UNICEF statement to the European Parliament Development and.doc

UNICEF statement to the European Parliament Development and Co-operation Committee - Special meeting on standard setting by European enterprises in developing countries. 23 November 2000 The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and Subsequent Resolutions of the World Health Assembly Imagine that the world had invented a new dream product to feed and immunise everyone born on Earth. Imagine also that it was available everywhere, required no storage or delivery - and helped mothers to plan their families and reduce the risk of cancer. Then imagine that the world refused to use it. At the end of a century of unprecedented discovery and invention, even as scientists discover the origins of life itself, this scenario is not, alas, a fiction. The dream product is breastmilk, available to us all at birth, and yet we are not using it ref 1 . In 1981 the World Health Assembly adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes ref 2 to address the serious concerns that had arisen over the effects of marketing of artificial feeding on the health of infants and young children. Since then the Assembly has adopted eight subsequent Resolutions clarifying the Code and attempting to close loopholes in the original text. Since the Code itself was adopted as a resolution, these subsequent resolutions have the same legal status as the Code itself and should be read along with it.? In the preamble to the Code, the Member States of the World Health Organisation recognised that: inappropriate feeding practices lead to infant malnutrition, morbidity and mortality in all countries, and that improper practices in the marketing of breast-milk substitutes and related products can contribute to these major public health problems; This statement contains two of the major elements underlying the Code: FIRST: The Code applies in ALL COUNTRIES. As its name suggests, the Code is INTERNATIONAL and applies globally ref 3 . The drafters never contemplated