§ Baroness Gardner of Parkesasked her Majesty's Government:
What is their position on the recent adoption of the European Commission Directive on infant formulae and follow-on formulae.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington):The Government voted in favour of the adoption of this important Directive. My right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Health, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and I warmly welcome the essential compositional and nutritional standards which this Directive will provide for the first time to safeguard the health and safety of bottle-fed babies. During the course of negotiations in Brussels, the United Kingdom succeeded in obtaining important changes which align the Directive more closely with the principles and aims of the World Health Organisation international code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. In particular, improvements have been obtained in relation to the advertising controls on infant formulae and to the provisions covering the supply of these products to hospitals.