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Vast Majority of Top Hospitals Prohibit Infant Formula Marketing

Ending In-Hospital Formula Promotion Is Now Best Practice Nationwide

October 29, 2013 – The vast majority of the U.S.News and World Report’s 2013-14 “Best Hospitals” have ended orsubstantially limited formula marketing to new mothers, according to PublicCitizen’s report, “Top Hospitals’ Formula for Success: No Marketing of InfantFormula,” co-authored by the Ban the Bags campaign. Most of these top-rankedhospitals have stopped distributing formula company-sponsored discharge bagswith formula samples, the most common form of formula marketing.

Thestudy, based on a Public Citizen survey and reports collected by Ban the Bags, showsan encouraging trend among hospitals seeking to improve mother and baby healththrough breastfeeding support policies. It also represents progress in effortsto block companies from co-opting hospitals and using them to peddle productsto new mothers with what appears to be a stamp of approval from the medicalestablishment.

Read the report.

View the list of hospitals and survey results.

View the press release.