HAZARDS OF INFANT FORMULA

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From <www.prwatch.org>
12/17/03
INDUSTRY HOPES TO CENSOR ADS ON HAZARDS OF INFANT FORMULA
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/04/business/media/04adcol.html

"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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