  urlLink World Health Organization WHO code on breastfeeding : "Selling Out Mothers and Babies - Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes in the USA The WHO Code is the common name for the "International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes," which was adopted by the World Health Organization in 1981. Recognizing that marketing formula is, by definition, an attempt to reduce the number of breastfed babies, and recognizing that breastfeeding is both a vital public health and economic issue, the USA joined with 118 other nations in ratifying the Code.
What does the Code say? The WHO Code PROHIBITS certain aggressive infant formula marketing strategies, such as: 1. Promoting infant formula through health care facilities 2. Lobbying health care personnel with free gifts 3. Providing free formula samples to new mothers 4. Using words or pictures in advertising which idealize bottle feeding The Code also mandates that formula ads and labels include the facts about the benefits of breastfeeding and the hazards associated with formula feeding.
The Code does not prohibit the existence of infant formula nor the choice to bottle feed. Instead, it seeks to give all women only pure facts about feeding their babies, free of marketing influence, so that they can make free and informed choices. The Code tries to level the playing field so that the superiority of breastmilk — which has no Madison Avenue agency or million dollar marketing budget promoting it —is not lost in the landslide of formula marketing hype.
" 
