Many of us are quite aware that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
has accepted $150,000 from Nestle for an anti-obesity program. There is
already a Facebook group working very hard on using social media to raise
awareness of this issue and to pressure WHO and PAHO to cease such
behavior. I wrote the following article that will appear in the November
issue of the US Lactation Consultant Association newsletter, will appear on
the NABA website, and has appeared on several blogs.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC

*World Health Organization Sells Out to Nestle*
*
*
Nestle has bought a seat at the policy-making table of the World Health
Organization (WHO). WHO has accepted funding from Nestle for WHO's obesity
reduction initiative. A Reuters news article (link to article at
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-obesity-who-industry-idUSBRE89I0K620121019
) reported that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), WHO's regional
office for the Americas, accepted $150,000 from Nestle to help reduce the
very problem to which Nestle products contribute. Cash-strapped WHO has
started to rely on corporate offenders such as Nestle and Coca-Cola  to
fund its health initiatives, placing itself in a massive conflict of
interest, as policy is shaped by companies who stand to gain the most from
the ill health their products promote. Disease promoting corporations have
found that it much more profitable to invest in a seat at the policy-making
table to avoid sanctions, monitoring, and regulation than it is to cease
producing the products that contribute to chronic diseases and conditions
such as obesity. The wolf in sheep's clothing comes bearing money and is
rewarded for its poor corporate behavior by aligning itself with the good
name of respected health agencies.

Breastfeeding advocates who are staunch supporters of the International
Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (the Code) are aghast that WHO
is violating its own Code. By abdicating its responsibility to infants and
mothers, WHO is modeling the very behavior the Code was created to prevent.
This blow to the Code may seem overwhelming to those who work so hard to
support breastfeeding mothers. Even though we do not have the unlimited
funding of large corporations we have our voices that can be raised
together so that WHO might hear us. Consider joining Friends of the WHO
Code Facebook group (link to group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/381987938480991/). We can harness social
media to let WHO know how we feel. Post to WHO's Facebook page, tweet @WHO
to let WHO know how damaging this conflict of interest is to the Code.
Other Tweets can go to #bfing, #breastfeeding, #WHOcode, and #nonestle. Of
course, be ready for Nestle's response. Nestle has what they call their
Digital Acceleration Team(link to article at
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/uk-nestle-online-water-idUKBRE89P07Q20121026
) that monitors hot spots in the social media and jumps in quickly to apply
damage control when Nestle or its products are unfavorably mentioned. Let's
use what we have at our fingertips to right an egregious wrong.

             ***********************************************

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