Does Nestlé really want the best for children?

[18 December 2006 - 14h02]

IBFAN activists have made their doubts about this loud and clear. During a demonstration in London organised to coincide with the awarding of the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize they spelt out their concerns in no uncertain terms.

“The aggressive practices employed in the marketing of baby foods are killing children and causing suffering all over the world. (…) The companies engaged in this activity are bound by the International Code of the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes adopted by the World Health Assembly. But Nestlé is responsible for more violations of the Code than any other company.” For years the NGO International Baby Food Action Network has pursued these manufacturers with its condemnation. In particular the Swiss giant Nestlé whose breaches of the Code occupy 17 of the 94 pages of the organisation’s annual report.

UNICEF and the WHO are among the other international organisations that are also highly critical. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, had already condemned these practices in a letter of November 1997 to Nestlé chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, describing them as “inappropriate marketing practices which contribute to infant malnutrition, morbidity and mortality in every country. Where breastfeeding and observance of the International Code is concerned, neither the WHO nor UNICEF draw any distinction between developed and developing countries.”

Yet since 1997, the situation has barely changed. Illicit promotion of artificial milk continues – in violation of Article 5.3 of the International Code – and does so in most countries. Evidence of this is found in numerous reports, from Houston, Texas (see photo opposite), to the Philippines and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The British NGO therefore created a filter cordon to pass this message on to the celebrities invited to the Children’s Book Prize award ceremony. Condemning “Nestlé’s association with this action, IBFAN asked “the organising committee to relinquish the company’s sponsorship of the prize. This would be a victory for infants all over the world and would put an end to a company propaganda (operation).”

Source : WHO, UNICEF, IBFAN, 13 December 2006

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