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Policy

Brickbat: Babyface

Charles Oliver | 11.4.2013 6:00 AM

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The European Parliament has banned photos and other images of infants on baby formula. Lawmakers say they hope to prevent parents from idealizing formula over breast milk.

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Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

PolicyNanny StateEuropean UnionRegulation
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  1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

    Yeah, we definitely used formula because of all the cool pictures and enticing ads.

    1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

      You have to remember we’re talking about Europeans here. My experience with Europeans is the biggest reason I believe in American exceptionalism.

      1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

        You are talking about girth, right? Totally have to agree with you.

    2. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

      Not saying this applies to you, but it has amazed me how many women I know that have used formula because their “milk didn’t come in.”

      Did babies die in large numbers in the past from dry tits? What am I missing?

      1. Agammamon   12 years ago

        No, but in the past women didn’t have an easy alternative to breastfeeding so they had to buckle down and do it.

        Nowadays, if they don’t want to, they can just wait a short while, ‘oh my milk isn’t coming in – better bottle-feed’ and stop trying. Its self-reinforcing, if the baby isn’t trying to feed off the teat then the teat doesn’t try to produce milk, so you resort to the bottle earlier so the milk never comes.

        1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

          That’s what I was thinking, but didn’t want to accuse most women of just bailing when the going gets tough. My wife struggled to get going with our son, the milk was there but she was in pain the entire time.

          He ended up needeing a frenotomy to make nursing more pleasant, but I am guessing most don’t get to that point once they have cracked and sore nips.

      2. Andrew G.   12 years ago

        Usually someone else nursed for you. People had enough kids that there was often someone else around who had recently had a baby. And due to the high infant mortality rates, they may have lost that baby but are still producing milk…

        Wet nurses were also very common with the wealthy.

  2. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

    Lawmakers say they hope to prevent parents from idealizing formula over breast milk.

    Yeah, well, my friend’s cousin lives in Spain and he said that it’s because immigrants get confused and think that the formula contains babies and will starve their children rather than resort to cannibalism.

    It’s like how corn has a picture of corn on the can and beans have a picture of beans on the can. So what would a can with a picture of a baby on it contain.

    Solid move by the EU here.

    1. anarch   12 years ago

      If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat? (And what do libertarians eat?)

      1. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

        I eat only 100% freedom loving vegetables and animals.

      2. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

        And I think we know what the progs eat.

        1. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

          http://www.academiabarilla.com…..rists.aspx

          Be men!

      3. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?

        1. SugarFree   12 years ago

          Yes, but only if they are made out of meat.

  3. Ted S.   12 years ago

    They need to ban photos and other images of government, lest people idolize government over voluntary co?peration.

    1. Doctor Whom   12 years ago

      They’d probably ban photos and other images of people doing anything without being micromanaged by the Eurocrats.

  4. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    People who aren’t weaned on milk grow up to be cereal killers.

  5. Zakalwe   12 years ago

    So what if I put my mom’s someone’s tits on my fridge baby formula? Is that ok?

    1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

      It would sell out!

  6. lap83   12 years ago

    Whenever i hear stories like this I imagine that the lawmakers were sitting around bored because they thought they were in a near utopia of their own doing. “gentlemen, we have completely eradicated crime, successfully replaced the currency with hugs and kisses, peace reigns, and everyone gets paid to prance in the meadows. What else can we do?” …”well, the labels on baby formula are not ideal.”

    1. Agammamon   12 years ago

      This is the EU – *everything has to be codified and homogenized.

      These are the people who have rules (backed by the threat of fines and *jail*) delineating the maximum curvature of bananas sold to the public.

      These guys have regulations specifying what can be labeled jelly, what is jam, and what are preserves.

      These are the guys who codified the size range that your tomatoes have to be in in order to be packaged as a group.

  7. Suthenboy   12 years ago

    Being obsessed with the intimate details of other peoples lives must make for a miserable existence.

    1. Agammamon   12 years ago

      Its like professional sports – the lower levels require a lot of time and effort and it doesn’t pay off for most people but if you can get in the big leagues you’re set for a pretty damn cushy life.

  8. Ken Shultz   12 years ago

    The primary purpose of representative democracy is as a means for the government to justify the shit they want to do to us.

  9. Rich   12 years ago

    Lawmakers say they hope to prevent parents from idealizing formula over breast milk.

    Obviously the solution is to put images of cancerous lungs on the baby formula.

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