Taurean, TBH, the impact on society as a whole, not just babies will not really be known yet for another I say 20yrs or so.... if you look at the generations now receiving FF as opposed to years and years ago when it was mainly BF, when most families couldn't afford formula as it was too expensive...... we really don't know the implications this will all have on our society and environment until further down the track. It is still too early to tell I believe.... I do know however, that nature designed breastmilk for babies. This is what nature ALWAYS intended babies to have.
if the impacts of not BF are to be seen, we should be seeing them now. i have DH's child health book and he was on watered down condensed milk. whatever replacement it was, it wasn't breast milk. yup, 45 years ago, it was normal to wean onto replacements at a very young age if they were BF at all

Yes, as a society, we are facing a problem with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, but i defy ANYONE to say that this is solely attributed to formula feeding. there is no way, unless you get identical twins and lock them away for their entire lives, one FF for the first 2 years, one BF, that you can say that FF is THE factor that leads to health problems in life. the behaviours of society as a whole (our reliance on fast/convenience food) are contributing far more than the mode of feeding our children at birth! i would be able to pick apart any "evidence" that was handed over in regard to breast vs formula because, lets face it, there are just no controls and too many outside factors that could contribute to the outcomes they reach