 Hello everyone. So now we are going to watch a tutorial on IMS Act, Infant Milk Substitute Act. Not many people know about this act, but I think, you know, if we understand what is this law, what is this act, we will be able to protect mothers and families from, you know, a lot of this formula making companies, you know, there is a lot of advertisement sometime, you know, people don't know that this advertisement to mothers on infant milk substitute is against the law. So do watch this tutorial and understand what is the law and please pass on this message to everyone, okay. Thank you. Welcome to the spoken tutorial on the Indian law to protect breastfeeding. In this tutorial, we will learn about infant milk substitutes or IMS. The IMS Act. Let us first understand what are infant milk substitutes. Infant milk substitutes are also called IMS. IMS are baby foods presented as a partial or total replacement for breast milk. They include all commercial baby foods for infants up to two years old. In this tutorial, we will refer to IMS as commercial baby foods or baby foods. Why do people use commercial baby foods? There are five major reasons for the popular use of commercial baby foods. The first reason is the myth that compares commercial baby foods to breast milk. It is believed that they are as good as breast milk. They can substitute breastfeeding completely. Some uninformed people may believe them to be better than breast milk. This myth is popular because their harms are not known or seen easily. People are not guided about their harmful effects properly. Also, the marketing techniques portray them to be equivalent to breast milk. Even many doctors or health care workers are not aware of their harmful effects. They do not know the losses caused by not breastfeeding. Hence, commercial baby foods are not considered dangerous by most people. There is a general social acceptance of commercial baby foods. This applies to feeding bottles and artificial nipples as well. No commercial baby food can be equivalent to breastfeeding. They may imitate the common constituents of breast milk. Common constituents include proteins, calories or fats. However, they cannot have the numerous constituents of breast milk. Also, breast milk varies for each mother and her baby. Commercial baby foods do not have this quality. They are the same for all mothers and babies. They also do not have the psycho-emotional benefits of breastfeeding. They are very well known to cause undernutrition or obesity. They also cause infectious and non-infectious diseases. These diseases include cardiovascular problems and allergies. Their worst effect is that they make breastfeeding seem unimportant for babies. They stop people from seeing that breastfeeding is free and the best. The second reason for using baby foods is that they seem like an easy shortcut. Breastfeeding is a skill. It takes time and effort to learn or assist the proper breastfeeding technique. There could be problems while learning how to breastfeed. Mother needs the family's support to breastfeed at home. She also needs society's support to breastfeed outside home or at work. Therefore, commercial baby foods are considered as convenient alternatives. Let's discuss the third reason for the use of commercial baby foods now. Not well-informed healthcare workers use baby foods as an easy solution. They may not know how to help mothers to breastfeed properly. So, in a problematic situation, they recommend commercial baby foods by default. The fourth reason for using baby foods is their heavy promotion by manufacturers. Scientific words and rewards are used to convince people to buy baby foods. They are used to convince healthcare workers to prescribe baby foods easily. The fifth reason for using baby foods is the emotional weakness of new mothers. Their worries increase during their own problems. They also increase during disasters such as floods or the COVID-19 crisis. They lose confidence and feel that breast milk won't be enough for their baby. They start believing the wrong advice on the usefulness of baby foods. Then, they start using commercial baby foods. Now, let's discuss the history of commercial baby foods promotion briefly. Since its invention, the promotion has made breastfeeding look unimportant. Their companies directly target pregnant or lactating women and health workers. They try to promote baby foods through nutrition or breastfeeding workshops. They do free product distribution during emergencies like floods or earthquakes. They also try to promote baby foods at grocery stores and medical stores. Commercial baby foods are prominently displayed in the stores. They use incentives to lure people to buy and use commercial baby foods. Health activists realized how harmful these strategies are for babies. Infancy is a vulnerable period of life. Inappropriate feeding practices like improper use of baby foods are very risky. So, the regulation of commercial baby foods promotion requires special laws. Therefore, the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes was created. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. This urged all countries to make laws regulating the marketing of baby foods. India passed the infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles and infant foods, regulation of production, supply and distribution Act 1992 and Amendment Act 2003. It is also called the IMS Act. There are many laws passed by all the countries enacting the code. Among all the laws, the IMS Act is one of the most stringent laws. The provisions of the IMS Act are very clearly put up by BPNI. BPNI is the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India. Now let's discuss the ten violations of the IMS Act. The IMS Act is considered violated if a food is promoted by any means specifically for children up to two years of age. The name of the food doesn't matter if the products under the scope of the IMS Act are advertised. This includes infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles and infant food. Any ad in any form or any medium violates the IMS Act. It includes TV, newspapers, magazines, journals, radio, SMS advertisements. It also includes social media, billboards, banners and other advertisements. If the product or its samples are distributed to any person directly, this includes pregnant women or lactating women. If any kind of incentive is offered to use or sell the product, incentives could be discounts or free gifts etc. If educational material related to the IMS Act is distributed to the promotion of IMS is distributed. If the labels of these products carry specific pictures for increasing sales, these pictures could be of mothers, babies, cartoons, graphics etc. If a hospital, nursing home, chemist shop promotes IMS in any way. If a hospital offers IMS, this includes displaying placards or posters of IMS companies. If money or gifts are offered to health workers or their family to promote IMS. If an IMS company or its distributor provides direct or indirect contributions. It includes funding for seminars, training meetings, conferences or educational courses. It also includes sponsorships, research grants or fellowships. Sponsorship of health workers or their associations is also not allowed. If the volume of sales of IMS is the basis for fixing the sales commission. By doing so, the IMS company or its product distributor violates the IMS Act. Please report these violations immediately. To do so, you can use the BPNI, Stunpan Suraksha mobile application. This application is very user friendly. It involves only two simple steps to report. When you detect any violation, open the application. Click the tab in the menu, report promotion of baby foods or feeding bottles. The reporting page will open. Provide necessary information in the designated columns. Attach any photograph or document if you have. Submit it. Remember IMS companies may state the benefits of breastfeeding in their ads. However, any such ad still makes a mother doubt her plan to breastfeed. Their ads are designed to sell baby foods to as many mothers as possible. The sooner a mother stops breastfeeding, the more formula is purchased. This is why IMS companies try to make breastfeeding seem unimportant. Breastfeeding is essential for a baby at least until two years of age. The correct breastfeeding technique is important for breastfeeding adequately. It is discussed in other tutorials in the same series. This brings us to the end of this tutorial. Thank you for joining.