Baby Formulas, Soy Products, how
safe are they?
Baby Formulas, Soy Products, how safe are they? Here are questions raised to Health Canada. Is Health Canada doing its job or protecting big business at the expense of our babies and their well being? links provided shared by Donna Young, Natural Birth education.
Please, also, visit this Petition to Protect Babies and Moms, Too: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/012580814
The Canadian Health Coalition is dedicated to preserving and enhancing Canada’s public health system for the benefit of all Canadians.
Founded in 1979, the coalition includes groups representing unions, seniors, women, students, consumers
and health care professionals across Canada.
June 7, 1999
Health Canada exposing babies to serious risk
Routine use of soy-based infant formulas must be stopped
(OTTAWA) - Health Minister Allan Rock is being called on today by the Canadian Health Coalition, the Infant Feeding Action Coalition (INFACT Canada), and the National Federation of Nurses Unions, to impose immediate restrictions on the routine use of soy-based infant formulas. Despite warnings from leading health scientists and the acknowledgment by the New Zealand Ministry of Health of the potential of soy formulas to damage an infant's thyroid, the Minister has refused to take action.
"Currently 20 per cent of infants in Canada are fed soy-based infant formulas and are thereby exposed
to levels of phytoestrogens up to 22,000 times
higher than those normally found in breast milk," said Elizabeth Sterken, of INFACT Canada. "Statements
by Health Canada and the infant food industry
that the formulas are safe are false and misleading. The American Academy of Pediatrics states it will
take years of research to scientifically establish
the safety of phytoestrogens," said Sterken.
Epidemiological evidence links soy formula consumption to:
disruption of normal sexual development evidenced by changes in onset of puberty;
onset of early puberty in the U.S. occurred in tandem with increased sales of soy formulas;
thyroid dysfunction and increased incidence of goitre as phytoestrogens act as endocrine disrupters ("gender-benders");
phytoestrogens are known to induce infertility in animals and possibly in some birds;
possible links between soy phytoestrogen genistein and infantile leukemia.
"Rather than protecting the health of the most vulnerable, babies and children, Canada's Health Protection Branch and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are protecting the infant formula, food, pesticides, and biotech industries. This is a grotesque betrayal. The use of the soy-based formula must be restricted immediately until the industry demonstrates the safety of phytoestrogens," insisted Sterken.
All infant formulas sold in Canada are manufactured with genetically mutant soy beans. Safety of genetically
manipulated food in human populations is
untested. Infants fed soy-based formulas are fed these products as their exclusive food for the first
six months of life and as part of the weaning diet for up
to two years. Babies have unique nutritional and development needs. Damage to health, immune capacity,
physical and neurological development at an
early age is irreversible.
Why is Health Canada gambling with the lives of babies?
Since 1995 leading scientists in New Zealand have been calling for a ban on general sales of soy-based
infant formulas. The New Zealand Ministry of
Health has publicly acknowledged the potential of soy formulas to damage an infant's thyroid. These
same researchers informed Health Canada and the
Minister of Health, Allan Rock, of their research results and concerns. No action was taken to protect
babies in Canada or warn parents of the risks.
According to Dr. E. Ann Clark, a professor in the department of Plant Agriculture at the University
of Guelph: "Canadians have become the unwitting test
subjects of a mass, uncontrolled experiment with products whose safety is unknown and untested. A precautionary
approach must be taken rather than
continuing to produce, approve, and market genetically engineered products until damage is proven. Have
we learned nothing from the debacle of the
tobacco industry?"
Clark and colleagues at other universities have examined the process by which genetically engineered
field crops are approved for release into
commerce. She concluded: "These crops have been approved based on faulty assumptions and without
any independent scientific research to assess
the safety and environmental risk."
"According to its statutory duty, the Health Protection Branch must exercise due diligence and
protect infant health from potentially irreversible damage,"
said Kathleen Connors, President of the National Federation of Nurses Unions.
"This means adopting a precautionary approach whereby soy formula manufacturers bear the burden
of demonstrating the safety of phytoestrogens and
genetically mutant food. Immediate preventative action to restrict the use of the soy-based formulas
is critical and legally required", said Connors.
Health Canada claims that: "We have a clear and stringent process and a very thorough process to
ensure the safety of biotechnical foods" (National
Post, June 3, 1999, p.A5). Connors disagrees: "Professor Clark's analysis demonstrates beyond the
shadow of a doubt that this policy statement on
genetically engineered food is fraudulent."
"Is Allan Rock really saying that Health Canada wants to wait until the 20 per cent of Canadian
babies on soy-based formulas grow up and develop
thyroid dysfunction before it acts to protect infant health with preventative measures?
"Is this the legacy the Minister of Health will leave our children?" asked Kathleen Connors.
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For further information:
Michael McBane, CHC
(613) 521-3400, ext. 308
Elizabeth Sterken, INFACT Canada
(416) 595-9819 or www.infactcanada.ca
http://www.healthcoalition.ca/release060799.html
