A Maori health researcher says baby formula manufacturers have behaved like tobacco companies in the way they have manipulated women into using their products.
Dr Marewa Glover has just completed a chapter on cross cultural perspectives on Maori breast-feeding for a new book for health practitioners.
She told Waatea News that Maori women have one of the lowest rates of breast-feeding in the world, because for generations they have been bombarded with messages from the milk formula industry.
Dr Glover said Maori women still are not warned properly about the health risks of using artificial milk rather than breast milk.
