HOSPITAL STOPS ACCEPTING FREE BABY FORMULA
By Adnews Staff
Babies born at B.C. Women's Hospital can no longer get a free lunch. The hospital is the first in Canada to stop the practice of accepting free baby formula. Companies who make baby formula have given away their product to new mothers for years as a marketing ploy. However, the World Health Organization began denouncing the practice in 1979, on the grounds that it tends to discourage breast feeding and leads to health problems for babies, especially in underdeveloped countries. The B.C. hospital will review its decision in a year. Although there is data showing the health benefits of breast-feeding, there isn't any evidence showing that accepting free supplies leads to greater formula use in Canada. The WHO has a code discouraging companies from sending free formula to third-world countries, where unsanitary living conditions and a lack of understanding among mothers about how to use the product lead to infant malnutrition, diarrhea and gastroenteritis. American Home Products and Nestle S.A. stopped the practice in 1991.