Manila - The Philippine government has ordered the US-based company Wyeth to pull millions of cans of infant milk products from market shelves because they had been contaminated during a storm last year, officials said Wednesday. The Bureau of Food and Drugs gave the recall order Tuesday after it verified consumer reports that some cans of Wyeth's infant milk products developed rust and molds when they were exposed to moisture at a warehouse during a typhoon.
Bureau Deputy Director Joshua Ramos said up to 4.3 million cans of Wyeth milk products were contaminated and the company had already pulled out about 2 million cans before the recall order was issued.
"The rest should be withdrawn from the market until such time that their contents are proven to be safe," he said.
The recall order was issued as the Department of Health battled milk companies in the Philippine Supreme Court over new regulations banning the advertisement of infant formula.
Milk companies claimed the ban was against international trade and marketing agreements. They added that the stringent measure would have adverse effects on trade, investments, employment and other commercial activities.
The Health Department, however, criticized milk companies for using advertisements to promote false claims about their products. Some ads say that children would grow up more intelligent if they were given infant formula.
According to the department, only 16 per cent of mothers in the Philippines currently breastfeed while Filipinos spend 21.5 billion pesos (467.4 million dollars) on infant formula every year.
Amid the debate, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) began a three-day consultation of international public health experts in Manila on how to better promote and support breastfeeding.
The two UN agencies warned that declining breastfeeding rates in East Asia and the Pacific - currently at 61 per cent at 4 months and 35 per cent at 6 months - were posing an "alarming threat to child survival."
"Poor nutrition is the greatest contributing factor to under-5 mortality rates," noted Shigeru Omi, director of WHO's Regional Office for the Western Pacific, which is based in Manila.
"Breastfeeding provides a natural safeguard for a child in the first months of life and plays a critical role in growth and development," he added.
Anupama Rao Singh, UNICEF regional director for East Asia and the Pacific, called on governments to remain committed to enforcing regulations against breast-milk substitutes while supporting breastfeeding.
"Within the region, child survival is affected by poor water quality, hygiene and sanitation," Singh said. "Combine unsanitary water with the replacement of breastfeeding by infant formula and the threat becomes even deadlier."
WHO and UNICEF recommend mothers exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months and continue to provide breast milk with complementary foods until age 2.
They cited research showing that breastfed children have a lower mean blood pressure and lower total cholesterol as adults, have higher performance in intelligence tests and are less likely to develop such diseases as asthma, diabetes and obesity.
