Fwd: [S-A] Breastfeeding Ads Delayed Because of Formula Companies

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" Misty L. Trepke "

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 14:29:38 -0000

[s-A] [FNLBeInformed] Breastfeeding Ads Delayed Because of Formula

Companies

 

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Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Breastfeeding Ads Delayed By a Dispute Over Content

 

The New York Times published a long article today about the formula

companies, the AAP, and the delay of the NBAC.:

Breastfeeding Ads Delayed By a Dispute Over Content

By Melody Petersen

 

Federal officials have softened a national advertising campaign to

promote breastfeeding after complaints from two companies that make

infant formula, according to several doctors and nurses who are

helping the government with the effort.

 

A newsletter distributed by the Ad Council, a nonprofit group

developing the advertisements for the government, said that the

Department of Health and Human Services planned to begin the

campaign this month. But Christina Pearson, a spokeswoman for the

department, said yesterday that it was not clear when the

advertisements would begin.

 

Today, Kevin Keane, the department’s assistant secretary for

public affairs, plans to meet with a group of breastfeeding experts

who have been working on the campaign to discuss changes to the ads,

according to people invited to the meeting. The campaign includes

television, radio and print public service announcements.

 

The original campaign focused on “the risks associated with not

breastfeeding,†according to the Ad Council’s newsletter, and

included statistics form studies that have found that babies fed

formula have a higher risk of developing asthma, diabetes, leukemia

and other illnesses.

 

According to the newsletter, one planned spot, titled “Roller

Derby,†showed pregnant women roller skating. The voiceover said:

“You’d never take risks while you’re pregnant. Why start when

the baby’s born?â€

 

Ms. Pearson said that the information in the newsletter was

preliminary and should not have been released.

 

Peter Paradossi, a spokesman for Mead Johnson, the Bristol-Meyers

Squibb division that makes Enfamil formulas, said the company

supported a campaign to promote the benefits of breastfeeding, but

that the planned ads went too far.

 

“We worried it would give an impression that infant formula is

unhealthy and potentially dangerous,†he said.

 

Tracey Noe, a spokeswoman for Ross Products, the Abbott Laboratories

unit that makes Similac, said her company also supported projects

promoting breastfeeding. But she said Ross executives were concerned

that claims made in the government’s campaign were not based on

solid science. “The overall approach was like a scare tactic,â€

Ms. Noe said.

 

After the two companies and the top officials of the American

Academy of Pediatrics complained to federal health officials, the

government decided to eliminate spots discussing the risk of

leukemia and diabetes in babies not breastfed, said Amy Spangler,

the chairwoman of the United States Breastfeeding Committee, a group

that promotes breastfeeding. According to the Ad Council newsletter,

those ads said that babies not breastfed had a 30 percent increased

risk of developing leukemia and up to a 40 percent increased risk of

developing diabetes.

 

Ms. Spangler, a nurse who over the last year has been helping the

government develop the ads, said that a federal official told her of

the recent changes. She said that government officials still planned

to say in the ads that infants who are not breastfed face a higher

risk of developing obesity and ear infections, but they have removed

all specific statistics on the estimated level of risk.

 

Ms. Pearson declined to specify how the ads had been changed, but

said that the ads had been continuously modified as they were

reviewed by government scientists. “We are very committed to doing

this campaign and doing it right,†she said.

 

The campaign has divided physician members of the Amercian Academy

of Pediatrics. Dr. Joe M. Sanders Jr., the academy’s executive

director, and Dr. carden Johnston, its president, sent a letter to

Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of health and human services, in early

November expressing their concern about the tone of the campaign and

the soundness of the science providing the base for some of its

claims. Tht upset the academy’s own breastfeeding experts, who had

been working with the government on the ads and supported their

aggressive message.

 

Dr. Lawrence M. Gartner, the former chairman of the pediatrics

department at the University of Chicago and current chairman of the

academy’ s executive committee on breastfeeding, said he believed

that academy officials might have sent the letter to appease formula

manufacturers; some of them are large financial donors to the group.

 

“There is a lot of money involved,†Dr. Gartner Said. But Dr.

Sanders and Dr. Johnston said that the companies’ financial

contributions had nothing to do with their criticism of the

campaign. They said they had decided to send their letter before

Ross executives expressed their concerns at the academy’s national

conference, held last month in New Orleans.

 

Dr. Sanders said that some members of the academy were concerned

that the advertisements could make mothers who chose not to

breastfeed feel guilty if their child later developed leukemia or

another medical condition. Instead of emphasizing the risks of not

breastfeeding, he said, the campaign should emphasize

breastfeeding’s benefits.

 

Ross was one of the top three corporate donors to the academy’s

budget in 2001, giving more that $500,000, Dr. Sanders said last

year. Dr. Sander’s staff said yesterday that more recent

information was not available.

 

Last year, Ross purchased 300,000 copies of the academy’s latest

book on breastfeeding. Dr. Sanders said he would not disclose how

much the company paid for those books, whish it is distributing to

new mothers. He said last year that the academy had made a profit of

no more than $500,000 from the initial book purchase by Ross. Dr.

Gartner said that Ross recently purchased another 300,000 copies.

 

Ms. Spangler said she believed that the campaign would still be

effective in persuading mothers to breastfeed. But other

breastfeeding advocates expressed disappointment with changes that

they said had weakened the message.

 

Marsha Walker, who sits on the leadership team of the United States

Breastfeeding Committee with Ms. Spangler, said that the information

on leukemia and diabetes should be left in the ads.

 

I'm a registered nurse, and we would never withhold information from

our patients because we thought it might make them feel guilty,â€

Ms. Walker said. “This is being shot down by an industry that has

no business interfering. Ultimately it hurts the health of our

babies and our moms.

 

The NYT link is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/04/business/media/04adcol.html

 

 

 

 

 

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