Report: Infant Formula Companies Milk Billions From Federal Program

New York, NY (I-Newswire) November 7, 2011 - For Info Contact:

WOMENS ENEWS
Charlotte Cooper
P: 212-244-1744
E: charlotte@womensenews.org

Report: Infant Formula Companies Milk Billions From Federal Program

(NEW YORK)—Women’s eNews is today publishing an investigative report on the relationship between the federal program Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the infant formula market.

The report, published in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute , exposes why WIC is being forced to spend so much on infant formula, distributing the retail equivalent of $2 billion worth of the breast-milk replacement per year.

The U.S. government endorses exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life, an initiative backed by the First Lady, Michelle Obama, in her “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity. WIC has the most practical influence over the feeding habits of the country’s children, but aggressive marketing by the formula industry has led to few mothers in the program achieving that goal.

The report, written by Women’s eNews health reporter Molly M. Ginty, unveils the millions of dollars spent on lobbying on Capitol Hill in Washington to thwart federal regulation of the advertized benefits of “functional” food additives that have bolstered infant formula company’s profits and secured over 50% of sales from federal funding.

To read the report visit the Women's eNews website

To interview reporter Molly M. Ginty on the subject, please call Women’s eNews at (212)-244-1744 or email Charlotte Cooper at charlotte@womensenews.org.

• WHO and the U.S Department of Health endorse exclusive breastfeeding for six months from the time birth for infant and maternal health.
• WIC helps feed 2.14 million women and 2.17 million infants a year--roughly half of all U.S. infants.
• Formula bought through the WIC program cost taxpayers an estimated $627 million in 2008
• WIC vouchers make the federal program the largest purchaser of infant formula nationally, accounting for between 57% and 68% of total infant formula sales.
• Infant formula containing “functional” ingredients such as the additives ARA and DHA—which are scrutinized in the Women’s eNews piece— are 6% to 31% more expensive than infant formula without them
• The GOP-led House blocked an attempt for an Institute of Medicine review into infant formula claims of “functional” ingredients in 2010

About The Investigative Fund at The Nation
The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute incubates and supports investigative journalism that appears in a wide variety of print and broadcast outlets.

About Women’s eNews
Women's eNews is an award-winning nonprofit news service covering issues of concern to women and women's perspectives on public policy in English and Arabic. It enhances women's abilities to define their own lives and to participate fully in every sector of human endeavor.

To learn more, visit www.womensenews.org

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About Women's eNews:
Women's eNews is a prize-winning nonprofit news service supported by its readers and other donors. Launched in 1999, the independent media outlet provides news coverage unavailable anywhere else of substantive issues of particular concern to women and those who care about women. Rita Henley Jensen is founder and editor in chief.

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Company Contact Information
Women's eNews
Charlotte Cooper
6 Barclay Street
6th Floor
10007
Phone : 212 244 1720