Senators have moved to restrict the advertising of infant milk formula.

A Green Party motion, agreed by the Seanad on Wednesday and put forward by Senator Pauline O’Reilly and seconded by Minister of State Pippa Hackett, proposes that no State funding will be provided to any private companies for the marketing of any breast milk substitutes.

Senator O’Reilly’s motion proposed that State funding should not be provided to “in particular, companies that are marketing breast milk substitutes in international markets”.

A query has been submitted to the senator seeking clarity on whether the State funding and private companies mentioned in the motion is in reference to Bord Bia’s support to Irish dairy processors marketing infant formula abroad.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett seconded the motion.

Breast feeding

Senator O’Reilly and all of her Seanad colleagues who supported the motion on Thursday outlined the importance of supporting mothers to breast feed.

A number of senators, including Senator O’Reilly, suggested that women are choosing to use infant formula following what they term as unethical advertising campaigns by infant milk formula manufacturers.

O’Reilly said: “I have spoken about the formula industry in the house many times. Ireland is a large exporter of powdered milk. It exports formula milk all over the world.

"That has a devastating impact, apart from anything else, on some of the poorer nations across the globe, which is why the motion refers to the importance of ethical considerations.

“It also means that we have a lobby group and an industry that is putting vast amounts of money into advertising formula and free formula in hospitals.

"I was delighted that the minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, was very much on board when we asked her to include a measure in the online safety and media regulation bill to restrict advertising of formula.”

Marketing

Senator Alice Higgins suggested that Ireland has a responsibility in the ethical marketing of infant milk formula because “we are one of the largest exporters of infant formula in the world”.

“We need to be very careful ethically about how that is marketed, not just in Ireland but internationally. For example, one third of Ireland’s infant formula is exported to China, and breastfeeding rates in China have halved in the past 10 years.

“That did not happen by spontaneous choice, but is happening through an industry positioning itself in a market and promoting itself,” she said.