Hi Evid,

Where does this text come from...?
I suppose it was read here...
Can't imagine this organisation got it from somewhere else so fast, could 
it...?
Let me know the source; that may be useful for our case.
Thanks!

Bye,

Marianne Vanderveen IBCLC, Netherlands


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Evi Adams" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 12:08 PM
Subject: [LACTNET] IBFAN: DANONE/GAIN/Dutch exam and more (via 
BabyMilkAction)


the exam mentioned is the one posted on lactnet? We heard it first??? Evi 
Adams






DANONE no longer on the Board of GAIN -
and promotes its infant formulas through Dutch school exams
Press release 29 May 2009
The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the World Alliance 
for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) welcomed an important concession from the 
controversial Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) initiative as 
this week Danone - the 2nd biggest baby food manufacturer and the owner of 
NUMICO, Nutricia, Milupa and Cow & Gate – has been removed from the list of 
Board members. GAIN is a public-private partnership which promotes 
processed, ready-to-eat foods - fortified drinks and biscuits for the 
developing world. With Danone already on its Board, in 2008 GAIN launched a 
project on infant and young child nutrition so came firmly into the focus of 
the groups who have been working closely with WHO and UNICEF for decades to 
protect infant and young child feeding practices from undue commercial 
influence.
Patti Rundall, OBE, Policy Director of Baby Milk Action, the IBFAN group in 
the UK, said:

"Danone is beginning to challenge Nestlé for the title of the world's worst 
baby food company and its involvement in GAIN was a bizarre and very clear 
conflict of interests for an initiative claiming to improve health. However, 
even after this important concession of the removal of this company from the 
Board, our concerns remain about the flawed concept of GAIN - which is to 
build markets for processed foods - a concept which holds huge risks for 
infant and young child survival. "
When Danone took control of NUMICO at the end of 2007, IBFAN asked it to 
bring the marketing practices of its existing and new breastmilk substitute 
brands into line with World Health Assembly standards. IBFAN welcomed 
Danone's early comment to conduct a 'root and branch review' of practices, 
but a year later it appears that practices have in fact got worse as the 
Danone companies attempt to compete with global leader Nestlé.

In October 2008, 53 experts from 24 countries, attending a WABA meeting in 
Penang, Malaysia wrote to WHO and UNICEF calling on them to reconsider their 
partnership with GAIN because of the unacceptable conflict of interest of 
its business partners and the market-driven approach it epitomises. UNICEF 
does not in any case allow Code violating companies be involved with its 
programes and WHO also has guidelines governing its interactions with the 
private sector. IBFAN also approached GAIN directly about its policies and 
about the conflict of interest situation created by the presence of a baby 
food manufacturer on its Board. Illustrating the lack of transparency of 
GAIN's setup, no mention of Danone’s interest in baby foods ever appeared on 
the GAIN website nor any mention that it is a systematic Code violator.

IBFAN opposes the creation of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) and UN 
Business Partnerships (UNBPs) - which have created satellite bodies that are 
neither democratically governed nor accountable - except to their funders - 
one being the Gates Foundation - which has a seat on the GAIN Board.

These problems, lack of public control and the market driven approach to 
development remain as major concerns even with Danone leaving the Board of 
GAIN. There is no evidence that nutrition in the developing world will be 
improved through the building of markets for fortified foods, yet GAIN 
persists with this goal. (3) While fortification of selected foods may be 
useful in some cases, IBFAN fears that the philanthropic packaging of the 
GAIN message and the image transfer from GAIN’s UN partners alongside 
marketing messages will undermine breastfeeding and the use of indigenous, 
traditional and low-cost foods. Few governments in the developing world have 
the marketing controls in place that might ensure that the products are used 
appropriately and prevent the poor from being exploited.

A major debate at the Royal Society of Arts last night, chaired by Richard 
Horton of the Lancet, What has the Gates Foundation ever done for global 
health? questioned the lack of accountability, the focus on high-tech 
solutions and the capitalist outlook of Gates funded projects - including 
GAIN - which has resulted in a complete change of the global health 
landscape, agenda and approach. The Gates Foundation has an endowment of $60 
billion (almost a quarter of that of the entire UN system)

Meanwhile - in the Netherlands - the home of DANONE subsidiary NUMICO - a 
row has broken out about a national government Senior High school 
examination for 18-year-olds in the Netherlands - which included a question 
which forms 25% of exam, based on on a Nutricia infant formula, Nenatal, 
complete with registered trademark signs. The question includes promotional 
language incidental and irrelevant to the scientific content of the 
question. The appendix text file provided by the manufacturer contains the 
technical specifications of the product, and another piece of promotional 
language. (4)

Food companies seek links with UN bodies to boost their credibility. In 
November 2008 Nestlé produced a report on food fortification as a way to 
tackle malnutrition and was later asked by the Food and Agriculture 
Organisation and WHO to remove their logos and misleading references which 
implied endorsement of Nestlé report.

A silent protest by public health experts and NGOs took place in Dehli in 
April, calling on GAIN to leave India. The ongoing controversy over whether 
traditional cooked meals should be replaced with packaged food at Integrated 
Child Development Services centres, has alerted people to the risks of 
nutrition interventions which ignore conflicts of interest and the need for 
an independently-funded evidence base and independent monitoring of the 
outcome.
For more information contact: Patti Rundall 07786 523493
Notes for editors

1. See the codewatch section of the IBFAN website and the Baby Milk Action 
website for examples of Danone/NUMICO malpractice. Also see the UK 
monitoring reports on theBaby Feeding Law Group website.
2. Gain's Executive Director, Mark Ameringen, expects everyone to work 
together to help companies establish these new markets: "[this] underscores 
the importance and need for development agencies and donors to continue to 
support business solutions and, thus, maximize productivity of the poor. 
GAIN can mobilize development partners from the public and non-profit 
sectors to create an enabling environment for companies interested in 
nutrition for the poor."
Opportunities and challenges for the food industry in reaching the poor. 
M.Ameringen, B. Magarinos (Sen. Man. GAIN) M.Jarvis (World Bank), Business & 
Malnutrition: Development Outreach June 2008
3. What has the Gates Foundation done for global health? Debate at the Royal 
Society of Arts. 28th May 2009
Speakers :Matthew Bishop, business editor at The Economist and author of 
Philanthrocapatalism.Matthew Bishop, business editor at The Economist and 
author of Philanthrocapatalism
Dave McCoy, author of a Lancet paper that looks at the grants given out by 
the Foundation over the past few years, Managing Editor of the Global Health 
Watch, an alternative world health report and a senior clinical associate in 
global health and development at the University College London. The Lancet, 
Volume 373, Issue 9675, Page 1577, 9 May 2009
Global Health Watch 2 http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/
publications02.html#globalhwatch2
Politics of Breastfeeding:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/index.html
4. 
http://viv.id.au/blog/20090528.5110/infant-formula-product-placement-in-chemistry-matric-exam-in-netherlands/












This message is sent to you by Patti Rundall, Policy Director, Baby Milk 
Action


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