THE Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called for a crackdown on how infant formula, or breastmilk substitutes, are marketed in an effort to stamp out unhealthy products.
In a submission to the ACCC's consultation on reauthorising the sector's self-regulating code, the AMA said Australia needs to copy an existing model on marketing held by the World Health Organization (WHO).
"We need to scrap this voluntary code and replace it with the evidence-based best practice code," said AMA President Prof Steve Robson.
In its submission, the AMA said it was concerned the current code allows for potentially unhealthy products to be incorrectly marketed, such as toddler blends loaded with sugar being promoted to parents of infants.
Currently, the code only applies to infant formulas for children under 12 months, whereas the WHO model extends this to 36 months and covers toddler milk as a breastmilk substitute.
"Toddler milks are unnecessary, and deceptively marketed as beneficial," said Robson. ML
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