Harassment of health professionals by the infant food industry at scientific events

Velasco, Ana Carla da Cunha Ferreira; Oliveira, Maria Inês Couto de; Boccolini, Cristiano Siqueira

doi:10.11606/s1518-8787.2022056003398

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Sumário

Original Article • Rev. Saúde Pública 56 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2022056003398 copy

Harassment of health professionals by the infant food industry at scientific events

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the receipt of sponsorships from breast-milk substitute companies by health professionals in scientific events.

METHODS

Multicenter study (Multi-NBCAL) performed from November 2018 to November 2019 in six cities in different Brazilian regions. In 26 public and private hospitals, pediatricians, nutritionists, speech therapists, and a hospital manager were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive analyses were carried out regarding the health professionals’ knowledge about the Norma Brasileira de Comercialização de Alimentos para Lactentes e Crianças de Primeira Infância, Bicos, Chupetas e Mamadeiras (NBCAL – Brazilian Code of Marketing of Infant and Toddlers Food and Childcare-related Products), companies sponsoring scientific events, and material or financial sponsorships received, according to profession.

RESULTS

We interviewed 217 health professionals, mainly pediatricians (48.8%). Slightly more than half of the professionals (54.4%) knew NBCAL, most from Baby-friendly Hospitals. Most health professionals (85.7%) attended scientific events in the last two years, more than half of them (54.3%) sponsored by breast-milk substitute companies, especially Nestlé (85.1%) and Danone (65.3%). These professionals received sponsorships in the events, such as office supplies (49.5%), meals or invitations to parties (29.9%), promotional gifts (21.6%), payment of the conference registration fee (6.2%) or ticket to the conference (2.1%).

CONCLUSION

The infant food industries violate NBCAL by harassing health professionals in scientific conferences, offering diverse material and financial sponsorships.

Breast-Milk Substitutes; Legislation, Food; Food Publicity; Scientific and Educational Events; Health Personnel

Municipality	Public Baby-friendly Hospitals		Non-accredited public hospitals		Private hospitals		Total
Municipality	n	%	n	%	n	%	n
Rio de Janeiro	25	37.3	31	46.3	11	16.4	67
São Paulo	9	22.5	19	47.5	12	30	40
Ouro Preto	6	100	0	0	0	0	6
Florianópolis	18	56.3	0	0	14	43.8	32
João Pessoa	30	66.7	0	0	15	33.3	45
Brasília	8	29.6	7	25.9	12	44.4	27
Total	96	44.2	57	26.3	64	29.5	217

Characteristics	Public Baby-friendly Hospitals		Non-accredited public hospitals		Private hospitals		Total		p
Characteristics	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	p
Sex
Men	17	17.7	8	14	2	3.1	27	12.4	0.022
Women	79	82.3	49	86	62	96.9	190	87.6
Age
20–34	24	25	13	22.8	24	37.5	61	28.1	0.247
35–59	65	67.7	39	68.4	33	51.6	137	63.1
≥ 60	7	7.3	5	8.8	7	10.9	19	8.8
Skin color
White	63	65.6	37	64.9	25	39.1	125	57.6	0.001
Black	5	5.2	2	3.5	9	14.1	16	7.4
Mixed-race	23	24	6	10.5	18	28.1	47	21.7
Asian	1	1	1	1.8	0	0	2	0.9
Undeclared	4	4.2	11	19.3	12	18.8	27	12.4
Profession
Pediatrician	45	46.9	32	56.1	29	45.3	106	48.8	0.184
Nutritionist	25	26	19	33.3	19	29.7	63	29
Speech therapist	19	19.8	6	10.5	14	21.9	39	18
Other	7	7.3	0	0	2	3.1	9	4.1
Time since graduation
≤ 10 years	29	30.2	17	29.8	27	42.2	73	33.6	0.250
11–24 years	41	42.7	19	33.3	23	35.9	83	38.2
≥ 25 years	26	27.1	21	36.8	14	21.9	61	28.1
Sectors of activity
Rooming-in	50	52.1	29	50.9	32	50	111	51.2	0.966
Neonatal ICU	57	59.4	34	59.6	46	71.9	137	63.1	0.225
Human milk bank	7	7.3	6	10.5	5	7.8	18	8.3	0.771
Total	96	100	57	100	64	100	217	100

Knowledge/training	Public baby-friendly hospitals		Non-accredited public hospitals		Private hospitals		Total		p
Knowledge/training	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	p
Knew NBCAL
Yes	65	67.7	23	40.4	30	46.9	118	54.4	0.001
Regular ^a	14	14.6	6	10.5	13	20.3	33	15.2
No	17	17.7	28	49.1	21	32.8	66	30.4
Mentioned NBCAL products
Yes	73	76	25	43.9	32	50	130	59.9	< 0.001
No	23	24	32	56.1	32	50	87	40.1	< 0.001
Course/class on NBCAL
Yes	39	40.6	14	24.6	12	18.8	65	30	0.007
No	57	59.4	43	75.4	52	81.3	152	70	0.007
Course responsible
Government agencies	39	100	13	92.9	9	75	61	93.8	0.001
Professional association	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Industry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Private ^b	0	0	1	7.1	2	16.7	3	4.6	0.243
Other	0	0	0	0	1	8.3	1	1.5	0.301
Course/class on infant feeding
Yes	92	95.8	50	87.7	61	95.3	203	93.5	0.113
No	4	4.2	7	12.3	3	4.7	14	6.5	0.113
Total	96	100	57	100	64	100	217	100

Participation/sponsorship	Pediatrician		Nutritionist		Speech therapist		Other		Total
Participation/sponsorship	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Participation in congresses
Yes	97	91.5	45	71.4	37	94.9	7	77.8	186	85.7
No	9	8.5	18	28.6	2	5.1	2	22.2	31	14.3
Event sponsored by the infant food industry ^a
Yes	69	71.1	18	40	13	35.1	1	14.3	101	54.3
No	28	28.9	27	60	24	64.9	6	85.7	85	45.7
Sponsor company ^b
Nestlé	60	87	14	77.8	11	84.6	1	100	86	85.1
Danone	50	72.5	9	50	6	46.2	1	100	66	65.3
Abbott	27	39.1	3	16.7	0	0	1	100	31	30.7
Mead Johnson	27	39.1	3	16.7	0	0	0	0	30	29.7
Other	3	4.3	2	11.1	0	0	0	0	5	5

Sponsorship	Pediatrician		Nutritionist		Speech therapist		Other		Total
Sponsorship	n	% ^a	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Material or financial sponsorship in the conference
Office supplies	30	44.1	10	62.5	8	66.7	0	0	48	49.5
Meal or party	21	30.9	6	37.5	2	16.7	0	0	29	29.9
Promotional gift	15	22.1	5	31.2	1	8.3	0	0	21	21.6
Conference registration	3	4.4	2	12.5	1	8.3	0	0	6	6.2
Ticket	2	2.9	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2.1
No sponsorship received	27	39.7	2	12.5	4	33.3	1	100	34	35.1
Sample in the conference
Free sample	17	25	3	18.8	1	8.3	1	100	22	22.7
Total	68	100	16	100	12	100	1	100	97	100

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[1] Correspondence: Maria Inês Couto de Oliveira Rua Marquês do Paraná, 303 3º andar, sala 6 24.033-900 Niterói, RJ, Brasil E-mail: marinescoutoliveira@gmail.com