A chara, - A ban on British baby milk brands, as called for by MEP Patricia McKenna in response to the recent contamination scarce, would be neither appropriate nor effective. The majority of baby milk formula sold in Ireland is manufactured here.
Ireland is, in fact, Europe's largest exporter of baby milk. We also have one of the highest bottle feeding rates, and the consequence of scares such as this is that parents will feed their babies unmodified cow's milk - wholly inappropriate for human infants - instead of formula. I'm sure Ms McKenna would not wish for such an undesirable situation.
In fact, the only effective way to protect Irish babies from contamination of formula is to breastfeed them. Small comfort to the thousands of mothers already using formula, but perhaps if some good is to come out of this unfortunate situation it will be that mothers to be will reconsider their infant feeding options and realise that "abreast is best" for more reasons than one.
The fact that the British Government is reluctant to disclose full information about the incident is one more example of mothers being deprived of full, accurate and objective information on infant feeding. Lack of information leads to panic decisions and knee jerk reactions.
Breast milk is perfect nutrition for a baby and provides anti infective properties which boost the immune system and protect against illness. It is free, safe, environmentally friendly and unadulterated, unlike formula which, like any manufactured product, is subject to human and mechanical error. Research shows that breastfed babies are consistently healthier than formula fed infants. Yet a study carried out in 1995 found that 18 per cent of Irish mothers didn't believe breast milk was any better than formula.
Regardless of recent events, formula is always inferior to breast milk. Don't mothers have a right to know this, in order to make informed decisions on infant feeding? - Is mise, le meas,
Chairperson,
Baby Milk Action, C/o 10 Upper Camden Street,
Dublin 2.