Hello all,
A few weeks ago I was on the world wide web and came across the Canadian 
Pediatrics’ Society webpage regarding their annual conference. Out of 
curiosity I checked to see who the exhibitors/sponsors were. I was 
disappointed to find that Abbot Nutrition, Mead Johnson and Wyeth are listed 
as sponsors of the event, and all three companies, along with Nestlé, will be 
exhibitors at the event. I notified INFACT Canada 
http://www.infactcanada.ca/ who has written a response and is asking 
anyone who supports breastfeeding to either write your own e-mail or copy 
and sign below their letter and e-mail it to Marie Adèle Davis, Executive 
Director [log in to unmask] and Wendy Eligh, Annual Conference Manager 
[log in to unmask] 
 
Please see below. Maybe if we can get support from around the world 
something can be done to stop this. Thank you. Camilla

May 26, 2009

Canadian Pediatric Society allies with formula companies

The upcoming CPS annual conference is being sponsored in part by some of 
the world’s biggest formula companies. Abbot Nutrition, Mead Johnson and 
Wyeth are listed as sponsors of the event, and all three companies, along with 
Nestlé, will be exhibitors at the event. 

These four companies have been aggressively marketing infant formula for 
decades, and have actively undermined child health. For a group claiming to 
be Canada’s foremost child health organization to enter into a relationship with 
them is highly inappropriate. Clearly this sponsorship compromises the CPS’s 
ability to promote breastfeeding and advance the health of children. 

According to its own Code of Ethics, the CPS desires to “put the needs of 
children above all else.” It is difficult to see how forming partnerships with 
formula companies serves the needs of children. On the other hand, the 
formula companies will benefit from the PR of being allied with pediatricians, 
and the CPS will receive financial support to stage its conference. It is 
children that will lose out.

As long as Canada’s health organizations are not fully committed to supporting 
breastfeeding, infant health in this country will remain far from optimal. Please 
write to the CPS and ask them to reconsider their relationship with the formula 
companies. Write your own letter or copy INFACT Canada’s below.

 
Direct your letters to:

Marie Adèle Davis, Executive Director [log in to unmask]

Wendy Eligh, Annual Conference Manager [log in to unmask] 

******

Marie Adèle Davis and Wendy Eligh

Executive Director

Canadian Pediatric Society

2305 St. Laurent Blvd.

Ottawa, ON     K1G 4J8

Dear Ms. Davis and Ms. Eligh

It has come to our attention that the upcoming CPS annual conference is 
accepting sponsorship from Abbot Nutrition, Mead Johnson and Wyeth. Along 
with Nestlé Nutrition, all three companies are also listed as exhibitors. As an 
organization that is dedicated to advocating for the health needs of children, I 
would ask that you reconsider the appropriateness of allowing these 
companies to promote themselves at your conference.

Abbott, Nestlé, Mead Johnson and Wyeth are four of the biggest companies in 
the infant formula industry. For years the industry and these companies 
specifically, have been marketing their products in violation of international 
guidelines. Their aggressive promotion of infant formula has undermined 
breastfeeding rates in Canada and abroad. They have refused to abide by the 
terms of the World Health Organization’s International Code of Marketing of 
Breastmilk Substitutes, a measure endorsed by the international community 
and UNICEF to protect breastfeeding and reduce infant and young child 
mortality and morbidity.

These companies’ marketing malpractice is ongoing. Nestlé has just launched a 
formula brand in Canada that the company says can provide infants with the 
same protection against disease as breastmilk. There is no scientific evidence 
to support this claim, and yet massive advertising campaigns have been 
launched to convince Canadian mothers that Nestlé’s formula contains the 
same vital ingredients as breastmilk.

That the CPS forms partnerships with these companies even while they are 
actively engaged in undermining breastfeeding does not further the society’s 
goal of improving child health. Instead, it lends credibility to dishonest 
companies and presents a blatant conflict of interest to Canadian 
pediatricians. The CPS cannot accept sponsorship from formula companies on 
one hand and then expect to effectively promote breastfeeding on the other.

The CPS Code of Ethics says that the society has always worked to “put the 
needs of children above all else.” Allowing these companies to participate in 
your conference serves the needs of the infant formula industry, not the 
needs of children.  

We respectfully request that the CPS not form any partnerships with formula 
companies and suggest that the CPS familiarize itself with its own obligations 
under the Code, specifically WHA Resolution 49.15 which states “financial 
support for professionals working in infant and young child health [should] not 
create conflicts of interest.”

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

 

 

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