Calls to curb infant formula’s carbon footprint

Urgent action is needed to protect breastfeeding and reduce formula's carbon footprint - especially for "unnecessary" toddler milks, according to an expert at The Australian National University (ANU). Dr Julie Smith, who has studied the economics of infant feeding for over 20 years, has published a paper in the International Breastfeeding Journal on the global environmental damage of milk formula, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. "The last decade has seen a global boom in formula feeding but this takes the world backwards in the face of contemporary global environmental and population health challenges," Dr Smith said. A ground-breaking study in 2016 showed emissions from just six Asia Pacific countries were equivalent to six billion miles of car travel - with China making the biggest impact. Dr Smith says much of the staggering increase in greenhouse gas emissions from formula is due to expanding markets in toddler milk products. "The most alarming finding in our latest research is a very large proportion of greenhouse gas emission impact is associated with the so-called growing up milks or toddler formula," Dr Smith said. "These are products which are defined by the World Health Organization as unnecessary for children and potentially harmful for their health.