Ilene has posted regarding her meeting with Medela. Perhaps you did not 
see my previous post. I will repeat it here to see if I can clear up 
some of the "party line" that you have received from your Medela rep. 
Ilene, from the standpoint of the Code, it does not matter if the 
company in question does great research or puts on great educational 
programs. What matters is how they market products that fall under the 
scope of the Code. The intent is not to vilify the company but to help 
them market their products in a manner that is not detrimental to 
breastfeeding. This is not difficult to do. I met with Medela for a day 
and a half, going through the Code and how Medela could easily market 
the their bottles and nipples in a Code compliant manner. They have 
chosen not to do this. Please read below to see if this clears up some 
of the issues you were asking about, especially regarding my role in 
Code monitoring. If this does not help, let me know and I will see if I 
can explain it more clearly. Please remember it is not about the 
products, the need for the products, educational offerings from the 
company, etc. It is about how products that come under the scope of the 
Code are marketed. Giving educational programs and doing great research 
does not absolve this company from meeting its obligations under the 
Code.

I have been receiving some emails asking about Medela and the Code as 
wel
l as my role in Code issues. Medela as a manufacturer and 
distributer of products within the scope of the Code has a 
responsibility to market those products within the guidelines specified 
in the Code. They are permitted to sell the products, these products 
can be pictured on their website but the language describing the 
products must not idealize them. The products can be included in pump 
packages but cannot be pictured on the packaging. The following 
violations of the Code have been incurred by Medela:

1. direct advertising to the public in American Baby magazine with a 
feeding bottle and nipple pictured. The picture of the feeding bottle 
and artificial nipple is a violation of the International Code Article 
5 .
2. Pictures of feeding bottles and artificial nipples on the packaging 
of pumps or other equipment is a violation of the International Code 
Article 5.
3. Language in the product description cannot idealize the use of the 
feeding bottle/nipple. Some of the materials intended for distribution 
to mothers contains language that idealizes the use of the 
bottle/nipple for feeding the baby in violation of Article 9.
4. Since Medela is a manufacturer and distributor of products – bottles 
and nipples – that come under the scope of the Code, they may not seek 
contact (Article 5.5) direct or indirect with pregnant women or with 
mothers of infants and young children. Their recent contest giving away 
of=2
0glass bottles and their offer to sign up mothers for more give aways 
violates the Code
5. Their TV ad violates the Code with the picturing of the feeding 
bottles and nipples. I could not hear the sound so I don't know what 
was said about the feeding system

I have been asked what my role is in Code issues and how can one person 
determine who is and isn't Code compliant. The National Alliance for 
Breastfeeding Advocacy (NABA) and the Infant Feeding Action Coalition 
(INFACT) Canada as part of the IBFAN (International Baby Food Action 
Network) and representing IBFAN North America play a key role in the 
monitoring and reporting on Code violations for the purpose of 
assisting WHO, governments, professional bodies and manufacturers and
distributors of products to take appropriate actions. I am the 
executive director of NABA, the US IBFAN organization. It is NABA's 
responsibility to receive and report on Code violations in the US, just 
as INFACT Canada does in Canada and Baby Milk Action does in the UK. It 
is also the responsibility of the IBFAN organizations to assist 
companies to become Code compliant. We do not declare a company in 
violation of the Code so we can be hired to fix them! The companies 
declare themselves in violation of the Code by their marketing actions 
of products covered under the Code.

The Code can be imprecise at times and is silent on issues related to 
the Internet, mergers and acquisit
ions, and some of the finer points of 
marketing language. Decisions about some of the finer points of the 
Code, are made in consultation with Betty Sterken at INFACT Canada and 
Joo Kean and Annalies Allain at the International Code Documentation 
Center (ICDC) in Penang. ICDC functions as “Code central” and is the 
repository for all Code documentation and issues. Together we look at 
each suspected violation and endeavor to carefully interpret the 
Articles and subsequent resolutions of the Code that may apply. The 
criteria applied in assessing some of the finer points are how these 
situations protect or undermine breastfeeding, while recognizing that 
the International Code is a minimum standard.

Pumps are not covered under the Code, so we may not like how pumps are 
being marketing but that does not violate the Code.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Executive Director, NABA REAL
Weston, MA

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

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