Chen Aizhu, deputy to the National People's Congress, vice chairman of the Pingyang Grassroots Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, and director of the Liannan Village Committee of Aojiang Town, Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Provided by the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association
Deputies to the National People's Congress: Let there be laws to follow and standards to follow in the supervision of breast-milk substitutes
Beijing, May 26 (China News Network) -- During the two sessions of the National People's Congress, around the issue of supervision of breast-milk substitutes, Chen Aizhu, deputy to the National People's Congress, vice chairman of the Pingyang Grassroots Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, and director of the Liannan Village Committee of Aojiang Town, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, put forward suggestions such as formulating and promulgating the "Measures for the Administration of the Sales of Breast-milk Substitutes" and improving the relevant scientific standard system as soon as possible.
The so-called "breast-milk substitutes" generally refer to dairy products, beverages and other foods that are sold on the market or otherwise provided in part or in total replacement of breast milk for infants under 6 months of age, including bottled complementary foods, bottles and pacifiers.
Chen Aizhu pointed out that with the vigorous development of the sales market, the regulatory system of breast milk substitutes is facing unprecedented challenges, in addition to the lack of moral corruption of producers and operators and the lack of social responsibility, it is also necessary to reflect on the reasons for the management mechanism.
She said that at present, there are problems in the supervision of breast milk substitutes, such as lack of legal support for business supervision, imperfect regulatory standards, inadequate implementation of regulatory responsibilities, and dispersion of regulatory authorities.
Taking the lack of legal support as an example, Chen Aizhu said: "In order to protect the physical and mental health of infants and promote breastfeeding, China issued the Administrative Measures for the Sales of Breast-milk Substitutes in 1995. However, the measures only stipulate that sellers are not allowed to give away products and sell products at a reduced price, and the penalties are mostly limited to warnings, confiscation of illegal gains or fines, and the maximum amount of fines is 30,000 yuan. After the measures were abolished in 2017, there was a legal gap in the field of breast-milk substitute sales. ”
At the two sessions of the National People's Congress, Chen Aizhu suggested that the "Administrative Measures for the Sales of Breast-milk Substitutes" be formulated as soon as possible to ensure that they are guaranteed at the level of laws and regulations. "First of all, this is the need for administration according to law. At present, it is necessary to introduce the "Measures for the Management of Breast Milk Substitutes" to fill in the gaps, so that the law enforcement supervision of the regulatory authorities can be based on the law, and the punishment has rules to follow. The second is the need to punish illegal acts, and increase the cost of violations on the basis of the original management measures, and increase the provisions such as industry prohibitions. ”
In addition, it hopes to regulate this market through a sound system of scientific standards. "Government departments should formulate scientific and practical standards for breast-milk substitutes, integrate the original national and industry standards, and consider the particularity of breast-milk substitutes on the basis of ordinary food standards to improve standards."
She also put forward the idea of "centralized supervision of the main body", that is, the establishment of a unified food safety regulatory agency, the original health and industry and commerce administrative departments of the authorities unified, the special food including breast milk substitutes from the production link to the circulation link of all-round, the whole process of supervision.
"In the production link, increase the intensity of administrative examination and approval and punishment; in the circulation link, strictly implement the responsibility system for false promotion of medical institutions and medical personnel." For businesses to strengthen guidance and publicity, regular and irregular special commodity spot checks, once problems are found, timely punishment will not be tolerated. For suspected criminal responsibility links, the regulatory departments should also promptly transfer relevant materials to the judicial departments, and the judicial departments shall pursue the criminal responsibility of the personnel involved in accordance with the law and crack down on criminal acts strictly. The judicial department should also timely feedback the results of the process to the administrative department or conduct regular seminars to improve the regulatory awareness of legal issues in this field. Chen Aizhu said. (End)