Conflicts of interest are harming maternal and child health: time for scientific journals to end relationships with manufacturers of breast-milk substitutes

• Published in: BMJ global health Vol. 7; no. 2; p. e008002
• Main Authors: Pereira-Kotze, Catherine, Jeffery, Bill, Badham, Jane, Swart, Elizabeth C, du Plessis, Lisanne, Goga, Ameena, Lake, Lori, Kroon, Max, Saloojee, Haroon, Scott, Christiaan, Mercer, Raul, Waterston, Tony, Goldhagen, Jeffrey, Clark, David, Baker, Phillip, Doherty, Tanya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.02.2022; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Advertising; Babies; Baby foods; Bottle feeding; Breast Feeding; Breastfeeding & lactation; Child; Child Health; Children & youth; Childrens health; Commentary; Conflict of Interest; Conflicts of interest; Female; Global health; health policy; Humans; Labeling; Malnutrition; Marketing; Maternal & child health; Medical personnel; Milk Substitutes; Nutrition; paediatrics; Pediatrics; Periodicals as Topic; Public health; paediatrics; nutrition; health policy; child health; public health
• ISSN: 2059-7908; 2059-7908
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-008002

[...]conflicts have plagued infant and young child nutrition science for decades.6 Consequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recommend measures to avoid conflict of interest in nutrition policy development and service delivery as well as professional education and research.7 8 While perceived conflict of interest generally does not involve financial payment, the WHO defined actual conflict of interest as arising “when a vested interest has the potential to unduly influence official or agency judgement/action through the monetary or material benefits it confers on the official or agency.” [...]advertising is contrary to provisions of the Code, national laws in at least 89 countries and arguably European Union law (where Nature is published).13 14 For instance, Article 7.2 of the Code states that “Information provided by manufacturers and distributors to health professionals regarding products within the scope of this Code should be restricted to scientific and factual matters, and such information should not imply or create a belief that bottle-feeding is equivalent or superior to breastfeeding.’’ An open-access advertisement published on the Nature website. https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-018-00007-1 The second example of BMS advertising in a scientific journal that we highlight is the recent public and sponsored Nature Research Custom Media Facebook post, which referred to an advertisementfeature (figure 2) titled ‘Examining breastmilk for clues in the fight against food allergies’ with the subtitle ‘Research examining the roles of human milk oligosaccharides in infant immunity suggests that these breastmilk components may help suppress allergic responses and boost gut health’ (figure 2). An advertisement feature published on the Nature website produced by Nature Research Custom Media. https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-020-00362-y These ‘advertisement features’ combine editorial style presentation with advertising content and serve to normalise formula milk for health professionals who are opinion leaders in communities and health systems.