Ethics and the WHO "International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes".

Noting the general decline of breastfeeding with the increasing use of formula-feeding, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, in 1979, recommended the adoption of an international code of marketing of infant formula and other products used as breast-milk substitutes.2 The International Code was adopted by the World Health Assembly (including New Zealand) in May 1981. ‘The aim of this Code is to contribute to the provision of safe and adequate nutrition for infants, by the protection and promotion of breast-feeding, and by ensuring the proper use of breast-milk substitutes, when these are necessary, on the basis of adequate information and through appropriate marketing and distribution.’3