Meg,

The Grocery Manufacturers Association has many manufacturers who have no
direct stake in the selling of infant formula.  What they may have is a
concern that the particular California bill would create a precedent and thus
impact their businesses in the long run.  Many companies use free samples to
get consumers hooked on their product.  Some of the manufacturers in this
association are pharmaceutical companies (GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, etc).
The "bread and butter" of drug companies marketing is the free sample. I
believe that any issue or legislation that limits the marketing of products
in the USA is pretty much doomed from the start unless there is an enormous
public outcry over the particular issue.  So far there are few people in the
general public or legislators who really understand that breastfeeding is a
public health issue of major importance to the health and well-being of both
the mother and the baby.

You state, "Like all marketing-if it didn't work they wouldn't do it."  Very
true statement in that the bottom line is always whether something is
profitable.  But what the GMA is doing is not marketing.  What the GMA is
doing is lobbying...a whole different issue than marketing .  They are
influencing the vote of legislators.  This really should not be called
marketing.  In fact I would suggest that this kind of influence is why the
USA is politically beholden to multi-national corporations.  It is the reason
that the continued profits of these companies have become more important than
the health and well-being of individual citizens.

Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

PS:  I was made aware of a mistake I made in my post on the GMA.  I stated
that Land O'Lakes was a Nestle company.  I thought I had information that
stated this but I can't seem to find the file.  I have notes that suggest a
connection.  The number of mergers, alliances, and joint ventures among our
multi-national companies makes it difficult to figure out what is going on.
For example:  Land O'Lakes has an alliance with General Mills and Nestle has
a joint venture with General Mills.  Land O' Lakes bought Purina Mills (which
is a subdivision of Ralston Purina) while Nestle bought the rest of Ralston
Purina.  There is a very interesting document called, "How leading
international dairy companies adjusted to changes in world markets." a
Babcock Institute Discussion Paper from the University of Wisconsin.  One
gets a feel for the complexity of the dairy industry and Nestle's influence
in the US market.  There is a Fonterra-Nestle Alliance that created the Dairy
Partners of America's (DPA). Names of companies or organizations in this day
and age may not really tell us alot about whose interests they are serving.
http://babcock.cals.wisc.edu/pappdf/2002-4.pdf

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