THE WHO/UNICEF INTERNATIONAL CODE OF MARKETING BREAST-

MILK SUBSTITUTES
The papers in this double issue of Nutrition and Health were presented at the
12th Annual Conference of the McCarrison Society which was held in Oxford
in July, 1982 entitled Nourishment for the Next Generation: from Pre-conception to
Weaning - the Influence of Nutrition. It was sponsored by the World Health
Organisation and there follows part of the statement read out by Ms Jo Garcia
of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford on behalf of Dr. Marsen
Wagner.

'I would like to make a short statement on behalf of Dr. Wagner, Regional
Officer for National and Child Health of the European Region of the World
Health Organisation. Dr. Wagner sends his greetings and would like to draw
the attention of conference participants to the WHO/UNICEF International Code
of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes.
This code was adopted by the WHO in May 1981 because of concern among
member nations about the impact upon infant mortality, malnutrition and
disease of inappropriate infant feeding practices and a concern to regulate the
commercial marketing of breast-milk substitutes. At their 35th World Health
Assembly this year the WHO again urged member states to adopt national
legislation and regulations to give effect to the International Code.
In October 1981 the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on
member states to implement the code both in their own countries and in relation
to their export and foreign aid policies. So far, with the exception of Sweden,
European countries have been slow to respond to these calls.
In summary the code calls upon governments to:
1 Halt all advertising and promotion of artificial baby milks to the public.
2 Halt the distribution of free milk samples while permitting the retention of
long term supplies for those in medical need.
3 Prohibit the use of 'mother-craft' nurses - company personnel acting as
health educators.
4 Restrict industry gifts to health workers.
5 Require improved labelling to emphasis the importance of breast feeding
and the hazards of artificial feeding.'

130

Downloaded from nah.sagepub.com at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on June 15, 2015