[A-List] Imperialism: it's Nestlé again

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Nestlé 'breaking code on baby milk for Third World'
By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor
The Independent
17 January 2003

Western companies including Nestlé and Danone are accused today of breaching
an internationally agreed code on the promotion of baby milk in the
developing world, which is contributing to the deaths of thousands of
children.

Every 30 seconds, campaigners claim, a baby dies from unsafe bottle feeding.
Yet despite the marketing code and an international boycott of the companies
involved over more than 20 years, the trade continues.

The latest evidence comes from a survey conducted in Togo and Burkina Faso
in West Africa, where companies were found to be routinely flouting the code
agreed by 118 countries in 1981. The code was drawn up to ensure that any
woman who wished to breast feed would not be dissuaded by promotions
undermining the message that breast is best.

One of the major problems facing health workers in the developing world is
that breast feeding is seen as backward, and bottle feeding is regarded as
more modern and sophisticated, a result of the successful marketing of
breast milk substitutes. Breast feeding has long been known to be the safest
way of raising infants, providing them with the nutrition they need and
protecting them from infection at a crucial stage of development. Bottle
feeding carries greater risks from contaminated water used to make up the
feed and unsterilised equipment.

Researchers from Helen Keller International, a charity based in New York,
found free samples of infant formula were given to health clinics for
distribution to mothers, in contravention of the code. A mother who gives up
breast feeding will not start again. Leaflets advertising the products
failed to emphasise the advantages of breast feeding or explain how the
bottle feeds were to be made up safely.

The breast milk substitutes and similar products including fruit juices and
infant cereals were promoted with pictures and drawings idealising their use
as the modern way to raise children. Forty products were identified which
were in breach of the labelling standards set down in the code, 21 made by
Danone, 11 by Nestlé and eight by other manufacturers.

The survey was conducted by Victor Aguayo and colleagues, and published in
the British Medical Journal. The authors say urgent action is needed to
ensure families get objective information on child feeding "at a time when
it can mean the difference between life and death".

They add: "Infant mortality in Togo and Burkina Faso is among the highest in
the world. Every year sub-optimal breast feeding is the underlying cause of
an estimated 3,300 infant deaths in Togo (25 per cent of all-cause infant
mortality) and over 6,200 infant deaths in Burkina Faso (11 per cent of
all-cause infant mortality)."

In a statement, Nestlé said it was "strongly committed" to the promotion of
breast feeding and honoured the international code in all developing
countries where it operated. It added: "We believe that in many countries a
better way of monitoring and enforcing the code is needed and we believe
this is best done by encouraging and supporting governments to take on this
responsibility as urged in the WHO code itself."