THE Department of Health (DOH) has expressed relief that all barriers to the implementation of the revised Milk Code have been eliminated, as the Supreme Court (SC) barred milk companies from filing an extension to appeal its October decision.

“We’re happy to hear that. It’s a victory as far as we’re concerned,” Health Undersecretary Alaxander Padilla told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview Tuesday.

In a resolution, the SC denied the petition of the Pharmaceutical Health Care Association of the Philippines (PHAP) to extend the deadline to file a motion for reconsideration on the court’s approval of the guideline on the regulation of infant formula promotion.

The PHAP filed its motion for an extension on November 7, or a day after the deadline set by the SC in filing a motion for reconsideration.

Padilla was surprised that the milk companies asked that they be given more “leeway” in filing their motion for reconsideration since the DOH and the PHAP agreed that there would be no more appeals coming from both parties to the SC.

An interagency committee headed by the DOH oversees the approval of all advertisements of infant formula, a factor that breast-milk advocates say is needed since PHAP apparently “abused” the government guidelines on promotion.

The revised Milk Code prevents milk companies from using text and images of babies and their parents in product labels and promotion. It also barred manufacturers from claiming health benefits in labels and ordered that warnings of bacteria derived from milk substitutes be mentioned in their packaging.

But while the SC’s decision was executory since December, breast-milk advocates are protesting Wyeth’s alleged “unethical” marketing where it claimed to have “lutein” as ingredient in its milk product.

In a statement, they mentioned a statement by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority assailing lutein claims from milk companies for being “uncertain” and “hypothesized.”

Save the Babies Coalition, a network of 100 nongovernment organizations supporting breastfeeding, said Wyeth’s promotion of its new Progress Gold Fortified in September last year, where it claims to have lutein as ingredient, is an act that undermines mothers’ milk.

The BusinessMirror tried to contact PHAP for comment on the SC’s resolution but did not get any as of press time.

The issue of the implementation of the revised Milk Code became hotter as PHAP elevated the case to the High Court. It also prompted its mother organization, the International Fourmula Council, to complain against the Philippine representatives of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund for their involvement in the milk issue.

Palace not worried about coup threat

Malacańang said on Tuesday that President Arroyo is pushing through with a weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East, starting January 22, the supposed culmination date of an alleged plot to destabilize her administration.

THE Department of Health (DOH) has expressed relief that all barriers to the implementation of the revised Milk Code have been eliminated, as the Supreme Court (SC) barred milk companies from filing an extension to appeal its October decision.

HOPING the government will realize that the permanent or temporary removal of the 12-percent value-added tax on petroleum products spell big relief to consumers, Sen. Mar  Roxas II expressed optimism on Tuesday that the energy summit called by Malacańang will tackle his proposal to temporarily suspend the collection of VAT on oil products for at least six month.

TENSION gripped Nueva Vizcaya’s mining sites anew, as tribesmen barricaded the site of an Australian mining company in their ancestral lands.

AS more US troops are due to arrive in Mindanao for new joint military exercises starting February 18, a militant legislator called on the House of Representatives to immediately conduct a review on the continued presence and incidents of abuse of US soldiers in Mindanao under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

IN an attempt to address what he described as the moral degeneration of society as a result of the tragedies caused by abortion, child abuse, neglect and other forms of antilife and antichild acts, a legislator has filed a bill allowing the parents of unwanted babies to give up their children to the government without fear of arrest and prosecution.

PSYCHIATRISTS are concerned that the feminization of labor migration that has prompted fathers to take the role of mothers is causing a negative effect on children’s behavior.