European Union may relax rules on marketing baby milk
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《英国医生杂志》
Health organisations fear that negotiations now taking place to update European Union legislation on infant formula could dilute existing restrictions on the health and nutritional claims companies may make for their products.
They are also pressing the EU to incorporate fully into European legislation the World Health Organization's International Code of Marketing Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent resolutions which EU countries have supported at various World Health Assemblies.
The final decision on the marketing of infant formula lies with a committee of civil servants from EU countries
Credit: MARTIN LEE/REX
Adopted in 1981, the code calls for exclusive breast feeding for the first six months of a baby's life and contains provisions laying down clear boundaries on marketing substitutes for breast milk.
Under the procedures for revising the 1991 legislation, the proposed text will be made public only after the European Commission has completed its confidential discussions with national officials. Then the draft will be sent to stakeholders, such as the industry and non-governmental organisations, for their comments—probably early next year. The European Parliament will also be consulted, but MEPs have no power to vote amendments to the text as they do in other areas of policy. The final decision lies with a committee of national civil servants. If a sufficient majority supports the proposed changes, the commission can implement them.
The commission, which is working with national government officials to revise the 13 year old EU legislation, points out that the union was one of the first to implement large parts of the non-binding code. The commission stresses, however, that the social, economic, and cultural features of the EU's member states must also be taken into account.
For instance, the code states that advertising infant formula should be totally banned. But, at the insistence of some governments, European rules allow limited advertising in scientific and specialised babycare publications.
The International Code Documentation Centre, which monitors implementation of the code worldwide, however, recently wrote to David Byrne, the outgoing European public health commissioner, claiming that its contents were being "sidestepped and ignored" as the 1991 legislation is updated.
It claimed, for instance, that the promotion of exclusive breast feeding in the first six months was being undermined by moves to define infant formula as "foodstuffs for nutritional use of infants for the first months of life."
Baby milk campaigners fear that the revision exercise will lead to a relaxation in the claims which manufacturers may make for their products. That, they say, would be in direct contradiction to the recent EU funded blueprint for action on the protection, promotion, and support for breast feeding in Europe.
The European Commission stresses that it is too early to state whether the redrafting exercise will make any changes to the restrictive list of permitted health claims.(Rory Watson)
They are also pressing the EU to incorporate fully into European legislation the World Health Organization's International Code of Marketing Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent resolutions which EU countries have supported at various World Health Assemblies.
The final decision on the marketing of infant formula lies with a committee of civil servants from EU countries
Credit: MARTIN LEE/REX
Adopted in 1981, the code calls for exclusive breast feeding for the first six months of a baby's life and contains provisions laying down clear boundaries on marketing substitutes for breast milk.
Under the procedures for revising the 1991 legislation, the proposed text will be made public only after the European Commission has completed its confidential discussions with national officials. Then the draft will be sent to stakeholders, such as the industry and non-governmental organisations, for their comments—probably early next year. The European Parliament will also be consulted, but MEPs have no power to vote amendments to the text as they do in other areas of policy. The final decision lies with a committee of national civil servants. If a sufficient majority supports the proposed changes, the commission can implement them.
The commission, which is working with national government officials to revise the 13 year old EU legislation, points out that the union was one of the first to implement large parts of the non-binding code. The commission stresses, however, that the social, economic, and cultural features of the EU's member states must also be taken into account.
For instance, the code states that advertising infant formula should be totally banned. But, at the insistence of some governments, European rules allow limited advertising in scientific and specialised babycare publications.
The International Code Documentation Centre, which monitors implementation of the code worldwide, however, recently wrote to David Byrne, the outgoing European public health commissioner, claiming that its contents were being "sidestepped and ignored" as the 1991 legislation is updated.
It claimed, for instance, that the promotion of exclusive breast feeding in the first six months was being undermined by moves to define infant formula as "foodstuffs for nutritional use of infants for the first months of life."
Baby milk campaigners fear that the revision exercise will lead to a relaxation in the claims which manufacturers may make for their products. That, they say, would be in direct contradiction to the recent EU funded blueprint for action on the protection, promotion, and support for breast feeding in Europe.
The European Commission stresses that it is too early to state whether the redrafting exercise will make any changes to the restrictive list of permitted health claims.(Rory Watson)