ATTENTION, everyone! The upcoming Stockholders' meeting to occur on Friday, April 28, in a suburb north of Chicago deserves your attention. IF you know someone who owns Ross/Abbott stock, rattle their cage(s). One of the votes to be put forth is to vote AGAINST the WHO Code which was finally ratified (13 years late!) by the US nearly a year ago in May. While that was a govt action, and the stockholders of a publicly-owned company cannot change that, you can bet that a vote against same will help Ross continue their negative activities, which include the following: (pardom me for a lengthy message, but the topic seems to deserve it)--- a) They are in continual violation of the WHO/UNICEF Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes since the inception of the Code. This has not changed in the US since the US voted to support the WHO Code. To wit... 1) It provides health care facilities with free supplies of formula 2) It seeks to look *for* breastfeeding and sceince by providing RESEARCH and EDUCATIONAL grants in exchange for a *guarantee* that mothers will get their discharge packs which include formula, coupons, and literature promoting its use 3) it sends free cases of formula to new mothers regardless of the mother's plan re: feeding; they often get the names from OBs and childbirth educators who don't know any better or who give the names in exchange for *free* educational supplies 4) it distributes a series of videos (all of them AWFUL) designed for the breastfeeding mother; the video packaging includes a fomrula sample 5) It is actively seeking to undermine UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Inistiative by feverishly promoting the use of the Breastfeeding Health Initiative, much watered down version of the original that was NOT supported by official representatives from the following organizations: AAP, LLLI, ILCA, ACNM, etc. 6) It advertises directly to mothers via a direct mail program, called "The Welcome Addition Club." (Welcome to new customers would be more accurate!) 7) AND, as if the above were note enough, it has entered the direct marketing via TV by advertising a follow-on formula and mentioning phrases such as "the same good product as our Similac for babies." This from a copmany that attempted to make hay in the sunshine by decrying such direct TV advertising by other artificial baby milk companies. Why is this important? Several of us local to the headquarters plan to picket and demonstrate against the vote and the company on the day of the meeting. We would LOVE to identify and get mothers with babies to join us. But we need to spread the word. Also, persons who own stock can vote on the resolution. They need to vote FOR the resolution: its language is to support (hear it, support) the WHO Code. The company is recommending a vote AGAINST the resolution. If this is not enough, be aware that ROSS/ABBOTT violates the CODE in developing countries, too. IBFAN monitoring has continuously documented such violations for years. Everyone, please spread the word. If you are part of another electronic service, feel free to share this message with others. Thank you. (PS I will report on what happened at the meeting, even if we cannot get in and can only picket those entering the building.) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Kathleen G. Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC %% %% Lactation Services %% %% Homewood, Illinois %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%