Infant Formula Manufacturers Again under Ethical Cloud: 'Marketing Gimmick' Linked...

Infant Formula Manufacturers Again under Ethical Cloud: 'Marketing Gimmick'
Linked to Serious Illnesses

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A report released today by
The Cornucopia Institute presents research indicating that new additives
placed in infant formula are seriously endangering the health of some
formula-fed newborns and toddlers.

The report, 'Replacing Mother--Imitating Human Breast Milk in the Laboratory,'
details research questioning the alleged benefits of adding "novel" omega-3
fatty acids, produced in laboratories and extracted from algae and fungus,
into infant formulas. The additives raised health and safety red flags during
preapproval testing while aggressive marketing campaigns by some infant
formula manufacturers appear to have encouraged new mothers to give up nursing
for the questionable products.

"When I worked in the hospital's neonatal ward, the nurses all called it 'the
diarrhea formula'," says Sam Heather Doak, LPN, IBCLC, from Marietta, Ohio.
"We've seen infants, tiny little humans, with diarrhea that just wouldn't stop
after being given this formula." For infants, virulent and long-term diarrhea
is considered a serious and life-threatening event.

The infant formula referenced by Doak was supplemented with Martek Biosciences
Corporation's laboratory-produced oils containing DHA and ARA. DHA, an omega-3
fatty acid, and ARA, an omega-6 fatty acid, are naturally found in human
breast milk and are considered important nutrients for infants.

But laboratory-produced DHASCO and ARASCO (Martek's names for their
proprietary oils) are materially different from the fats found in a mother's
breast milk. Martek's products are extracted from fermented algae and fungus,
with the use of the neurotoxic solvent hexane. They contain only 40 to 50%
DHA and ARA, with the balance from sunflower oil and other components,
including some not found in human breast milk and never before a part of the
human infant diet.

"It's true that DHA and ARA are important nutrients for developing
infants--that's why they're found in human breast milk. But we have also seen
that some infants are experiencing side effects like diarrhea from consuming
the manufactured DHA and ARA oils in formula," says Jimi Francis, Ph.D., a
biochemist specializing in DHA in infant nutrition at the Allie M. Lee
Laboratory for Omega-3 Research at the University of Nevada at Reno. Also,
humans produce DHA and ARA on their own from other fats.

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm and food policy research
group and corporate watchdog, presented its report, in partnership with the
National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy, to government officials and
medical professionals at today's meeting of the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee.

"While infant formula manufacturers claim that these oils are perfectly safe
and necessary for proper development, our report provides a more detailed
picture," said Charlotte Vallaeys, Farm and Food Policy Analyst with the
Cornucopia Institute and lead author of the report. "We investigated how a
toxic chemical is used as processing agents in the manufacturing process, the
inadequate testing for safety, and most importantly, how some infants are
experiencing serious adverse reactions from formula supplemented with these
oils," Vallaeys added.

"This report presents a disturbing look at the novel ingredients in infant
formula," says Marsha Walker, Executive Director of the National Alliance for
Breastfeeding Advocacy. "The FDA has received scores of adverse reports on
effects of these ingredients, but, to date, the public's only access to these
is through Cornucopia's Freedom of Information Act request. This report will
help alert the health care community and federal agencies."

Cornucopia and the National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy are now
petitioning the FDA for a warning label alerting parents of the range of
possible complications from DHA/ARA-supplemented formula.

For more, visit Cornucopia's website at http://www.cornucopia.org.

SOURCE The Cornucopia Institute

Charlotte Vallaeys, +1-978-369-6409, or Mark Kastel, +1-608-625-2042, both of
The Cornucopia Institute; Marsha Walker of the National Alliance for
Breastfeeding Advocacy, +1-781-893-3553