks involved in inappropriate feeding practices, including the unnecessary and improper use of AFP, the marketing of these products requires special treatment which makes the usual marketing practices unsuitable for these products. We therefore declare that it is imperative to protect, promote and support breastfeeding by:
- Establishing regulations for information and educational materials, whether written, audio, or visual, dealing with the feeding of infants;
- Establishing regulations of advertising of artificial feeding products and baby foods;
- Establishing regulations for distribution of artificial feeding products, directly or indirectly to pregnant women, mothers, or members of their families;
- Promoting policies and practices within the health care system to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding, especially ensuring mother-infant policies;
- Promoting the education of lactation management of all levels of health workers;
- Eliminating advertising or other forms of promotion to the public of infant food products;
- Passage of a code of marketing for infant food products in the USA.
We believe that these regulations are necessary to ensure that:
-
- Women are well informed about breastfeeding and that their feeding choice is understood as more than just a lifestyle choice, but is a positive health decision for both mother and baby;(51-56)
- Exclusive breastfeeding is understood to be necessary to obtain optimal maternal and child health nutrition and is recommended; (57-63)
- There is an understanding of the dose-related risk (artificial feeding/breastfeeding) ratio (i.e., the more breast milk a baby receives, the greater the benefits to mother and child); (64-72)
- Infant formula is seen as an “artificial feeding product” (AFP), not a breast milk substitute; (73-76)
- The artificial feeding of babies is understood to be a high-risk behavior, which requires more health care services and costs; (77-81)
- All artificial feeding products must be of the highest quality, with only factual and scientific information on labels and in educational materials; (82-86)
- Mothers will have the opportunity to make an informed choice about how they will feed their infants without commercial pressures; (87-91)
- Breastfeeding will become the cultural norm with the removal of barriers. (92-96)
(May 92)