Thank you Marsha Walker for seeking and sharing with Lactnet an opinion from
the ICDC, an esteemed international expert on WHO Code interpretation, on
the vexsome issue of the assignment of corporate responsibility for
unethical marketing.

I will say this with all the humility and bravery that I can muster, given
the hair-trigger responses that Lactnet engenders:  while the ICDC position
with regard to one well-known subsidiary of one well-known Code-violating
parent is politically very appealing to us in the lactation community, the
WHO Code itself does not require a forensic examination of
corporation ownership.

The WHO Code itself it meant as a springboard for governments to write
legislation in support of, and to allow enforcement for, the enthical
marketing notions promoted by the Code.  While the ICDC opinion may not
carry precedential weight in legal jurisidictions, it *can* be used as
guidance by those governments who have yet to frame WHO Code legislation.
It can be used by lactation lobbyists to suggest language that should be
used when drafting Code-related laws!

Liz Brooks JD IBCLC
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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