banthebags.org

Boston, MA – Touting “maternity patients’ rights,” an International Formula Council-backed bill is under consideration by the Joint Committee on Public Health. The bill would legislate a mother’s “right” to formula samples and equipment in the hospital, protecting industry interests at the expense of public health. Read more »

June 2007 – The formula industry has enlisted two international PR firms to defend hospital-based marketing of infant formula.
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The Infant Formula Council has launched a new web site titled “Moms Feeding Freedom,” dedicated to defending hospital-based marketing of infant formula. Hosted by a corporate communications consultant, the site dismisses overwhelming scientific evidence that marketing bags undermine breastfeeding as “ridiculous.”

So far, moms online aren’t buying it. Responding to blog host Kate Kahn’s suggestion that moms are too smart to be swayed by a gift bag, one mother comments:

One meme of these formula-industry shills is that “women are too smart” to be swayed by advertising. Isn’t it ironic that this tired and deeply flawed rhetoric is being touted on a website that is nothing more than an extension of the formula industry’s advertising/lobbying efforts?

I guess they’re hoping that women aren’t nearly as smart as they are telling us we are.

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Writing for BabyGooRoo.com, Amy Spangler challenges the new formula industry blog, “Mom’s Freeding Freedom.” Her point is simple: It’s not about the formula — It’s about ethics.

Blogging in the Huffington Post, Jennifer Block makes an eloquent case for banning the bags, and explores the deplorable lack of support of breastfeeding in American hospitals. Read the story here.

Breastfeeding’s in, freebie formula is out. That’s the report from NPR’s Marketplace, featuring an interview with Ban the Bag’s Marsha Walker. Read the story here.