HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
COP27: Can lessons be learned and UPF trade controlled?
As world leaders meet in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop 27), IBFAN is calling for restrictions on the global production and trade of ultraprocessed (UPFs) plastic-wrapped and additiveladen products. While many nutrition campaigns have focused on excess sugar, salt and fat, less attention has been paid to the industrial food processing that extends product life for global trade, denatures food ingredients and has had a disastrous impact on human health and the environment. The latest analysis shows that UPF consumption is a significant cause of premature
death in Brazil.
IBFAN is especially concerned about the production and trade of the unnecessary UPFs for babies – many sweetened and flavoured – that are aggressively and misleadingly promoted by corporations such as Nestlé, Danone, Reckitt, Abbott and Mead Johnson. These products include formulas and drinks that are undermining healthy, bio-diverse family foods, fuelling the obesity epidemic and undermining breastfeeding – the nutritional, immunological health protective norm that is a lifeline for many children. While it is a fundamental right of all mothers to decide how to feed their children, in order to exercise those rights there needs to be legal protection from predatory marketing, supportive hospital practices and adequate maternity protection. There should also be access to products that are not harmful. Breastfeeding is the most environmentally friendly way to feed an infant resulting in zero waste,
minimal greenhouse gases, and negligible water footprint. Higher ambient temperatures caused by global warming exacerbate food-borne diseases, leaving children most at risk of severe illness…
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Climate Emergency – Eco-feeding for Climate Action
Eco-feeding means healthy local and sustainable food,
starting with breastfeeding which has a positive impact on our
climate and environment. Breastfeeding contributes to the
prevention of global warming, protects biodiversity and
conserves natural resources.
IBFAN’s campaign aims to raise awareness of the need to take
action from birth to safeguard the health of humans and our
environment:
Breastfeeding is a sustainable and valuable global resource that
has no negative impact on our environment: no scarce
resources are used, no pollution is caused by transport, no
garbage is produced by packaging, and expenditure on health
costs to treat disease is reduced.
Breastfeeding is under serious threat from commercial
practices and urgently needs to be protected, promoted and
supported.
Eco-feeding includes the introduction, after six months of age,
of complementary foods that are safe and nutritious, and
produced using local products and sustainable agriculture.
