Fears over baby food marketing raised
The Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) has urged the government to implement the IMS Act strictly and punish violators.
The IMS Act prohibits manufacturers of baby food and formula from directly or indirectly marketing to doctors or health staff.
However, several companies not only offer health staff financial inducements for promoting their products, but also pamper them by sending them to seminars and medical conferences in exotic locales.
“Use of marketing techniques by these companies have upturned basic child-rearing, making people believe that they have chosen a better way to feed and raise their children on the factory made stuff,” says Dr Jayashree Jayakrishnan of the IBCLC, pointing out that Tamil Nadu only records 33 per cent mothers breastfeeding for six months.
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