Dairy Groups Urge White House to Challenge WHO Guidelines Restricting Milk Consumption by Young Children
The National Milk Producers Federation, International Dairy Foods
Association and U.S. Dairy Export Council have authored a May 9, 2016,
letter to President Barack Obama (D), asking the White House to reject
proposed World Health Organization (WHO) guidance that “would
discourage consumption of nutritious dairy products by young children.”
Slated for presentation at the 69th World Health Assembly on May
23-28, 2016, the draft guidelines seek to end the promotion of breast-milk
substitutes, including all milk and fortified soy milk, intended for
consumption by children younger than age 3.
Among other things, the proposal not only places restrictions on the
marketing of foods for infants and young children, but also stipulates
that “the messages used to promote foods for infants and young children
should support optimal feeding and inappropriate messages should not
be included.” The guidelines specifically preclude the indirect crosspromotion
of breast-milk substitutes with other food products, as well
as any message that is “likely to undermine or discourage breastfeeding,
that makes a comparison to breast-milk, or that suggests that the product is nearly equivalent or superior to breast-milk.” Under the guidelines,
companies would be prohibited from providing free samples of foods
for infants or young children, or donating equipment, services or gifts to
healthcare facilities or staff.
“Discouraging parents from providing their young children with milk,
one of the most nutritious foods in the human diet, flies in the face of
common sense,” argues the letter, which criticizes guidelines that would
prohibit “common images such as a toddler enjoying strawberry yogurt,
a one year old eating cubes of cheese or a two year old drinking a glass of
milk.” As the dairy groups conclude, “Increased milk and dairy product
consumption in recent years has helped improve nutritional outcomes
for hundreds of millions of children around the world. This very positive
trend should be further encouraged, not thwarted by ill-advised and
unsubstantiated guidance from WHO.”
Issue 604
