Firms barred from advertising baby milk

MPs in the newly refurbished Chambers during the official opening at Parliament Buildings August 7, 2012.

What you need to know:

  • Bill seeks to bar manufacturers from promoting their breast milk substitutes either directly to mothers or indirectly through health workers.

Parliament has passed a law to regulate the promotion of breast milk substitutes.

Public Health minister Beth Mugo rallied support from the backbench and Cabinet Thursday to shoot down seven attempts to water down the Breast Milk Substitutes (Regulation and Control) Bill.

The Bill seeks to bar manufacturers from promoting their breast milk substitutes either directly to mothers or indirectly through health workers. It also provides for setting up of a board to set regulations.

Belgut MP Charles Keter had two proposed amendments defeated  and was forced to withdraw another under pressure from a House intent on passing the new law.

The amendments ranged from attempts by members of the Health Committee to change the definition of breast milk substitutes to the membership of a board to regulate their sale.

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) was leading efforts to make the government soften its stance on regulation of the sector. As the influence of the lobbies began to show in Parliament, MPs reacted.  

"It is an open secret that the stakeholders have been camping out there and the stakeholders were by and large from the industry and this is something the (Public) Health minister (can) confirm,” said Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim.

Among the hotly-debated issues was the membership of the regulatory board. Mr Keter wanted a representative of the manufacturers’ association to be a member and had prepared an amendment for that.

But the Bill’s proponents argued that including “representatives with knowledge of marketing, production, and distribution of breast milk substitutes” would amount to having industry insider set rules for themselves.