Dear Jon A. and Lactnetters:
This is an addendum or additional perspective for you concerning the
history of the WHO Code and actions concerning Nestle.
Jon posted to Lactnet the following, copied directly from the Nestle
Website:
<<Nestle immediately announced its support for the principles and aim of
the Code, and a year later set up the independent Nestle Infant Formula
Audit Commission, chaired by former US Senator and Secretary of State
Edmund Muskie. The boycott was lifted in 1984, and in 1991, the
commission reached the conclusion that its mandate - to advise the
company on its implementation of the WHO International Code of Marketing
of Breast-Milk Substitutes - had been achieved, and it was formally
dissolved.>>
Here is another perspective, from the document "Baby Milk: Destruction
of a World Resource" by the Catholic Institute for International
Relations (1993) (p.23)
"In 1982, Nestle set up and funded in 'independent' monitoring body, the
Nestle Infant Formula Audit Commission (NIFAC), headed by Senator Edward
Muskie and based in Washington DC. Several years of inaction became
untenable so they hired a team of reputable researchers to investigate
infant feeding practices in Mexico.(1) The study results were damning.
The majority f mothers went into hospital planning to breastfeed. In
almost all cases, babies were separated from their mothers and routinely
bottlefed with free supplies provided for the most part by Nestle, but
also by the Mexican government food marketing organisation, Conasupo.
By three months post-discharge, 45 per cent of mothers were bottle
feeding and 55 per cent breast and bottle feeding. Only one mother
exclusively breastfed. Mothers who had received free samples were
significantly more likely to be giving formula by two weeks. Nestle
closed NIFAC down before the study was published and before NIFAC had
resonded to over 100 complaints sent in by IBFAN [the International Baby
Food Action Network]. When IBFAN asked a Nestle UK Executive, Ron
Hendey, why the committee had been closed, his only explanation was that
the members of the committee 'were all getting on a bit.'"
(1)Margen, Sheldon et al. Infant Feeding in Mexico. Nestle Infant
Formula Audit Commission, Washington DC, 1991.
!!...
If you are an LC, your Standards of Practice include being knowledgable
about the Code. If you are at all interested in promoting and
supporting breastfeeding, you need to become familiar with this history.
Resources:
WABA Code Compliance Committee (email <[log in to unmask]> for more
information on current activities.
"The Politics of Breastfeeding" by Gabrielle Palmer (1993).
The International Code for Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes -- ILCA
has a great annotated overview and analysis of this document: email
<[log in to unmask]> for information on receiving this.
You can also download the entire Code from
<http://www.gn.apc.org/ibfan/fullcode.html>
Know your history, various perspectives on history, and how this past
influences our present and future. Knowledge is power!
--Doraine Bailey
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