The Trump administration's threat to to sanction governments who supported a resolution to promote breastfeeding is a sign President Donald Trump cares more about the interests of infant formula manufacturers than the well-being of American infants, Michael Rosenbaum, MD, writes in The Hill.
Dr. Rosenbaum, a professor of pediatrics at New York City-based Columbia University Medical Center, s says that breastfeeding reduces infant mortality rates in low- to middle-income countries. It also decreases obesity and diabetes risks and improves cognitive function, he writes, and the only reason the U.S. would oppose measures supporting breastfeeding would be to appease the $70 billion infant formula industry.
"The concern here, however, is an administration promoting industry at the expense of children and ignoring the potentially 'huge' financial and health benefits of legislating to create better options to breastfeed, especially in third world nations," Dr. Rosenbaum writes.
Dr. Rosenbaum argues that many infant formulas contain harmful toxins, the long-term effects of which are unclear.
"Perhaps the current administration is unaware of these benefits, especially in third world countries, or has not been paying attention to some recent studies looking at toxins in infant and toddler foods," Dr. Rosenbaum writes. "Even more frightening, perhaps, is the infant formula industry became more valuable to Trump than the children it supposedly serves."