Best For Babies & Pleasant Slowfood

The law on Milk is about the marketing of breastmilk substitutes because it has been scientifically established that breast milk is best for babies. The Milk law is about products not age. There is no age limit as long as breastfeeding persists. But, breastfeeding is easily undermined, if the TV endorsers of milk are big movie stars like Governor Vilma Santos, Lea Salonga or Sharon Cuneta, showing claims that milk is the magic for health and nutrition. Examples of aggressive advertisements that overwhelm us daily on television are Mead Johnson's Panatag 100% by Carmina Villaroel, Claudine Barreto, Jodi Santamaria- Lacson, 7IQ Plus, Ask your doctor, Pursue excellence, brain development with Lea Salonga, Nestle -Sharon and Miel's Look at me Mom, My only Milk, Wyeth Minds in Progress etc. All these TV commercials continue to entice us with new versions.

The Supreme Court in upholding the Implementing Rules & Regulations (IRR) of the Milk Code says that infants & young children must be protected and that as the Department of Health correctly provided in the IRR, the
“ promotion of products…. must be objective and should not equate or make the (milk) product appear to be good or equal to breastmilk or breastfeeding in the advertising concept…. The total effect (of advertising) should not directly or indirectly suggest that buying their product would produce better individuals, or result in greater love, intelligence, ability, harmony or in any manner bring better health to the baby, or other such exaggerated and unsubstantiated claim.’’

The law on milk says that all health and nutrition claims in the marketing of breastmilk substitutes are prohibited. Photos of mothers and children are prohibited. If the Inter Agency Committee, IAC ( headed by the Department of Health ) in charge of implementing the IRR, approved the advertisement, then both the IAC and the milk company need to prove their claims. As mothers promoting breastfeeding, we have learned that breast milk sourced DHA & ARA ( fatty acids) are the ones best for babies. But, the artificial DHA & ARA added to the milk formula that our movie stars are promoting are derived from algae and fungi and therefore, very inferior compared to mothers’ milk. Other countries, like Canada, had disallowed Mead Johnson ( Enfamil + A formula) from claiming that their product promises visual acuity. Accordingly, it was disallowed because it was not backed by scientific evidence, only a study by the formula maker. As we know, scientific evidence must be confirmed by independent research.

Related to promoting breastfeeding is the Slow Food Movement which has for its adage “ a firm defense of quiet pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of fast life.’’ The slow food movement is about how “to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world”

Atty Ipat Luna, President of Tanggol Kalikasan who is promoting the slow food movement says,” the slowfood movement should take a look at how milk is being pushed nowadays. No one thought to ask why Mrs. Obama wanted her spinach creamless and no one connected the dairy assault (Kapanatag, Gov Vilma Santos and 2 glasses of bear brand a day, Look at me Mom, Lea Salonga and Enfakid etc.) to something that is against local, seasonal, sustainable agriculture. Nearly every bankable star in the firmaments of Philippine TV and cinema is now endorsing milk!”