Government Pressured by Formula Companies

[Guest guest]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Investigation/2020_breastfeeding_a

ds_040604-1.html

 

Milk Money

Advocates Say Government Pressured by Formula Companies to `Water

Down' Breast-feeding Ads

 

By Brian Ross and Jill Rackmill

 

June 4, 2004 — The U.S. government will unveil a new advertising

campaign to promote breast-feeding today, after months of fierce

lobbying to change its approach, ABC News has learned.

 

Watch Brian Ross' full report tonight on 20/20 at 10 p.m. ET

 

The campaign that will be announced today in Washington, D.C., is

much different than what was first produced.

 

In what has been called a battle between mother's milk and corporate

power, the companies that make infant formula put intense pressure on

the government to change its approach.

 

ABC News has obtained the ads that were produced but never aired. One

of the ads showed pregnant women at a roller derby violently

competing and then the message: " You wouldn't risk your baby's health

before it's born. Why start after? "

 

The other spots obtained by ABC News include pregnant women at a log-

rolling contest and riding a mechanical bull. They ended with a list

of diseases that the ads said were more common among babies not

breast-fed, including diabetes, leukemia and ear infections.

 

The ads were set to be released last December, but some formula

companies complained after getting an earlier sneak preview of the

ads before they hit the airwaves.

 

A spokesperson for the International Formula Council, the trade group

for the formula industry, said they support breast-feeding and only

objected to the commercials because they felt they were too negative

in tone and inaccurate.

 

" When you say 'not breast-feeding is risky,' what you're saying

is 'using infant formula is risky,' and that is true and they know

it, " said Dr. Jay Gordon, a pediatrician in Santa Monica, Calif., and

a member of the breast-feeding committee of the American Academy of

Pediatrics. Gordon added that there is no substitute for human milk,

with all of its immune system benefits for newborns.

 

On Hold

 

The decision to put the campaign on hold was made in Washington at

the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

Officials confirm to ABC News that HHS' Secretary Tommy Thompson met

privately with formula industry officials. He turned down meeting

requests from breast-feeding advocates.

 

But the assistant secretary for HHS, Christine Beato, said she

was " not aware of that, " and said the ads were pulled because a

review found them scientifically inaccurate.

 

When asked what role the infant formula industry played in putting a

hold on this campaign, she answered, " to my knowledge, none. "

 

But breast-feeding advocates say the science and the figures used in

the commercials were valid.

 

" The ad campaign is backed by scientific research, by good research, "

said Dr. Larry Gartner, the former chairman of pediatrics at the

University of Chicago and the head of the breast-feeding committee of

the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 

`Watered Down' Ads

 

Some of the modified ads are being released later today, but the spot

with the roller derby scenes will not air. HHS also left out all

references to leukemia and diabetes in babies not breast-fed.

 

Many pediatricians and breast-feeding advocates welcome any campaign

to promote breast-feeding, but the staunchest advocates see a

sellout.

 

" The fact that they managed to get this campaign watered down is

evidence that money can influence good medicine, and that large

amounts of money can influence even good doctors, " said Gordon.

 

The campaign also killed a series of print ads that claimed, in stark

terms, that babies not breast-fed were at greater risk of certain

diseases.