BINSI Blog: baby milk action

Thursday, August 6, 2009

World Breastfeeding Week

Posted by Kim
Email received from World Breastfeeding Campaign

World Breastfeeding Week 2009

Its We the People Who Can Bring Change: Lets ACT NOW!!

World Breastfeeding Week starts on August 1, (1-7 August). The theme is Breastfeeding, A Vital Emergency Response: Are You Ready?

You can find out more download materials and find events at: http://www.worldbreastfeedingweek.org/

UNICEF and WHO have made statements in support of the week, which is coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action.

UNICEF's statement includes: "Around 9 million children under five die every year, largely from preventable causes... According to the Lancet, optimal breastfeeding in the first two years of life, especially exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, can have the single largest impact on child survival of all preventative interventions, with the potential to prevent 12 to 15% of all under age 5 deaths in the developing world... This year's World Breastfeeding Week provides an opportunity to sensitize policy-makers, donors, implementing partners and the general public to the benefits of breastfeeding, to its particular importance in emergency situations, and to the need to protect and support mothers to breastfeeding during emergencies."

You can find the full UNICEF and WHO statements via links at:
http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2009/07/wbw-2009.htm

One country facing an emergency is Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, where 13% of the populations is infected with HIV.

In conditions of poverty, infants have a better chance of escaping HIV and being protected from other infections if they are exclusively breastfed. Yet in Malawi, Nestlé is promoting its formula with a logo claiming that it 'protects'. Formula is very expensive and those that believe the claim that the formula 'protects' may well use it alongside breastfeeding - mixed feeding is the worst possible scenario for the transmission of the virus.

It is a government requirement that tins have warnings that breastmilk is best for babies, but Nestlé refused to translate these into Chichewa, despite a government request to do so, because of 'cost restraints'. It took a Baby Milk Action campaign that led to Mark Thomas highlighting this irresponsible marketing on UK television, to change Nestlé's minds, and further campaigning to persuade Nestlé to show cup feeding, rather than bottle feeding, in line with government policies. See:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/CEM/compfeb00.html

So campaigning works. Now we need to persuade Nestlé to remove the 'protect' logo from labels in Malawi and elsewhere in the world. You can help by sending a message to Nestlé. You will find the information you need to do so on our July Campaign for Ethical Marketing action sheet, which is now available on our website at: http://www.babymilkaction.org/cem/cemjuly09.html

Also featured on the action sheet is a call on Danone/Milupa to stop using claims for its formula that have been found to be untrue in a ruling last week from the UK Advertising Standards Authority. Although these breach the advertising code's clauses on substantiation, truthfulness and comparisons, the code is voluntary and it remains to be seen whether similar claims will be removed from labels and other promotion stopped. There is also a call for Mead Johnson to stop making untrue claims about its formula.

If politicians fulfilled their responsibility to implement the baby food marketing standards adopted by the World Health Assembly, then public campaigns would not be necessary and there would be progress towards stopping the millions of preventable under-5 deaths.

You can help put pressure on politicians by signing the ONE MILLION CAMPAIGN petition. If you have already signed, visit the campaign website to see what action you can take to encourage friends and colleagues to sign up. See: http://www.onemillioncampaign.org

Action Alert

1. Make an opportunity to call upon companies and your leaders to END ALL KINDS OF PROMTIONS of Baby Foods by 2015.

2. If you would like to submit the One Million Campaign Petition to your Head of the State, please use the opportunity to do so.

3. Please SIGN UP Petition if you have not done so and invite your friends to sign up as well

At this link http://www.onemillioncampaign.org/press-release1.aspx you can find the Petition letter, and petition submitted to the President of the World Health Assembly in May 2009.

Another link http://www.onemillioncampaign.org/doc/draft-letter.doc provides a draft for you to use to write to your Head of State.

Thanks!

Team ONE MILLION CAMPAIGN- Support Women to Breastfeed

www.onemillioncampaign.org

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A Formula For Disaster

Posted by Kim:

"Formula For Disaster" is a 5 part series in which UNICEF explores the effects that formula (also referred to as powdered milk) companies' marketing practices have had on the health and well being of children in third world countries, specifically the Philippines. It is amazing to me how large wealthy companies, like Nestle, are willing to take advantage of the most desperate of situations. Literally stealing money from the poorest of the poor, virtually bribing health care workers with incentives to promote their products, and spending billions on propaganda advertisement campaigns. Where is their sense of decency?

When I watched this video series I was appalled by the advertisements shown on TV and the promises the formula companies were making. Convincing mothers and fathers to feed their children powdered milk products because they are better than a mother's milk and will make children geniuses and exceptional. In addition, the blatant promotion of the formula/powdered milk products in the care centers and hospitals was amazing considering Executive Order 51 makes promoting these products illegal. Then I tried to put myself in the shoes of those doctors, midwives and parents.

The powdered milk companies are completely taking advantage of the situation. First, the parents in this video are well aware of the situation in which they live and I am sure all they want for their children is to have a better life. At one point in the video a group of mothers with little babies are watching a commercial for powdered milk and it shows a baby girl being fed the pwdered milk from birth until she is about 10 years old. As the little girl grows she begins to have an interest in playing the violin and by the time she is 10 she is playing in a large concert hall in front of thousands of people because she is so brilliant from drinking powdered milk. The looks on the faces of these mothers as they are watching this commercial tells it all, they all long to have children who achieve such success. Each mom was nearly in tears watching it. So if spending the majority of their hard earned money on formula is what it is going to take to help their children become geniuses they will make those sacrifices. Despite the fact that it costs nearly half their salary and the water sources in their neighborhoods is questionable and often tainted. Second, the doctors and midwives promoting the powdered milk are probably aware that a mother's milk is best for baby, but how bad can the formula be? After all the incentives to promoted the formula and powered milk products are so high, they may figure that the rewards they receive from promoting it allows them to care for more families, in turn actually promoting health care in their area.

So, in my opinion this all comes back to the large companies with little to no conscious, not caring about who they are taking advantage of or what the repercussions of their actions are. I had heard about the boycott of Nestle in the past and I had heard about this marketing scam in third world countries, but until seeing these videos I had never felt such heartache for these families and the pressure they are being put under.

I proudly breastfed both of my boys for a full 12 months, but I understand that there are certainly situations when breastfeeding is simply impossible, but in these situations, in our country, I hope that mother's are making their to breastfeed or to formula feed based on personal situation, research, and factual information.

Please watch these videos, I would love to hear your opinion.