Kate, you wrote : I also got into an argument with the manager about that,
because she felt that the *spirit* of the Code is wrong, and that she
has every intention of violating it, for that reason.

I am curious what she disagreed with in the spirit of the WHO Code.  I know that
many people are resistant to it when they think it is about breastfeeding, and
maybe a piece of legislation which wants to get women to breastfeed by denying
them some kind of freedom of information or choice -- and this is how I have
seen it presented by industry.  If we understand the Code to be about all
babies, no matter how they are fed, breastfeeding, breastmilk, commercial
formula, or home-made formulations; and we understand it to say:  If you give
information about any method of feeding an infant, it must be scientific and
INDEPENDENT
information concerned with making the best choice for this baby in these
circumstances, with these needs; then it is hard to see what objections someone
could have.

I suppose a hard-line free trade market economy person (and there are those
around, of course) could say that infant health (with attendant costs to the
medical and social system of the country in which the child then lives out his
or her life) is not an issue, compared with keeping the market free of any
restricitions.

When I talk about the WHO Code, I always mention at least three times that it is
about protecting all babies and mothers from commercial influences over how the
baby will be fed, NOT about promoting breastfeeding.

Can we help it that the scientific evidence is pretty conclusive for the
benefits of breastfeeding?  Some people don't want to hear this.  Fine.  But
that is not a problem in terms of warmly endorsing the WHO Code.

Sadly, people who object, as this women did, are probably coping with unresolved
issues from their own lives.  I say sadly, because it is so hard to address
these issues and personal hurt when you are also standing up for the
international regulation which needs to be in place (as a MINIMUM -- remember
the Code was drafted as the minimum protection each member state of the WHO was
to put into place for its infants) to protect some of the most vulnerable
members of society in the matter of nutrition which will have life-long
implications for their health and quality of life.

It can be hard to speak out on the Code, because people put all kinds of
personal issues into the equation, but I have evolved this way of thinking and
talking about the Code and find it helps take the heat out of the discussions.

In this country, when legislation was introduced to ensure that car dirvers and
front seat passengers wore seat belts, there was a huge fuss and outcry.  It was
felt to infringe individual choice.  Yeah, I guess it does.  But the total costs
of deaths and injuries to the un-restrained are picked up by society at large
and so I guess the polity has a say in issues like this.

It all goes back to those civics lessons I remember sweating through in eighth
grade!

Good luck to all who seek to gain wider understanding of, and support for, the
WHO Code.

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