Lobbying for Babykillers [1]
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton [2] on
Babies that are not breast fed suffer higher rates of health problems [3] including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, obesity, high cholesterol and asthma. Unfortunately, many parents are still unaware of these risks, thanks to the infant formula industry. In 2003, the industry hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee [4] and former agriculture secretary Clayton Yeutter, who lobbied the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [5] (HHS) to yank an attention-grabbing advertising campaign that would have warned of the risks. Yeutter told HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson [6] the ads should be pulled because they would create "guilty feelings" in women who fail to breastfeed. HHS replaced the original ads with a watered-down advertising campaign, which was so ineffective that breast-feeding rates actually dropped during the period when it was broadcast. In an interview with PR Week, Mardi Mountford of the International Formula Council [7] disputed accusations of undue industry influence [8].