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Subject:
From:
Heleen Hayes <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 30 May 2009 19:19:34 +0200
Content-Type:
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I think I know the source and I will inform Marianne off-line.

Heleen

On 30 May 2009 at 13:30, Marianne Vanderveen-Kolkena wrote:

> 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-i
> n-chemistry-matric-exam-in-netherlands/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This message is sent to you by Patti Rundall, Policy Director, Baby
> Milk Action
> 
> 
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