Letter: On tainted baby formula brands

The refusal by the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), the Health Ministry and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency to disclose, in violation of the ruling of the Supreme Court, the identity of the Enterobacter sakazakii-tainted baby formula brands is a flagrant attempt to evade the duty of all, whether individuals or artificial legal entities, which is to obey the law of the land.

That the Attorney General’s Office has sided with them should surprise no one. It will surprise anyone if the office starts seriously enforcing the laws!

The claim of “research confidentiality” is farcical, for the baby formula samples for this research must (or should) have been obtained by purchase from retail stores.

Did the stores insist that IPB sign confidentiality agreements before they bought the samples? Whose confidentiality would be violated by identifying the tainted brands — that of the stores, the cashiers or the security guards?

Will Jourdin
Ubud, Bali