challenging illegal formula packaging - sorry if this has already been posted but this is from the CEO of the NCT

[harpsichordcuddler]

"The NCT has been given a clear view from LACORS (the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services that some infant formula packaging currently on store shelves is illegal under current regulations.

In order for it to be removed from sale there needs to be a prosecution or threatened prosecution. Local Trading Standards Officers are the people who would bring a prosecution, but to do this they need to receive large numbers of complaints from across the UK.

Would you help? This is your chance to make a real difference.

Next time you are in a supermarket or chemist, check out the infant formula packs (this formula is labelled as ?suitable from birth?) and read the wording.

The wording we are informed is illegal is

? Formulated to be nutritionally close to breastmilk
? With omega 3 LCP,s
? Closer Than Ever to Breastmilk
? Inspired by breastmilk

You may find other wording which is similar.

Send photos or a description to your trading standards office (you can locate your nearest using this link)

Scotland www.scotss.org.uk/scotss2.htm

England www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/consumers/clegis.cfm

Wales www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/env_services/tradingstandards/

N Ireland www.detini.gov.uk/cgi-bin/get_builder_page?page=61&site=9&parent=110

Channel islands www.gov.je/EconomicDevelopment/TradingStandards/

With a note to say

?These packs were on display in my local xxxxxxx on date xxxxx and I believe them to be illegal under current legislation because of the wording on the packs.
Please note the words

[INSERT WORDING ON PACK]

My information is that this wording is likely to be illegal. Please would you follow this up for me and let me know the outcome. ?

They will do the rest. You don?t need to explain why you think it is illegal or comment any further ? just report it. The body from whom local TSOs take their lead has already advised us that this packaging is illegal. Your letter will push them to act."

lol yes...must say....I actually do remember Desidorata from similar threads and know that I have a few disagreements with her...things like that I usually don't remember, think it's her interstesting name, and that is why it's stuck in my mind.....
phew about my usually so boring name, lol....

kamikayzed on Tue 24-Jul-07 00:12:39

"Does anyone have figures for the percentage of mothers that choose to ff? Just wondering how much formula company advertising really has to do with a ff outcome.

I come from a country that has a much higher rate of bf than the uk - yet the formula advertising is the same. The difference I noticed (ds born abroad, dd born in uk) was the bf support from midwives (and lact cons) in hospital, although this is obviously limited to my experience of only two hospitals.

I must say I laugh when I see phrases like those listed below on dd's tin, and I just presumed everyone does."

• this is really the point I've been trying (and prob failing) to make.

Regarding the health benefits of "immunofortis" and the omega 3 in Aptimil - I agree it is shocking there is no published research on this. And as a mother who feeds this to her baby I do feel annoyed.

Since many many more babies are fed on formula than on breastmilk (you guys will know the statistics!) isn't it shocking that there isn't State funding of research into formula?

Ok, now I am just playing, but:

Wouldn't it benefit the future health of our children more if all funding of breastfeeding promotion was instead transferred to developing formula?!!! (Maybe I should start a thread on these lines!!)

(PS I just want to say that I do totally support breastfeeding and I do accept the evidence that it is better (from a health perspective) and I was shocked to read Desiderata's offensive comments regarding extended bfeeding and feel sad for anyone made to feel uncomfortable or ashamed for bfeeding an older child.)

Oh yeah forgot to say, sorry can't now find the post, but someone said that they don't eat fish heads and eyes.
What really, apart from the yuck factor, is the problem with eating parts of fish or animals that we are not used to eating? I personally don't eat meat and that kind of attitude among meat eaters really annoys me....

lol...it is the yuck factor....just as I would eat some other foodstuff non meaty, but others would not touch...what is wrong with that....

all the members of my family eat fish heads and eyes. it is yum. but i don't think it should be in infant formula - atleast not without independent research of its safety and benefits.

Well, I don't eat cows' brains. And I'm not squeamish in the least! The muscle of animals generally is the safest bit to eat. Which is, of course, why I prefer to eat rump steak. Just the safety aspect, you understand.

Scooby, I know what you were saying about funding was tongue in cheek, but I do agree with you about govts funding formula research. Specifically, I'd like to see govts in charge of quality control and legally enforcing transparency. It's a public health issue and should be treated as such.

When I become Empress of the Known Universe, my first edict will be to compel all governments to spend their defence budgets on bf support. That should sort out a load of people who want to bf but don't get the support they need.

I would imagine there would then be a large majority of bf-ers who could just be left to get on with it, so the next big cash injection would be formula research, for those who can't bf AND those who choose not to.

I will then address world poverty, climate change and the Wiggles.

Aitch, whenever I criticise formula I feel as if I'm kicking you in the teeth.

There are no guarantees about next time obviously, but FWIW, I had a nasty time with dd1 and with dd2 had a very similar start, but thanks to tiktok et al I was so much better prepared that it was like night and day.

thanks to ruddynorah and jofeb and scoobyc by the way .
I don't do much to help I just seem to get marky most of the time
I am intrigued at your plans for the wiggles welliemum (it is wellie mum isn't it??)

(scooby where do you come from if you don't mind me asking?)

oh please don't worry, really. none of it's untrue, they're the 'facts'. and in the absence of a research-based repudiation from the manufacturers, that's all we've got.

it's just funny though, i was talking to someone about this on my blog thing a while back, both of us with healthy, happy children of 18 months-ish. and both of us still caught every so often by the thought 'shit, what if i didn't try hard enough?' it's so weird. what if i didn't? i thought i did, but i'll never know for sure.

and next time will be different, for definite. i couldn't really research bfing in great detail (more than miriam stoppard and penelope leach were telling at any rate) because thanks to my history i didn't really believe that the baby would be born without something disastrous happening. so i'm already armed with So much more information thanks to you lot. and i'll make this my first port of call. if there is a next time, that is...

I am sorry too aitch.
the thing that makes me the mostest crossest is when people (often for the best of reasons) say "oh it doesn't really matter how you feed your baby" when clearly it matters a great deal, and women don't deserve to be fobbed off or bullshitted.
they say the same thing about birth - what does it matter as long as you have a healthy baby at the end?
totally dismissive of real women and their real experiences.

sorry, it is indeed welliemum, I forgot I was wearing a disguise. Will go and change back now.

I have interesting plans for the Wiggles

oh, are they sexual plans?

eeeewwwwwwwwwwgggggghhhhhhh

ah, that would be a "no" then.
I think they have a certain naive charm. especially the tall skinny one

Aitch, you are so so lovely.

Eeewww no harpsi, thats just weird

Aitch,I don't think anyone has a fucking cle about anything with a first baby.
It's ironic that such enormous physical and emotional demands are made on you at a time when yuo are so vulnerable isn't it?

I feel sad about the fact that I spent most of the first few weeks (even a couple of months) of dd's life mostly weeping in pain and misery so I can well understand people thinking 'Bollocks to this,where's the bloody SMA?'I really can.

don't fancy yours much

yes, and we have fucked up the culture that used to be in place to support women postnatally. (excuse strong language)
fucked it up and pissed it away, along with our ability to breastfeed without difficulty. human culture developed these systems over millennia and then we chuck them away in a generation.

Yes,haven't we just.

It's...ahem..... impotently though if you don't mind me pointing it out.

Take a skill away,do yer best to make sure everyone forgets how to do it,then sell it back to the masses,at a price. Brilliant!!!

lol at all the fist-shaking. and thank you for the comments re. my loveliness.

although moondog... tut tut, SMA? i bought Aptamil, of course. it's got added Immunofuckeduptis. worth every penny.

oh yes sorry, crap typing tonight

Oh, it's interesting what you say about "why does it matter what your birth was like if you have a healthy baby" Harpsi.

Because in my head, the outcome is loads more important than what happened. But I'd rather gnaw off my own foot than insult someone who's traumatised by not having the birth experience that they wanted, by telling them that it doesn't matter really.

It's mad to measure other people's feelings by a scale existing only in your own mind.

Sorry, ranting.... I never cease to be amazed by the presumption of people who post "yawn" comments on bf threads because it doesn't matter to them.

there is plenty of evidence (research/anecdotal/whatever) to suggest that a woman's birth experience is very often formative and has an ongoing effect on her life and her parenting in all sorts of ways.