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China encourages breast-feeding
中國鼓勵母乳喂養
The Chinese government is considering an amendment to ban products claiming to partly, or completely substitute for mother's milk. So how will the restriction of baby formula advertising affect China's huge market.
The new amendment says that "Dairy products, drinks and other food advertisements that claim to partly or completely substitute for mother's milk shall be banned from mass media or public venues".
The maximum fine for a violation can be as much as 1 million yuan, and some formula distributors have now put notices on their web sites promoting breast-feeding for babies under six months.
China has about 16 million of new-borns every year, and one advertising expert says that with such a big market, the new regulation may not be strictly enforced.
"The big dairy companies may not be able to change the law, they could use their big public relations influence to avoid punishment. For medium and small companies, the penalty for violating the rule is very low, and they can make a lot of money by violating it," said Zhang Dianyuan, Professor of Journalism, Fudan University.
Data from UNICEF show that only 28 percent of infants younger than 6 months were 100% breastfed in China in 2008, while the global average is about 40 percent. China hopes to raise that number to 50 percent by 2020.
The government has introduced measures to encourage breastfeeding, such as building dedicated rooms in public venues for new mothers.
Hospitals are also encouraging new mothers to feed their baby themselves.
"In our hospital, unless the mothers need medication or a baby needs treatment, we encourage new mothers to breastfeed their babies as soon as possible. 90% of the mothers in our hospital breastfeed their babies," said Tang Zheng, Deputy Director of Neonatology Dept., Int'l Peace Maternity Hospital.
Doctor Tang says that most babies need at least six months of breast milk. After six months, mothers' milk would not always be sufficient, so they need to use formula milk or other products.
Some mothers we talked to say they will still buy formula products, as they are not really affected by ads. Their knowledge about baby formula products mostly comes from friends and peers.
"My baby was born today, at 4:30 in the morning. I will breastfeed her as long as I stay at home, for at least six months. The ads for baby formula products won't affect me, I talk to my friends and then decide whether to use milk powder," said Zhou Linan, new mother.
"My baby is 20 months old. For the first 8 months, we fed her breast milk, and in the ninth month, we started a mixture of breast milk and formula milk. After that it's pure formula. My friends and I share experiences about formula milk. I've also looked for some information online," said Ni Zhiwei, new mother.
The change in the law only restricts ads on mass media, but Professor Zhang points out that there isn't a clear definition of just what mass media are.
More and more formula products are using new marketing techniques employing new media and peer to peer marketing.
"Dairy products tend to use fewer ads on mass media. They like to use the Internet, new media, self-made media. This kind of advertising falls outside the range of the new law, and so it won't be supervised," Zhang Dianyuan said.
CCTV reporters have tried to reach some baby formula manufacturers, but they refused to comment on the new law, which will come into effect in September of this year.
