Things don't stop because of the Christmas holiday, not least because in much of the world Christmas isn't a national holiday! So there may well be additions to the site. There is a 'latest news' section and a quick link to it on the left of the site. The date of the latest addition is also given. You can also sign up to receive email alerts (see the 'contact' section) and join the Nestlé boycott discussion group (see the 'boycott' section).
Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog, sent links to friends or linked to it. Thanks for the comments, messages of supports and the news snippets that you may have sent. They are all very much appreciated.
It has been fun doing the blog, which I began 3 months ago today. We're nearly up to 3,000 views on the blogger version and over 3,000 on the Myspace version. I hope you find it interesting and useful. It has provided a useful place for me to provide quick updates and ideas, which are not always appropriate for the main website. It has led to some media coverage, most notably the front page story in the Philippines with your messages of support for the Ministry of Health's regulations for baby foods, which are still under attack.
If I had to choose my personal favourite blog entry (which could be a game to play in the next two weeks if you want to leave a comment) I think it would be 'Nestlé Chief Executive should relax more' at
http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2006/11/nestl-chief-executive-should-relax.html, though I do still laugh at the pie eating competition (because of the article quoted) at
http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2006/11/less-pies-faster.html
Retaining a sense of humour is essential when campaigning on the baby milk issue, otherwise it would be too easy to despair at the scale of the task and the inhumanity of those who put profits before health. So thanks to everyone in the Baby Milk Action office: staff (Patti and Alison - now moving on to other things after 8 years of dedicated service - and now Sarah), volunteers (particularly Lisa, who sends out your product orders and information request and Elaine, another long-term supporter) and our advisors and directors. Thanks too to area contacts around the country for all they do to spread the word, other supporters and boycotters and all of you who write letters and gather petition signatures.
A particular thank you in this year of the campaign on the European Union and UK baby food marketing regulations to everyone who has reported violations through our UK campaign website at
http://www.babyfeedinglawgroup.org.uk/ The campaign continues and this data is invaluable.
And of course a thank you to our partners in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). Baby Milk Action does what it can to support the campaigns of our partners around the world and to carry their messages to people in the UK and more widely. If we need a sense of humour, then what of those who see infants dying from unsafe bottle feeding in their hospitals and in their neighbourhoods? Where, in the Philippines at the moment, companies take the government to court and call on friends in the US to threaten the President with a cut in investment in the country. it can be scary work, whether or not the assassination in the Philippines' government lawyer this month was anything to with the baby food case as the Solicitor General suggested may be the case.
So two images to close the year. One of Miguel and Gloria at the Supreme Court in the Philippines, victims of the aggressive marketing of baby foods. The other, the gathering of 1,000 women with umbrellas in a park in Manila to make a colourful spectacle to draw attention to the need to protect infant health.
Needless suffering resulting from corporate greed on the one hand. Imagination, courage, good humour and hope on the other. That is what will keep us going into 2007.
A happy new year to you all.
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