A nurse instructs a mother in the process of breast milk donation at the Maternity and Child Care Center in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, last year. The milk is provided to premature and critically ill infants whose mothers cannot produce enough milk. [Photo by CAO JIANXIONG/FOR CHINA DAILY] Mothers encouraged to breast-feed infants for first six months of life Experts have called for legislation to regulate the marketing of breast milk substitutes, a move aimed at improving the breastfeeding rate in China. The appeal was prompted by a new report saying that less than 30 percent of Chinese newborns are exclusively breast-fed for the first six months, compared with 43 percent of mothers worldwide who are breast-feeding exclusively, and 37 percent for lower-to middle-income countries. The report was released recently by the China Development Research Foundation, which surveyed more than 10,000 mothers with babies less than a year old from August 2017 to January 2018. By six months of age, 33.5 percent of babies received breast milk with added baby formula, and 31 percent were fed with breast milk predominantly while taking additional water and juice, according to the survey. Multiple factors are blamed for the stagnant rate of exclusive breast-feeding, including negative or skewed perceptions of breast milk, lack of support from families and public institutions, and poor implementation of maternity leave. However, Fang Jin, deputy secretary-general of the foundation, said there is a significant inverse relationship between misleading advertising of breast milk substitutes and higher breast-feeding levels. It is estimated that infant formula advertisements targeting new mothers and other family members increase the likelihood such products will be used by 30.8 percent, and thus drive down the country's exclusive breast-feeding rate by 11.2 percent, according to the report. With one-fifth of the world's total population, and a shrinking newborn population in recent years, China accounts for one-third of global baby formula consumption, Fang said. He called for regulations to keep a tight rein on the formula industry and protect consumers from exaggerated claims of formula benefits. China launched a regulation in 1995 to oversee marketing activities by infant formula companies. The rules were scrapped in late 2017 following institutional reshuffles, Fang said. Even if the old regulation were in place, it is not legally binding, he said. We are calling for a specific law to govern the marketing of breast milk substitutes. The Advertisement Law, which bans comparing the health benefits of formula with breast milk, is not enforced strictly, according to Fang. Based on survey results, it is almost impossible to reach the target of raising the exclusive breastfeeding rate to 50 percent by 2020 if tougher regulation and enforcement are not in place, he said. The World Health Organization recommends feeding babies with only breast milk for six months, without any infant formula or supplements. The approach is believed to help reduce the incidence of illness and improve overall physical and mental development. The report also calls on medical institutions, especially neonatal professionals, to educate mothers on breast-feeding methods and its advantages, and encourages the setting up of more breast-feeding facilities at workplaces and public spaces. Legislation for maternity leave should also be improved, it said. Li Lin, a resident of Shanghai, gave birth to her first child in December and began feeding her daughter infant formula recently. I felt that using formula is nearly as nutritional as breast milk, she said. My relatives and friends had already sent me tins of baby formula as gifts even before I stopped exclusively breast-feeding. Li added that it was physically demanding to stick to a 100 percent breast-feeding method after her maternity leave ended and she resumed work as an accountant. Another report, commissioned by the China Consumers Association and published on March 6, also shone a light on the mounting pressure on mothers who have to juggle work and breast-feeding. The report, which compares the latest poll results with those from about a decade ago, identifies short maternity leave, busy work schedules and insufficient breast milk as the main culprits for the phenomenon of an increasing number of women switching to a combination of breast milk and infant formula to feed their babies. In most cases, pregnant women in China are entitled to four months of maternity leave, making it difficult to stick to exclusive breast-feeding for six months, as the WHO recommends. Based on the findings, the association has called on local governments and institutions to test flexible working schedules for employees who breast-feed, as part of efforts to upgrade the country's maternity leave. debossed-wristbandcustom-rubber-braceletsrubber braceletsblack rubber bracelets meaningembossed-wristband
A Chinese sturgeon is prepared for release into the wild in Yichang, Hubei province, last year. [Photo/Xinhua] The construction of a bridge in Jingzhou, Hubei province, which allegedly caused the death of about 6,000 critically endangered Chinese sturgeon at a breeding facility, has been halted, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. An investigative team, assembled by the ministry's Yangtze River Fisheries Administration and the Hubei agricultural bureau, arrived in Jingzhou to investigate the deaths said to be caused by the construction of the Miyue Bridge in the city's Jinan ecocultural tourism zone, an official from the administration said. Part of the construction was allegedly carried out in national nature reserves, which is illegal, he said. The result of the investigation was not available as of Thursday night. The Jingzhou city government ordered the halt to the construction, and the investigative team will continue to watch the site to make sure that the construction does not resume, the official said. Any individual and organization involved in the death of Chinese sturgeon or illegal construction in a national nature reserve will be held accountable under the fisheries law, the law on the protection of wildlife and the environmental protection law, he said. Since the start of this year, 36 mature fish more than 20 years old, and about 6,000 younger ones up to 2 years old, have died at the Hengsheng aquafarm, which is near the construction site, ThePaper.cn reported on Sunday. The deaths were directly linked to the shocks, noises and changes of water sources caused by the construction, it said. Native to the Yangtze River, the Chinese sturgeon is almost extinct in the wild due to pollution, overfishing and the construction of massive dams. It now depends on artificial breeding for its survival. China launched its breeding program in the 1970s when scientists noticed a steep decline in the numbers of sturgeon, a species that can be traced back about 140 million years. According to earlier media reports, China is home to fewer than 1,000 adult Chinese sturgeon artificially bred from wild parents. Of those, more than half came from the Hengsheng aquafarm. Authorities ordered the operators of the construction project to move but they refused because there was no agreement on compensation. The team responsible for the project went ahead with construction, and it was this that led to the deaths of the extremely precious fish, according to The-Paper.cn. Over the past year, more than 10 official inspection teams have visited the construction site and ordered a halt, but each time their instructions went unheeded, the report said. An executive from the breeding facility was quoted as saying that as the construction work moved closer to the aquafarm, the fish became increasingly distressed and they sometimes leaped out of the water. Wei Qiwei, a principal scientist at the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, was quoted as saying that the 36 mature fish that died were among the first generation to have been artificially bred. As their parents were taken from the wild, the adults were extremely precious as they had a richer genetic diversity than their own offspring, he said. Zhou Lihua in Wuhan contributed to this story. make rubber braceletsembossed-printed-wristbandembossed-wristbandsilicone wristbands australiadebossed-wristband<%2fcenter>
