Hi everyone,

This came up on the AP.  Thought it might be interesting to some.

Karen Seroussi, BS, LLLL, exam this summer!
Florida USA



Writers Drop Festival, Protest Nestle

.c The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) - Two prominent writers have pulled out of one of Britain's top
literary festivals to protest its sponsorship by Nestle, which they accuse of
predatory marketing in developing countries, organizers said.

Feminist author Germaine Greer and novelist Jim Crace, a former Booker Prize
nominee, have canceled their appearances at the annual festival in
Hay-on-Wye, Wales, which begins Friday and runs through June 9.

The writers said they withdrew due to their concerns over Nestle's marketing
of powdered infant formula in developing nations. The World Health
Organization says in poor countries, where up to two-thirds of people don't
have access to clean water and where mothers are often unable to read
instructions properly, baby formula represents a hazard to newborns.

``I'm not leading a boycott, this was an entirely personal decision, but I
will not take part in an event where a Nestle banner is sported,'' Greer said
in an interview published Monday in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

``There's no clean money out there, but there are some things I stick to and
this is one of them.''

Florence said it was unlikely Nestle's sponsorship would affect attendance.

The Nestle Smarties Book Prize, which is a sponsor at the Hay-on-Wye festival
for the first time, is supporting a children's event and is one of 98
sponsors. The event's main sponsor is The Guardian newspaper.

A Nestle spokeswoman said the company appreciates that ``some of the authors
feel strongly on the issue of infant formula, but we are sorry they are
unable to discuss their concerns directly with us as we are always very
willing to enter into debate on the subject.''

Declining to be named, she said the company's marketing of infant formula in
the developing world is now in line with World Health Organization rules.

But Greer told the Daily Telegraph that she had looked up the WHO
pronouncements ``which Nestle claims exonerates it - but they don't.'' Crace
told the newspaper that Nestle ``has not earned the benefit of the doubt and
there are all sorts of reasons not to let it off the hook yet.''

On the Net:

Festival Web site: http://www.hayfestival.co.uk/

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