RACP calls for restrictions on infant formula marketing

The federal government’s decision to scrap an independent panel overseeing the proper use of breast milk substitutes has prompted calls from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) to restrict the marketing of infant formulas in Australia.

Associate Professor Susan Moloney, the RACP’s Paediatrics and Child Health Division president, said the RACP is concerned that there will be a drop in breastfeeding rates in Australia if manufacturers of infant formula are permitted to self-regulate their own marketing practices.

“The disbanding of the independent Advisory Panel on the Marketing in Australia of Infant Formula (APMAIF) is also very concerning,” Associate Professor Moloney said.

“We would like to see legislation that reflects the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, which recommends restrictions on the marketing of substitutes to ensure that mothers are not encouraged to unnecessarily abandon breastfeeding.

“Since this international code was adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1981, 84 countries have enacted legislation implementing many or all of the provisions of the code - Australia is not one of them.

“Removing the APMAIF and replacing it with an industry-led process creates a risk that these companies will protect their own interests over the core responsibility to promote the best source of infant nutrition - breastfeeding.

“We need an impartial and independent body in place to monitor the marketing and complaints process for infant formula in Australia, guided and regulated by legislation that restricts public exposure to information that would undermine breastfeeding.”

Associate Professor Moloney says that only 15% of mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies up to the age of six months in Australia, so greater efforts are required to promote breastfeeding as the primary source of infant nutrition.

“We urge the government, the health department and the Infant Nutrition Council to be transparent about the proposed new arrangements for the complaints and marketing process, before any decisions are made, and to work with the college’s paediatricians as they establish these new arrangements.”