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Business and Human Rights: a resource website

 

    Baby food & baby milk companies   

See also the following sections of this website:

NEW (recent additions to this section; top item is most recent addition)
When does protest work? Leading campaigners and experts told The Observer what made campaigning effective - and how companies needed to ensure that corporate accountability was not simply a PR exercise if they wanted to protect their brands and reputations. [refers to Shell, ExxonMobil/Esso, Nestle, Unity Trust Bank, Co-operative Bank, Cobbetts solicitors, Enron, Rio Tinto] (Lola Okolosie, Observer [UK], 2 Mar. 2003)

Standards and guidelines:

The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (World Health Assembly, 1981)

Websites:

Baby Milk Action

Integrity in Science: The Integrity in Science project seeks to safeguard science and the public welfare from the corruptive effects of industry’s influence (Integrity in Science, a project of The Center for Science in the Public Interest)

The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)

Nestlé company website:

Other materials:

2003:

When does protest work? Leading campaigners and experts told The Observer what made campaigning effective - and how companies needed to ensure that corporate accountability was not simply a PR exercise if they wanted to protect their brands and reputations. [refers to Shell, ExxonMobil/Esso, Nestle, Unity Trust Bank, Co-operative Bank, Cobbetts solicitors, Enron, Rio Tinto] (Lola Okolosie, Observer [UK], 2 Mar. 2003)

Baby milk marketing 'breaks rules' - A study in the British Medical Journal says manufacturers of powdered baby milk substitutes are violating international codes when selling their product to West Africans...The researchers found the code had been violated by 40 products, many made by national and international manufacturers like Danone and Nestle. (Ania Lichtarowicz, BBC News, 17 Jan. 2003)

2002:

BREAST-FEEDING: UNICEF Promotes Practice As Annual Week Begins -... Marking the start of World Breast-feeding Week yesterday, UNICEF encouraged more hospitals to join the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, an 11-year-old program aimed at ensuring that maternity facilities worldwide empower women to make informed choices about infant feeding. (UN Wire, 2 Aug. 2002)

Corporate Codes of Conduct: Regulation, Self-Regulation and the Lessons from the Baby Food Case - An Interview with Judith Richter [consumer and public health activist] [refers to Nestle] (Multinational Monitor, July-Aug. 2002)

Nestlé S.A. to become Founding Corporate Sponsor of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' Africa Health Initiative -...Nestlé's contribution to ARCHI 2010 will be concentrating initially on Africa's most populous country, Nigeria, and on the prevention of the transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus in that country (Nestlé, 13 June 2002)

Greenpeace protests against Nestle’s double standards on genetically engineered food: World's largest food producer must change ways -...Greenpeace today stepped up pressure against the world´s largest food producer Nestlé for continuing to sell genetically contaminated food, including baby food, in several Asian countries [refers to Thailand, Philippines, China/Hong Kong] (Greenpeace, 6 June 2002)

55th World Health Assembly -2002 IBFAN report on infant feeding issues - World Health Assembly Resolution removes commercial influences from infant feeding programmes (IBFAN - International Baby Food Action Network, 21 May 2002)

Baby Formula Makers' Actions in N. America Slammed - Two major reports severely criticizing the infant food industry's practices in the US and Canada were released here this week [refers to Mead-Johnson] (Robert James Parsons, Reuters, 17 May 2002)

2001:

Your questions answered: The Nestlé boycott and Nestlé's Public Relations materials. (Baby Milk Action, 16 Oct. 2001)

Swiss business and human rights: Confrontations and partnerships with NGOs [refers to Nestlé, Novartis, UBS, Credit Suisse, ABB, Coop, Migros, Switcher, Veillon] (Antoine Mach, study commissioned by Antenna International, Sep. 2001) note: scroll down on the linked page - this report appears under the "Documents" sub-heading for downloading in English or French

How Nestlé uses the 'breast is best' notice to endorse its breastmilk substitutes [alleged violation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes] (Campaign for Ethical Marketing, Baby Milk Action, June/July 2001)

Wyeth - Breaking the Rules 2001 [alleged violation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes] (Campaign for Ethical Marketing, Baby Milk Action, June/July 2001)

Science defeats baby food industry vested interests at the World Health Assembly: A landmark Resolution recommending that infants be exclusively breastfed for 6 months was passed at the 54th World Health Assembly (WHA) today (IBFAN [International Baby Food Action Network], 18 May 2001)

Multinational baby food companies Nestlé, Milupa, Abbott-Ross, Mead-Johnson and Wyeth are the worst violators of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, says IBFAN (IBFAN [International Baby Food Action Network], 15 May 2001)

'Putting profit before child health': Pressure has been stepped up on firms to stop promoting powdered baby milk to new mums (BBC News, 15 May 2001)

Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2001: Evidence of Violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent Resolutions [refers to the following baby food companies: Abbott-Ross, Danone, Dumex (INC), Friesland, Gerber, Heinz, Hipp, Humana, Mead Johnson, Meiji, Milupa, Morinaga, Nestlé, Nutricia/Cow & Gate/Lyempf, Snow Brand, Wyeth; also refers to the following bottle and teat companies: Avent, Babelito, Camera, Chicco, Curity, Evenflo, Gerber/NUK, Japlo, Johnson & Johnson/MAM, Mister Baby, Pigeon, Playtex, Remond] (IBFAN [International Baby Food Action Network], May 2001)

2000:

Milking Profits in Pakistan (Muddassir Rizvi, Multinational Monitor, Sep. 2000)

1999:

Nestlés new "monitoring" strategy - does it make any difference to infant health? (Baby Milk Action, Oct. 1999)