WHO lobbied over infant food
Organisation (WHO) to delay any change to its recommendations on
the optimal length of exclusive...
Manufacturers of infant food are lobbying the World Health Organisation (WHO) to delay any change to its recommendations on the optimal length of exclusive breast feeding, the British Medical Journal reported this week. The current WHO guidelines advocate complementary feeding at "4-6 months." But many nutrition specialists believe that these guidelines lead to complementary foods being offered from the age of 3 months, or even earlier, and that the WHO should change its recommendations to about 6 months. Some member states of the WHO, together with advocacy groups on breast feeding, hope that a resolution will be made to adopt this change at the World Health Assembly in May 2001. According to the journal the International Association of Infant Food Manufacturers is lobbying the WHO at its six regional committee meetings this year, at the WHO's executive board meeting in January 2001, and at the World Health Assembly in May 2001.
