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A GROUP of Filipino women on Tuesday bared their
breasts outside the Supreme Court in support of breast-feeding as
milk formula companies launched a legal challenge against
advertising restrictions.
The 21 women, aged between 37 and
72, said they had all raised healthy children on natural breast
milk. They unbuttoned their blouses to reveal hand-painted slogans
across their breasts.
“Infant formula is
dangerous,” read one. “Yes to breast-feeding,” read the slogan
on 72-year-old Narcisa Santiago, a mother of seven.
Riot police drove the protesters
away from the Court after they ignored an order to cover up. No
arrests were made.
Breast-feeding is in decline
across Asia, with just 35 percent of mothers’ breast-feeding
exclusively during their baby’s first six months, according to the
World Health Organization (WHO).
The government reacted last year
by imposing a strict marketing code on milk substitutes, which have
been strongly promoted by manufacturers.
Inside the Court Tuesday, judges
heard a suit lodged by the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association
of the Philippines challenging the government’s move.
The government directive, issued
by President Arroyo, was designed to make it harder for companies to
target parents with advertising that claimed instant formula milk
fostered smarter, stronger babies.
The local US Chamber of Commerce
sent a letter to President Arroyo asking her to reexamine the
advertising restrictions or risk the country’s “reputation as a
stable and viable destination for investment.”
Research has shown that babies
given breast milk develop fewer respiratory and intestinal diseases,
and those given formula have a greater chance of developing asthma,
allergies and obesity, the WHO has said.
--AFP
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