 This is Gustan. When Gustan was four years old, he weighed nearly 70 pounds. He was so overweight that his teachers worried he'd have trouble breathing during nap time. Throughout his toddler years, Gustan often asked his parents for his favorite milk, which is really a powdered formula product called toddler formula or toddler milk. Like many Thai parents, Gustan's mom and dad had been bombarded by toddler milk advertisements on TV, online, and in grocery stores. And although formula is far more costly than cow's milk, the powder drink promised to improve children's brains, immunity, and eyesight. But according to US pediatric experts, products that are advertised as toddler milks and formulas are misleadingly promoted as a necessary part of a healthy child's diet. But in actuality, offer no benefit over much less expensive cow's milk in most children over age 12 months. So then why is a US government working to advance the interests of toddler milk and other formula companies, especially in developing nations, even while those same nations are trying to limit the advertising for those products in their homelands? Let's get into today's episode of the US acting badly abroad, specifically in Thailand. So in 2017, Thai health experts tried to stop aggressive advertising for all formula products, including those made for toddlers. For some context, there are only two products in the world with international recommendations to prohibit its marketing. One is tobacco, the other is formula. The warning dates back to 1981, after a report in the 70s showed that thousands of infants in impoverished countries were dying and getting sick after drinking formula. This is because their parents sometimes mix the powder with contaminated water, which can lead to life-threatening infections or diarrhea. So fast forward to 2017, Thailand proposed a ban on all formula marketing, because at the time, their breastfeeding rate was among the lowest in the world, and officials feared formula promotion would mislead parents and even persuade mothers to forgo breastfeeding. But the $47 billion formula industry fought back with the help of a very rich and powerful ally, the US government. US officials sent a letter to the Thai government, asking whether the legislation was more trade restrictive than necessary. They also criticized Thai authorities on the floor of the World Trade Organization, where complaints can lead to very costly legal battles. Thai officials argued the new regulation would protect mothers and babies. But after 15 months of diplomatic and political pressure, the Thai government backed down. It banned advertising for infant formula, but allowed companies to market formula for toddlers. Remember Gustan? Well, after his school transitioned him from toddler milk to cow's milk, his excess weight disappeared. He's now 35 pounds, about half of what he weighed at the peak of his toddler milk consumption. Here in the US, products like infant formulas are regulated by the FDA, but toddler milks are not. Despite warnings from nutrition experts about hefty doses of sodium and sweeteners in some brands. But y'all, this is just part of a decades-long global effort to protect the US's significant formula production and export business. According to an extensive investigation by ProPublica, the US government repeatedly used its muscle to advance the interests of multinational formula companies like Mead Johnson and Abbott, all while thwarting the efforts of Thailand and other developing countries to safeguard the health of their youngest children. Stay tuned for part two where we show you rare receipts between US health and trade officials duking it out on Microsoft Word over international formula regulation guidance. And head to our link in bio to read more about the US's global campaign against formula regulation.