A study conducted by Lancet on breastfeeding shows some strategies that the commercial formula-making companies have come up with, which are rapidly undermining the natural process of breastfeeding and has turned the simple process of feeding children and infants into a profit-making industry earning easily over the 50 Billion mark on an annual basis. Due to this, Lancet urges people to rise and protect breastfeeding.
The formula milk marketing tactics are, in a sense, exploitative in nature, and Lancet urged the authorities to immediately strengthen and implement proper regulations upon those operating within this industry. The writers of the study stated that besides being able to influence organizations of political importance, these formula milk companies also sully the credibility of science by sponsoring other professional organizations and counseling different articles within scientific journals.
In a statement, the authors of the study stated that the formula milk industry has a tendency to use little to no science, with minuscule supporting evidence that their products are the way to go to avoid challenges to the development of an infant and their general health. These advertisements claim that the specialized formulas are successfully able to help with colic, fussiness, and sleep cycles and even achieve the impossible by assisting in developing superior intelligence. The labels of these products use terms such as ‘neuro,’ ‘brain,’ and others with some images which highlight the positive impact, such as early development. Still, proper studies have proven that there are no benefits found scientifically within these product ingredients which boost cognitive skills and academic performances.
The study procedure to share details about how the marketing practices adopted by these corporations are in direct violation of the voluntary code of marketing of breast milk substitutes, which was developed by the World Health ministry in the year of 1981. These ethical violations have proceeded to fester within 100 countries and in almost every single region of the world ever since the code was adopted over 40 years ago. It further stated that the voluntary acceptance of the score is merely not enough and that it calls for a legal Treaty on an international level against the commercial marketing of food products for babies to protect the health and well-being of the mothers as well as the families.
