12 February 2020 11:23 pm
Following the awareness campaigns conducted regarding the harmful effects caused by milk powder to all organs of the human body, those milk powder companies had increased their promotion costs ten times than before, the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) said.
Addressing a press conference GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge said the profits gained by milk powder importing companies have become low.
"Now those companies have to consider their product promotions other than thinking about the profit. Those companies tend to use popular cricketers for their higher-paid advertisements and had brought over those cricketers’ reputation for money.
Now the milk powder companies are inviting cricketers to conduct cricket tournaments in their countries and to visit their factories to witness how milk powder is manufactured," Dr. Aluthge said.
He pointed out that islandwide consumption of powdered milk has dropped drastically after the public have realized the harmful effects in it.
No milk powder companies, including infant milk powder companies, had come forward to answer the questions raised by the GMOA. We showed with proof that palm oil is containing in baby milk powder products.
A leading multinational company which imports milk powder to Sri Lanka has stated in its website that milk powder had been produced adding Palm Oil to cut cost and to generate profits. Those companies had not responded to the issue as yet. Moreover, Palm oil is cancerous, the doctor said.
"The imported milk powder is not actually milk”, he said.
He said that the Government should take measures to promote local milk products and indigenous foods among people other than to let imported milk powder companies take over us.
The Health Ministry should raise public awareness on the dangers of consuming imported milk powder as non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer occur from this habit.
GMOA also warned that milk powder is harmful to all organs of the human body and it is one of the main causes behind non-communicable diseases.(Chaturanga Samarawickrama)