Sunday, April 1, 2007

Coming Soon: Formula for Disaster


UNICEF will very shortly release its new documentary film called "Formula for Disaster" (photo above was grabbed from the documentary) about National Milk Code (EO51) violations by powdered milk companies in the Philippines. The film offers a shocking catalog of shameless violations which show how the health system has been completely taken over by these companies.

As an American citizen I wanted to let people know that a lot of Western countries are now rediscovering the many benefits of breastfeeding. Its so ironic that the Philippines is going in the opposite direction! In fact, many highly educated American mothers are now informing themselves about the benefits of breastfeeding and making sure they are able to breastfeed their young children as long as possible. The US Government has also embarked on an intensive campaign to help educate mothers about breastfeeding. Readers of this blog might be interested to see how the US Government is promoting breastfeeding by visiting this site:

http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/

In addition this URL from the American Academy of Family Physicians contains very useful information about the relative risks of infant formula feeding versus breastfeeding:

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000401/2093.html

And this URL from the American Academy of Pediatrics is also useful:

http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/feb05breastfeeding.html

The Philippines Department of Health, WHO and UNICEF are hoping that more and more Filipina mothers will arm themselves with information and insist that their doctors and midwives provide every possible support to exclusive breastfeeding. Please become an advocate! The health of millions of Filipino children is at stake!

Dale Rutstein, Chief of Communication, UNICEF Philippines

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