Meeting with the Philippines Ambassador

Tomorrow a delegation will be travelling to London to meet with the Philippines Ambassador, His Excellency Edgardo B. Espiritu. Joining Baby Milk Action will be the Right Reverend Simon Barrington-Ward, former Bishop of Coventry, Dr. Peter Greaves, retired Senior Nutritionist, UNICEF and your messages of support.

You can find our press release at http://www.babymilkaction.org/press/press8dec06.html

We have produced a large card to carry the messages to the Ambassador, hoping this will provide a photo opportunity for the media. Certainly we'll take a picture in front of the Embassy with the card.

Here's the picture on the card:



It has a picture of a mother (Iza) breastfeeding her child (sent to us by colleagues in the Philippines) overlaying some examples of aggressive promotion.

All the messages have also been rounded up in a document with endorsements from organisations from around the world. This is available on our website.

You have helped make the pressure put on the Philippines government by the baby food industry a headline issue in the Philippines. Let us see if our event tomorrow can gain wider coverage.

Here's a quote from actor Emma Thompson which may help.

"I'm appalled to hear about this attack on the Philippine Department of Health's courageous action. Surely every government has the right to regulate the marketing of baby foods as they see fit. The impact on health of aggressive marketing is well established and is something I've been personally concerned about for years. I'm sending my message of support to the people of the Philippines saying people around the world are with you and urge you to stand up to this outrageous pressure."

You'll find others on the site from celebrities and representatives of organisations, such as the Director of Oxfam GB.

Come back tomorrow to find out how it went.