An act to add Article 9 (commencing with Section 124172) to Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to infant health.

AB 2447, as introduced, Goldberg. Infants: formula.

Existing law establishes various provisions relating to the health of infants, pregnant women, and mothers of infants. This bill would prohibit a manufacturer of infant formula from sending, or a hospital or health care provider from distributing, unsolicited samples of infant formula to a mother without obtaining her written consent on a form that contains information about the drawbacks of feeding a baby infant formula and the benefits of breastfeeding.

This bill would also prohibit a hospital or healthcare professional from providing information about a mother to a manufacturer of infant formula without obtaining her written consent on a form that contains information about the drawbacks of feeding a baby infant formula and the benefits of breastfeeding. This bill would require the department to assess a civil penalty of $500 for a violation of the bill.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.

State-mandated local program: no.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Manufacturers of infant formula commonly send new mothers unsolicited samples of free infant formula. These actions by formula manufacturers violate the World Health Organization's International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, which the United States signed in 1994.

(b) Although the practice of sending unsolicited samples of infant formulas to new or expectant mothers may seem innocuous and even generous on the part of manufacturers, it is done as part of an aggressive marketing strategy. This marketing strategy is designed to result in the early supplementation of infant formula in the diets of infants and to lead to the premature weaning of infants from breastfeeding.

(c) Health experts, including the Surgeon General, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, the American Dietetic Association, the American College of Nurse Midwives, and the State Department of Health Services, agree that breastfeeding is the ideal method of feeding and nurturing infants, that breast milk is the most complete form of nutrition for infants, that breastfeeding protects infants from a wide array of infectious and noninfectious diseases, and that breastfeeding improves maternal health by reducing postpartum bleeding and lowering the risk of premenopausal breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

(d) Furthermore, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed for six months before being introduced to any complementary foods.

(e) The use of formula can cause a mother's milk supply to decrease, often leading a mother to think that she must further supplement her baby's milk intake with formula. The result is often the early and undesired weaning of the infant from breast milk to formula.

SEC. 2. Article 9 (commencing with Section 124172) is added to Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

Article 9. Infant Formula

124172. (a) No manufacturer of infant formula shall distribute in this state free samples of infant formula to a mother, an expectant mother, or family members of a mother or an expectant mother, unless these samples are requested in a written form that she has signed that clearly states information about both the risks associated with feeding infant formula to a baby and the benefits of breastfeeding.

(b) No hospital or health care professional shall distribute in this state free samples of infant formula to a mother, an expectant mother, or family members of a mother or an expectant mother unless these samples are requested in a written form that she has signed that clearly states information about both the risks associated with feeding infant formula to a baby and the benefits of breastfeeding.

124173. No hospital or health care professional shall share information with, or sell or otherwise communicate personal information to, infant formula manufacturers about a mother or an expectant mother unless she has consented for the information to be released by signing a form that clearly states information about both the risks associated with feeding a baby infant formula and the benefits of breastfeeding.

124174. The department may assess a civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500) for a violation of this article.