Hi Evid,
Where does this text come from...?
I suppose it was read here...
Can't imagine this organisation got it from somewhere else so fast, could
it...?
Let me know the source; that may be useful for our case.
Thanks!
Bye,
Marianne Vanderveen IBCLC, Netherlands
----- Original Message -----
From: "Evi Adams" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 12:08 PM
Subject: [LACTNET] IBFAN: DANONE/GAIN/Dutch exam and more (via
BabyMilkAction)
the exam mentioned is the one posted on lactnet? We heard it first??? Evi
Adams
DANONE no longer on the Board of GAIN -
and promotes its infant formulas through Dutch school exams
Press release 29 May 2009
The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the World Alliance
for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) welcomed an important concession from the
controversial Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) initiative as
this week Danone - the 2nd biggest baby food manufacturer and the owner of
NUMICO, Nutricia, Milupa and Cow & Gate – has been removed from the list of
Board members. GAIN is a public-private partnership which promotes
processed, ready-to-eat foods - fortified drinks and biscuits for the
developing world. With Danone already on its Board, in 2008 GAIN launched a
project on infant and young child nutrition so came firmly into the focus of
the groups who have been working closely with WHO and UNICEF for decades to
protect infant and young child feeding practices from undue commercial
influence.
Patti Rundall, OBE, Policy Director of Baby Milk Action, the IBFAN group in
the UK, said:
"Danone is beginning to challenge Nestlé for the title of the world's worst
baby food company and its involvement in GAIN was a bizarre and very clear
conflict of interests for an initiative claiming to improve health. However,
even after this important concession of the removal of this company from the
Board, our concerns remain about the flawed concept of GAIN - which is to
build markets for processed foods - a concept which holds huge risks for
infant and young child survival. "
When Danone took control of NUMICO at the end of 2007, IBFAN asked it to
bring the marketing practices of its existing and new breastmilk substitute
brands into line with World Health Assembly standards. IBFAN welcomed
Danone's early comment to conduct a 'root and branch review' of practices,
but a year later it appears that practices have in fact got worse as the
Danone companies attempt to compete with global leader Nestlé.
In October 2008, 53 experts from 24 countries, attending a WABA meeting in
Penang, Malaysia wrote to WHO and UNICEF calling on them to reconsider their
partnership with GAIN because of the unacceptable conflict of interest of
its business partners and the market-driven approach it epitomises. UNICEF
does not in any case allow Code violating companies be involved with its
programes and WHO also has guidelines governing its interactions with the
private sector. IBFAN also approached GAIN directly about its policies and
about the conflict of interest situation created by the presence of a baby
food manufacturer on its Board. Illustrating the lack of transparency of
GAIN's setup, no mention of Danone’s interest in baby foods ever appeared on
the GAIN website nor any mention that it is a systematic Code violator.
IBFAN opposes the creation of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) and UN
Business Partnerships (UNBPs) - which have created satellite bodies that are
neither democratically governed nor accountable - except to their funders -
one being the Gates Foundation - which has a seat on the GAIN Board.
These problems, lack of public control and the market driven approach to
development remain as major concerns even with Danone leaving the Board of
GAIN. There is no evidence that nutrition in the developing world will be
improved through the building of markets for fortified foods, yet GAIN
persists with this goal. (3) While fortification of selected foods may be
useful in some cases, IBFAN fears that the philanthropic packaging of the
GAIN message and the image transfer from GAIN’s UN partners alongside
marketing messages will undermine breastfeeding and the use of indigenous,
traditional and low-cost foods. Few governments in the developing world have
the marketing controls in place that might ensure that the products are used
appropriately and prevent the poor from being exploited.
A major debate at the Royal Society of Arts last night, chaired by Richard
Horton of the Lancet, What has the Gates Foundation ever done for global
health? questioned the lack of accountability, the focus on high-tech
solutions and the capitalist outlook of Gates funded projects - including
GAIN - which has resulted in a complete change of the global health
landscape, agenda and approach. The Gates Foundation has an endowment of $60
billion (almost a quarter of that of the entire UN system)
Meanwhile - in the Netherlands - the home of DANONE subsidiary NUMICO - a
row has broken out about a national government Senior High school
examination for 18-year-olds in the Netherlands - which included a question
which forms 25% of exam, based on on a Nutricia infant formula, Nenatal,
complete with registered trademark signs. The question includes promotional
language incidental and irrelevant to the scientific content of the
question. The appendix text file provided by the manufacturer contains the
technical specifications of the product, and another piece of promotional
language. (4)
Food companies seek links with UN bodies to boost their credibility. In
November 2008 Nestlé produced a report on food fortification as a way to
tackle malnutrition and was later asked by the Food and Agriculture
Organisation and WHO to remove their logos and misleading references which
implied endorsement of Nestlé report.
A silent protest by public health experts and NGOs took place in Dehli in
April, calling on GAIN to leave India. The ongoing controversy over whether
traditional cooked meals should be replaced with packaged food at Integrated
Child Development Services centres, has alerted people to the risks of
nutrition interventions which ignore conflicts of interest and the need for
an independently-funded evidence base and independent monitoring of the
outcome.
For more information contact: Patti Rundall 07786 523493
Notes for editors
1. See the codewatch section of the IBFAN website and the Baby Milk Action
website for examples of Danone/NUMICO malpractice. Also see the UK
monitoring reports on theBaby Feeding Law Group website.
2. Gain's Executive Director, Mark Ameringen, expects everyone to work
together to help companies establish these new markets: "[this] underscores
the importance and need for development agencies and donors to continue to
support business solutions and, thus, maximize productivity of the poor.
GAIN can mobilize development partners from the public and non-profit
sectors to create an enabling environment for companies interested in
nutrition for the poor."
Opportunities and challenges for the food industry in reaching the poor.
M.Ameringen, B. Magarinos (Sen. Man. GAIN) M.Jarvis (World Bank), Business &
Malnutrition: Development Outreach June 2008
3. What has the Gates Foundation done for global health? Debate at the Royal
Society of Arts. 28th May 2009
Speakers :Matthew Bishop, business editor at The Economist and author of
Philanthrocapatalism.Matthew Bishop, business editor at The Economist and
author of Philanthrocapatalism
Dave McCoy, author of a Lancet paper that looks at the grants given out by
the Foundation over the past few years, Managing Editor of the Global Health
Watch, an alternative world health report and a senior clinical associate in
global health and development at the University College London. The Lancet,
Volume 373, Issue 9675, Page 1577, 9 May 2009
Global Health Watch 2 http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/
publications02.html#globalhwatch2
Politics of Breastfeeding:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/index.html
4.
http://viv.id.au/blog/20090528.5110/infant-formula-product-placement-in-chemistry-matric-exam-in-netherlands/
This message is sent to you by Patti Rundall, Policy Director, Baby Milk
Action
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