Not banning milk advertising is harmful to children
At the National Assembly meeting this morning (May 30), in the discussion of the draft Law on Advertising, children's rights were again given great attention when the majority of opinions proposed banning powdered milk advertising.
Advertising of breast milk substitutes should be banned.
Most of the comments on the draft Law on Advertising believe that it is necessary to add the provision “Prohibition of advertising of breast milk substitutes” to the prohibitions of the law. The reasons given by the delegates are based on the interests of children, to protect children’s health, and at the same time reduce unnecessary expenses in the family economy.
Delegate Khuc Thi Huyen (Thai Binh) expressed her indignation: “We have spent a lot of time improving knowledge for mothers, to help them understand the value of breast milk for their children. Decree 21 of the Government also prohibits advertising milk for children under 12 months old, so the Advertising Law must at least reflect this. Therefore, I propose that Clause 4, Article 8 should be kept as the draft has been presented.”
Delegate Nguyen Thu Anh (Lam Dong) also agreed with the proposal to ban advertising of milk for children under 24 months old. She analyzed: "It is known that the right to decide whether to feed their children with breast milk or formula milk belongs to the mother. But the allure of milk advertisements cannot be denied. These advertisements have made mothers misunderstand the value of powdered milk, and do not believe in the value of their milk. Therefore, advertisements will certainly have a significant impact on mothers' decisions when choosing milk for their children."
Expressing a thorough understanding and high awareness of children's health, delegate Nguyen Ngoc Phuong (Quang Binh) agreed with the ban on advertising milk, feeding bottles, and pacifiers, explaining that Decree 21 has stipulated it. He suggested that this prohibition should be included in the Advertising Law.
Breast milk has a value that no other source of nutrition can replace. If left to advertising, it will create misunderstandings, many mothers will not believe in themselves, so they will be irresponsible, and not care about breastfeeding. This will also affect the good culture of Vietnam.
Sharing the same view, delegate Vo Ngoc Thu (Kien Giang) added his opinion opposing the explanation of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly that the ban on advertising milk for children under 12 months old has been stipulated in Decree 21. Delegate Thu's view is that "Decree 21 itself is also being proposed to be amended". "I do not agree with the explanation that Decree 21 has stipulated the ban on advertising milk, that is only a provision in the Decree, the Decree cannot be higher than the Law", Mr. Thu said.
In addition to the proposal to add a ban on milk advertising in the draft advertising law, many delegates also proposed adding prohibited acts such as banning advertising with offensive images and words, banning classified ads, spam messages, banning alcohol advertising, banning taking advantage of charity, taking advantage of other people's misfortune to advertise products, etc.
The majority of opinions expressed in this morning's meeting also expressed agreement on assigning advertising management to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Issues such as advertising duration on television, in newspapers, the capacity of media agencies to do advertising... were also contributed by delegates.
This afternoon, the National Assembly discussed in the hall a number of contents with different opinions in the draft Law on Handling Administrative Violations.
According to Phapluat-M