the exam mentioned is the one posted on lactnet? We heard it first??? Evi Adams
DANONE no longer on the Board of GAIN -
and promotes its infant formulas through Dutch school exams
Press release 29 May 2009
The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) welcomed an important concession from the controversial Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) initiative as this week Danone - the 2nd biggest baby food manufacturer and the owner of NUMICO, Nutricia, Milupa and Cow & Gate – has been removed from the list of Board members. GAIN is a public-private partnership which promotes processed, ready-to-eat foods - fortified drinks and biscuits for the developing world. With Danone already on its Board, in 2008 GAIN launched a project on infant and young child nutrition so came firmly into the focus of the groups who have been working closely with WHO and UNICEF for decades to protect infant and young child feeding practices from undue commercial influence.
Patti Rundall, OBE, Policy Director of Baby Milk Action, the IBFAN group in the UK, said:
"Danone is beginning to challenge Nestlé for the title of the world's worst baby food company and its involvement in GAIN was a bizarre and very clear conflict of interests for an initiative claiming to improve health. However, even after this important concession of the removal of this company from the Board, our concerns remain about the flawed concept of GAIN - which is to build markets for processed foods - a concept which holds huge risks for infant and young child survival. "
When Danone took control of NUMICO at the end of 2007, IBFAN asked it to bring the marketing practices of its existing and new breastmilk substitute brands into line with World Health Assembly standards. IBFAN welcomed Danone's early comment to conduct a 'root and branch review' of practices, but a year later it appears that practices have in fact got worse as the Danone companies attempt to compete with global leader Nestlé.
In October 2008, 53 experts from 24 countries, attending a WABA meeting in Penang, Malaysia wrote to WHO and UNICEF calling on them to reconsider their partnership with GAIN because of the unacceptable conflict of interest of its business partners and the market-driven approach it epitomises. UNICEF does not in any case allow Code violating companies be involved with its programes and WHO also has guidelines governing its interactions with the private sector. IBFAN also approached GAIN directly about its policies and about the conflict of interest situation created by the presence of a baby food manufacturer on its Board. Illustrating the lack of transparency of GAIN's setup, no mention of Danone’s interest in baby foods ever appeared on the GAIN website nor any mention that it is a systematic Code violator.
IBFAN opposes the creation of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) and UN Business Partnerships (UNBPs) - which have created satellite bodies that are neither democratically governed nor accountable - except to their funders - one being the Gates Foundation - which has a seat on the GAIN Board.
These problems, lack of public control and the market driven approach to development remain as major concerns even with Danone leaving the Board of GAIN. There is no evidence that nutrition in the developing world will be improved through the building of markets for fortified foods, yet GAIN persists with this goal. (3) While fortification of selected foods may be useful in some cases, IBFAN fears that the philanthropic packaging of the GAIN message and the image transfer from GAIN’s UN partners alongside marketing messages will undermine breastfeeding and the use of indigenous, traditional and low-cost foods. Few governments in the developing world have the marketing controls in place that might ensure that the products are used appropriately and prevent the poor from being exploited.
A major debate at the Royal Society of Arts last night, chaired by Richard Horton of the Lancet, What has the Gates Foundation ever done for global health? questioned the lack of accountability, the focus on high-tech solutions and the capitalist outlook of Gates funded projects - including GAIN - which has resulted in a complete change of the global health landscape, agenda and approach. The Gates Foundation has an endowment of $60 billion (almost a quarter of that of the entire UN system)
Meanwhile - in the Netherlands - the home of DANONE subsidiary NUMICO - a row has broken out about a national government Senior High school examination for 18-year-olds in the Netherlands - which included a question which forms 25% of exam, based on on a Nutricia infant formula, Nenatal, complete with registered trademark signs. The question includes promotional language incidental and irrelevant to the scientific content of the question. The appendix text file provided by the manufacturer contains the technical specifications of the product, and another piece of promotional language. (4)
Food companies seek links with UN bodies to boost their credibility. In November 2008 Nestlé produced a report on food fortification as a way to tackle malnutrition and was later asked by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and WHO to remove their logos and misleading references which implied endorsement of Nestlé report.
A silent protest by public health experts and NGOs took place in Dehli in April, calling on GAIN to leave India. The ongoing controversy over whether traditional cooked meals should be replaced with packaged food at Integrated Child Development Services centres, has alerted people to the risks of nutrition interventions which ignore conflicts of interest and the need for an independently-funded evidence base and independent monitoring of the outcome.
For more information contact: Patti Rundall 07786 523493
Notes for editors
1. See the codewatch section of the IBFAN website and the Baby Milk Action website for examples of Danone/NUMICO malpractice. Also see the UK monitoring reports on theBaby Feeding Law Group website.
2. Gain's Executive Director, Mark Ameringen, expects everyone to work together to help companies establish these new markets: "[this] underscores the importance and need for development agencies and donors to continue to support business solutions and, thus, maximize productivity of the poor. GAIN can mobilize development partners from the public and non-profit sectors to create an enabling environment for companies interested in nutrition for the poor."
Opportunities and challenges for the food industry in reaching the poor. M.Ameringen, B. Magarinos (Sen. Man. GAIN) M.Jarvis (World Bank), Business & Malnutrition: Development Outreach June 2008
3. What has the Gates Foundation done for global health? Debate at the Royal Society of Arts. 28th May 2009
Speakers :Matthew Bishop, business editor at The Economist and author of Philanthrocapatalism.Matthew Bishop, business editor at The Economist and author of Philanthrocapatalism
Dave McCoy, author of a Lancet paper that looks at the grants given out by the Foundation over the past few years, Managing Editor of the Global Health Watch, an alternative world health report and a senior clinical associate in global health and development at the University College London. The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9675, Page 1577, 9 May 2009
Global Health Watch 2 http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/
publications02.html#globalhwatch2
Politics of Breastfeeding:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/index.html
4. http://viv.id.au/blog/20090528.5110/infant-formula-product-placement-in-chemistry-matric-exam-in-netherlands/
This message is sent to you by Patti Rundall, Policy Director, Baby Milk Action
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