ISLAMABAD: Calling the marketing of breast milk substitutes in Pakistan a matter of “life and death” for infants, the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services on Thursday directed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and federal health ministry to ensure that all formula milk advertisements and product packaging carry clear warnings stressing that mother’s milk is the best source of nutrition for infants and that formula milk is not a substitute for breastfeeding.
The committee, chaired by Senator Amir Waliuddin Chishti, also opposed any proposal to transfer the regulation of breast milk substitutes from federal authorities to provincial food departments. Members argued that provincial food authorities were already struggling to ensure the supply of safe and unadulterated milk for adults and, therefore, could not effectively regulate infant nutrition products.
“DRAP should write to PEMRA and formula milk marketing companies to ensure that every advertisement carries a clear message that mother’s milk is the best nutrition for a child and that breast milk substitutes are nowhere near mother’s milk in nutritional value,” Senator Chishti told officials from DRAP and Ministry of National Health Services during the meeting. Committee members accused formula milk companies of making exaggerated and misleading claims, including suggestions that their products could enhance children’s intelligence, improve IQ or turn them into unusually healthy or “super” children.
They asked DRAP to take punitive action against companies using such claims in their marketing, packaging or media campaigns.
Senator Chishti said only around 2,000 children out of more than six million born in Pakistan every year genuinely required formula milk due to specific medical conditions, yet breast milk substitute products worth Rs130 to Rs150 billion were being sold annually in the country.
