>I believe it is chapter or article 5 in the WHO code which addresses this,
>saying the code forbids any company who manufactures breastmilk
substitutes,
>from seeking direct contact with pregnant women or new mothers
You're right, Rachel....but in the UK we have a law on the promotion
of formula which is the WHO code several times diluted.

Around the world, very few contries have enacted the WHO Code into national
legislation, despite the fact that the resolution which was poassed at the
WHA recommended that every governement adopt the Code in its entirety and
that the Code could be considered as a minimum provision -- countries were
free, even encouraged, to pass further provisions.

The UK, while not having the Code as law -- and having an inter-disciplinary
working group for the past ?4 years working on acheiving the Code and
subsequent WHA resolutions as law, DOES have national legislation which is
considered -- in global terms -- to be fairly reasonable.  The USA, for
example, despite the Code and all subseqeunt resolutioins (every two years
since 1981, with one exception) has not passed any provisions of the Code as
law, as I understand -- look at the league tables in many publications from
IBFAN and others, which compare the legislation in countries around the
world.

If you want to inform yourself more about the history of the Code, its place
in the international scene of regulation of transnational corporations, and
in relation to other international instruments to protect infant health
(BFHI, Innocenti, Convention on the Rights of the Child) I would highly
recommend the book Richter, J (2001) Holding Corporations Accountable:
corporate conduct, international codes and citizen action.  After reading
this, I feel invigorated in my committment to the Code and Resolutions.  I
realise that for some years I have been talking more about supporting the
Code, as a volunteer worker, and not enough about pressing for legislation
to implement the Code.  Reading the book also made me realise the strength
of some of the WHA resolutions (1996) whic extend the coverage of items
under the Code to products which impact on exclusive breastfeeding to 6
months and also sustained breastfeeding for at least 2 years.  Meditate on
this and think about what that covers....  (Remember that one definition of
exclusive breastfeeding -- Labbok and Krasovec -- exclusdes breast milk
feeding, while the WHO definition allows it).

As a start, the organisation I work for (The Breastfeeding Network) is
actually trying to work within the provisions of the Code and Resolutions --
and also in the spirit of the Code and Resolutions.  A very interesting
exercise.

Can I repeat, that BFHI and Innocenti were UN initiatives once it was seen
that the Code was not enough to protect breastfeeding, it needed support and
promotion as well (with ILO legislation these form the four parts of WHO
action on breastfeeding / infant feeding) -- if you are interested in BFHI,
for instance, its gonna be hard to ignore the Code and Resolutions.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK
Area Contact, Baby Milk Action (IBFAN UK)

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