Infant Milk Substitute Act

In Addition to IYCF, they might ask you this one also..Just go through It if possible..

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India, on 15th January 2005, has proposed to repeal the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992 (IMS Act, 1992) and proposed a new bill “Food Safety and Standards Bill 2005”. Strangely, though the IMS Act serves an altogether different purpose which has nothing to do with the proposed new Act. Under section 108 Schedule 1 of the Bill, the IMS Act has been included in the list of Acts to be repealed instead of the list of Acts which need only be modified. Government of India has asked for comments and suggestions.

The repeal of this highly relevant legislation could put the lives of millions of infants and young children at risk. The repeal is also completely unnecessary, since there is absolutely no conflict between the two Acts, and the proposed new Act operates in an altogether different field.

Briefly, the IMS Act seeks to promote breast-feeding by curbing unethical marketing and promotional practices which denigrate mother’s milk or interfere with breast-feeding. Insofar as food standards and safety issues are concerned, the IMS Act leaves those to be regulated by the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA).

The proposed “Food Safety and Standards Bill 2005” is concerned primarily with those aspects already covered by the PFA, and has nothing whatsoever to do with protection or promotion of breast-feeding, nor with curbing unhealthy marketing practices of infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles and infant foods.

Why the IMS Act must not be repealed
The IMS ACT is a not a routine food law, nor does it have anything in common with the other Acts in the repeal list. It is a special Act to protect, promote and support breast feeding; it does not deal with purity or adulteration of baby foods, but leaves those matters to the general laws enacted to deal with them. Like the PFA, it focuses on marketing practices and other practices which interfere with breast-feeding, and thereby jeopardize the well being of baby and mother. The protection of breast-feeding is vital for saving the lives of millions of children in India every year.



http://164.100.24.167/bills-ls-rs/8-2002.pdf