The Royal College of Midwives is the official host of this triennial  
congress, which the ICM hold in different countries every time.  ICM  
strive to move the congresses from one continent to another, and it  
usually results in midwifery's role in maternal and child health  
getting increased positive attention wherever the congress is held.  I  
attended for the first time in Vancouver in 1993, and it raised the  
roof when a government official announced from the podium that  
midwifery would be legalized in British Columbia shortly.  I served on  
the Scientific Committee for the next congress which was in Oslo in  
1996; I am very proud of the congress we held, and there was no  
promotion of breastmilk substitutes or exhibits by manufacturers of  
same.  There were pacifiers on display and probably pump manufacturers  
as well.  I was too busy during the actual congress to do much besides  
concentrate on the scientific program, did not get to visit the  
commercial exhibit until it was being dismantled on the last day.  But  
everyone involved in the Congress knew that there was something called  
the WHO Code, if for no other reason than that I never stopped  
reminding them.
The host association's awareness of the WHO Code should be without  
consequence, because ICM ought to have clear guidelines for hosts on  
how to handle the issue.  Unfortunately this does not seem to be the  
case, and when I looked in at the website just now, I found this  
document, a prospectus for potential sponsors and exhibitors at the  
congress in Glasgow next month, in which I could find no mention  
whatsoever of the Code.
http://www.midwives2008.org/docs/ICM_Industry_Prospectus.pd
I have personally decided not to attend because of their willingness  
to accept sponsorship from Martek and I have given that message to the  
Secretary General of the ICM.
According to the ICM's own website, they are partners with WABA, so it  
is surprising indeed that they don't make use of WABAs expertise in  
identifying companies who contravene the Code.  If ICM are anything  
like midwives on the whole, and they probably are, then breastfeeding  
takes a back seat to care during labor and birth.  Prenatal care is  
also considered more glamorous than postpartum care.  Breastfeeding is  
the neglected stepchild in midwifery care.  So any midwives on this  
list would be well advised to contact their national organization and  
let them know how you feel about the international confederation  
cozying up to biomedical industry.

Cheers
Rachel Myr, not at home and thus not reading even the archives as  
thoroughly as I like, here in Norway

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