Kate,

you said the manager of the place you saw cheap formula (if I remeber original
post correctly) "believed that
companies should be able to do what they want to promote their product."  and
was therefore against the WHO code.

Indeed.  The Code is about regulating a market in order to apply some ethical
standards to the marketplace.  Fanatic free-traders would indeed object.  In
this world there are those who see trade and corporate profit as the ulitmate
goal of society.  They accept the use of child labour in the third world and
often of firms cutting safety standards of the work force or whatever in order
to allow a maximum level of profit.

Some others disagree and are concerned to regulate industry in a variety of
ways.

This is a simplistic model, but is, I think, the nub of it.  Yes.  I guess
someone in the first catagory would object to the WHO code.  Let's hope they
accept the consequences for themselves and their families if they should happen
to work for a company interested in maximising profit and indifferent to worker
welfare, decent working conditions, etc.

You asked me vis-a-vis the WHO Code:  "But isn't it also about promoting
breastfeeding?"

So I went to look again at the Code (every time I read it I find something new),
and it does mention promotion of breastfeeding.  In the Introduction explaining
how the Code came to be There is mention of a meeting of WHO in 1979 at which
five main themes emerged:  "the encouragement and support of breastfeeding; the
promotion and support of appropriate and timely complementary feeding (weaning)
practices with the use of local food resources; the strengthening of education ,
training and information on infant and young child feeding; the promotion of the
health and social status of women in relation to infant feeding and young child
health and feeding; and the appropriate marketing and distribution of breastmilk
substitutes."

The WHO/UNICEF International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes is the
action taken on the fifth point, in my understanding.  Yes, it was not intended
to stand alone -- that measures were to be taken in each area, but I am not sure
that any clear outcome came from any of the other four areas (anyone know
more?).

The Code essentially lays down the groups who have obligations under it, and
those obligations, in terms of the MARKETING of products  which (whether or not
intentionally) are used as substitutes for breastmilk.  Throughout the Code (and
subsequent WHA resolutions, which have the same force as the Code) there is
reference to the general context of infant feeding and the importance,
world-wide, of breastfeeding, and reference, in general terms of the
responsibilities of governments of Member States "in the protection and
promotion of breastfeeding as a means of improving infant and young child
health", but no more specific measures are described.

Promotion is not the focus of the Code, but is another part of the larger
picture that the Code fits into.  This is my interpretation, evolved over my
years of working on Code issues.  I would be interested in other perspectives
here -- ???

I will try to read more around the issue and think some more about it --
when I have time --!!-- and could recommend (apart from reading the Code itself
-- as I
say, I learn something new each time I do):  The Politics of Baby Food:sucessful
challenges to an international marketing strategy by Andrew Chetley (1986) and
The Code Handbook:  a guide to imlementing the International Code of Marketing
of Breastmilk Substitutes by Ellen J. Sokol, JD  (1997).

In the UK, at least, some lay Breastfeeding Supporters have to read and discuss
the Code in order to complete their training.  I think it is less well known to
health
professionals, though those who are BF advocates are often more familiar with
it.  What
is the situation in other countries?   Did everyone in the US read it when it
was ratified in 1993?

I hope everyone does read it for themselves.  I found that only by reading and
studying it have I come to understand how much -- and how little -- it covers.

Magda Sachs
Baby Milk Action Area Contact
Breastfeeding Supporter, The Breastfeeding Network, UK