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25 May 2005: New Resolution addresses health claims, sponsorship and formula contamination

On May 25, the 58th World Health Assembly adopted an important resolution WHA 58.32 on infant and
young child nutrition, the 11th Resolution to be adopted following the landmark International Code
of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in 1981.[1]

This resolution had been the subject of much controversy and debate for over seventeen months, and
followed four debates and two open-ended working groups. The length of this process – with over 50 countries taking the floor to stress the importance of this issue during the May Assembly– illustrates what
was at stake: first, the new resolution impacts the multi-billion dollar turnover and profits of the baby food industry by attempting to deal with marketing practices such as health and nutrition claims and sponsorship, and second, the resolution addresses the rights of parents and caregivers to accurate information about the quality of products for the most vulnerable consumers of all.

At the end of the 57th WHA, when the draft resolution was deferred to 2005, press headlines ran: "Babies
will have to wait". The delegate of Palau, one of the sponsors of the original resolution in May 2004, said on hearing that the resolution was postponed until 2005: "Justice delayed is justice denied".
The wait is now over and the final text of the new resolution does bring a degree of justice to the world’s youngest populations. However, it is the result of concessions and compromise and in some sections,
weakens the strong intent of the original resolution as first tabled in May 2004. The task is now to ensure
that its provisions are implemented at national level in a way that will protect infant health.

The final text of the resolution urges Member States to take action in four key areas:

* to alert health care professionals and the public to intrinsic contamination of powdered infant formula by Enterobacter sakazakii and other pathogens;

* to ensure that nutrition and health claims are not permitted for breastmilk substitutes;

* to ensure that financial support and other incentives for programmes and health professionals do not create conflicts of interests;

* to ensure that research contains declarations of conflicts of interest and is subject to independent peer review.

* The Codex Alimentarius Commission is requested to reflect WHO policy in its global standard setting, specifically the International Code and resolutions.

All the above are in the context of the continued protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding in the Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding (2002).