INDUSTRY HOPES TO CENSOR ADS ON HAZARDS OF INFANT FORMULA

December 17, 2003

" 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.

After the two companies

[Mead Johnson and Abbott] 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. ... 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. ... 'This is being shot

down by an industry that has no business interfering.

Ultimately it

hurts the health of our babies and our moms.' "

SOURCE: New York Times, December 4, 2003

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