Members can now register to start our online monitoring course

One of the activities in our Make a Mark in 2010 initiative was to develop an online training course on monitoring the baby food industry.

The technology has been put in place and the first module has now been made live on our website. Further modules in the 8-module course will be added over the coming months.

The first two modules will be free to members of Baby Milk Action. Non-members will be able to access the modules at a future date.

The course is based on the training the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) gives to member organisations around the world. These have been tailored to the situation in the UK and include information on the narrower UK marketing legislation.

Each module consists of short filmed talks, interactive quizzes, reading, a powerpoint presentation and an exercise. Participants have access to the tutor via the online discussion forum and will be able to book a personal tutorial by phone or skype during the course. The course culminates in a guided monitoring exercise to receive a Baby Milk Action certificate as a Code Monitor.

So if you are a member, register with the site and then upgrade your registration to 'member' by following the instructions at:

http://info.babymilkaction.org/members/registration

If you are not yet a member of Baby Milk Action, you can join by clicking here.

Once you are registered as a member, log in to the website and you will find the link to Module 1 appears under the Courses -> Monitoring menu.

Ulverston Breastfeeding Festival

The First Ulverston Breastfeeding Festival (16 - 22 August) was a thoroughly enjoyable event and one that deserves to grow. The town of Ulverston, close to the coast on the south side of the Lake District, is a delightful setting. I spoke on Friday in the Parish Church Hall, after a showing of the UNICEF Philippines film, Formula for Disaster. Many thanks to Jo Dawson for the invitation and for the hard work she put in with help from friends and family to make the event a reality. I really hope it becomes part of the calendar and inspires others in the UK and elsewhere.

There are links to the film and some of the information included in my presentation below, along with other news from the festival. My weekend at the festival was an opportunity to encourage people to email Nestlé over its latest baby milk marketing strategy (it is claiming its formula 'protects' babies, despite the fact that babies fed on formula are more likely to become sick than breastfed babies and, in conditions of poverty, more likely to die). Before reading on, take a minute to email Nestlé by clicking here (will open in a new window).

There were events throughout the week, including workshops and talks on baby-led weaning, milk banking, breastfeeding information for grandparents and the Breastfeeding Manifesto. There was a breastfeeding fair on the Saturday in the Coronation Hall, with stalls by Baby Milk Action and other organisations involved. Sedleigh played his song 'Every Drop Counts' and other music outside the hall - close to statues of Ulverston son, Stan Laurel, and his partner in comedy, Oliver Hardy.

The Madonna and Child Project is running until 28 August, an exhibition of beautiful, iconic mother and baby portrait prints with associated birth stories, by Canadian artist Kate Hansen.

At the beginning of the week, breastfeeding mothers gathered for the Big Breastfeeding Picture, which helped to gain coverage in the local media. There were various café events during the week as well, for a more informal chat over tea, coffee and cake or something more substantial. On Sunday morning, before the final café gathering, some of us climbed Hoad Hill, for amazing views over Morecombe Bay towards Blackpool on one side, the peaks of the Lake District on the other and in the far distance, the peaks of Yorkshire.

Ulverston has a series of festivals throughout the year, and anyone entering the town could not miss the signs saying the current one was The Breastfeeding Festival.

So why not plan a visit to the area next August to coincide with the Festival? Windermere and Coniston lakes are very close by with extensive tourist facilities and Ulverston itself offers camping, B&B and hotel accommodation. For a taste of what to expect, take a look at this year's programme: http://www.thebreastfeedingfestival.btik.com/p_People.ikml

You can view the film about infant feeding in the Philippines online by going to: http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2007/05/watch-film-from-philippines-here.htm.

In my talk I provided an update on what happened since the film. You can find much of the information here.

I then spoke about the situation in the UK. Here's a youtube clip I put together for the launch of the ONE MILLION CAMPAIGN last year, which has some of the information.

Click here to sign the ONE MILLION CAMPAIGN petition.

You can the text of a similar talk, with the powerpoint presentation, here:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/campaignblog070310

Gillian Weaver, Chair of the UK Association of Milk Banking, told me about this great clip about a recent fundraising cycle ride by supporter, Steve Haberfield.

You can hear more of the song Every Drop Counts, by Sedleigh below. Sedleigh performed this and other songs live outside the Coronation Hall and at one of Gillian's talks. If you make a donation to the work of UKAMB, you will be sent the full song. See: http://www.ukamb.org/edc/index.html

Remember you can find news of forthcoming events on our diary dates page and we'll post up the dates for the Ulverston Breastfeeding Festival 2011 event when we have them and hope we can take part once again.

What's your milk worth?

This is the text of a talk I gave to the La Leche League Ireland Conference on 7 March 2010. The accompanying PowerPoint presentation is attached to the posting of this blog on our website. See: http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/campaignblog070310

Many thanks for the invitation to speak at the Conference. I bring greetings from everyone at Baby Milk Action. No doubt many of you are in contact with Patti Rundall, our Policy Director, and Sarah Hansen, our Office Manager.

I've been asked to speak on the topic: "What is your milk worth?"

And I've been thinking about the different ways to answer this. My immediate thought was there's a short answer and a long answer.

Here's the short answer. [SLIDE: Baby Quinn poster]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a smile is worth a thousand more.

But I guess you do want some words from me too, so here's the long answer.

What's your milk worth?

Well, a La Leche League Conference doesn't need me to explain how babies without breastmilk suffer greater short and long-term illness. Your milk is worth better health for your babies, which is priceless.

But I'm going to try to be a bit more precise than priceless.

So how does Euros 130/litre sound for the value of breastmilk? [SLIDE: € 130/l]

That's how much neonatal units in hospitals in the UK pay to milk banks - but that's not for the milk, that for the processing costs of the milk bank that collects and pasturises it. Premature babies fed on it have better chances of surviving.

That's one figure. We can also consider the number of lives lost through babies not being breastfed and the cost to our health services. Breastmilk is the most locally produced natural food there is - replacement feeds require processing and transport which has an environmental impact. Mothers aren't paid to breastfeed their babies, but if they don't breastfeed, they have to pay for breastmilk substitutes, so we can think about the cost of that and the multi-billion Euro industry that has arisen and the harm that it does.

I imagine as you've asked me here from Baby Milk Action you'd like to know something about company marketing and what can be done to stop it. We can also turn this question around and ask, "What is breastmilk worth to us?" What will we do to defend breastfeeding.

These are the issues I'm going to explore in a bit more depth, starting with breastmilk being worth Euros 130/litre for neonatology units.

A litre will provide nourishment and protection to many babies, of course, as a few millitres is enough to fill the stomach of a premature baby. [SLIDE: Stomach sizes]

This image shows the stomach size of a normal new-born baby to get an idea. This comes from a reliable source - the LLL International website.

The reduction in Necrotising Enterocolitis is one of the main reasons for having donor milk for babies if they cannot receive their mother's milk while in intensive care or undergoing Kangeroo care. NEC is where the tissue of the bowel dies and it is a big killer of premature babies. I visited the donor milk bank in Chester this week and they rarely have cases of NEC. Breastfeeding has sometimes been described as the continuation of the placenta and it finishes the job of the development of the digestive system.

Other hospitals where babies are dying from NEC are starting to source donor breastmilk from Chester. And just last month the National Institute for Clinical Excellence published its guidelines. I know there is a milk bank across the border in Irvinestown Health Centre in County Fermanagh and I understand it operates across Ireland and is providing donor milk to 700 babies per year. Like many milk banks, I also understand it relies to some extent on fundraising.

The figure I gave for the cost of processing human milk comes from Chester which is a charity and has to raise all its operating costs itself, about € 130,000 per year, and it processes 1000 litres. Someone once said, wouldn't it be strange if health had all the money it needed and the army had to hold jumble sales for weapons. But in the world we live in, it is breastfeeding supporters who hold the jumble sales.

But that does not mean the work is not professional. [SLIDE: Chester conference] Chester is holding a milk bank conference in May - you can find out more information on their website. You'll be able to find the notes for my talk on the Baby Milk Action website next week, but here is the address of the Chester site if you want to note it. This is particularly relevant to Neonatologists, so you might like to suggest your contacts attend.

The mothers who donate the milk are volunteers, of course. They do it, because they know the value of breastmilk.

I started out with Baby Quinn. A picture of contentment. But not just contentment. It is a picture of nurture and protection coming from the living substance that is breastmilk and the warm and love with which it is delivered.

You know better than me that breastfed babies are optimally fed. Denied breastmilk and fed with cow's milk or soya milk, however much it is processed and adapted, they will have greater risk of short and long-term illness. Breastfeeding is worth life and health.

And illness costs not only the individual, but society as a whole. In 2006 we made a submission to the UK government as it was revising our Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations to implement a revised EU Directive. We made a submission calling for the government to implement the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent, relevant Resolutions of the World Health Assembly in legislation. [SLIDE: The Code]

The Code and Resolutions, for short, set out how companies can and cannot market their products and came about as a direct result of the Nestlé boycott and wider campaign. The Code itself was adopted in 1981 and aims to protect breastfeeding and babies fed on formula.

Governments are called on to implement it and we asked our government to do so. We had built a coalition called the Baby Feeding Law Group [SLIDE: BFLG], consisting of the major health worker organisations and mother support groups and the submission (shown left) had the backing of all these organisations. If you don't have such a coalition in Ireland, then it might be something to think about.

One of the questions in the UK Government consultation was about costs and we pulled together the figures available to us to make an economic case for protecting breastfeeding. [SLIDE: NICE report]

In the UK, a NICE costing report evaluated possible savings from Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation. They said.

“The evaluation assumes that a 10% improvement in initiation rates is a realistic target.

“On the basis of medical literature we assume that an increase in the number of babies that breastfeed will lead to a reduction in healthcare expenditure because of avoided cases of otitis media, gastroenteritis and asthma. On the basis of an annual birth rate of 605,634 a 10% improvement in breastfeeding would mean that 60,563 additional babies would be breastfed.”

[SLIDE: Cost savings]

• about 17,000 cases of otitis media avoided at a saving of £509,000.

• almost 3900 cases of gastroenteritis being avoided, at a saving of £2.6 million

• over 1500 cases of asthma being avoided, at a saving of £2.6 million.

• a reduction in the cost of teats and formula of £102,000

NICE. Postnatal care: routine postnatal care of women and their babies. Costing report: Implementing NICE guidance in England. London: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence; 2006. pp 36. www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=345136

A US Study looked at savings to their welfare scheme from breastfeeding. [SLIDE: WIC]

Compared with formula-feeding, breastfeeding each infant enrolled in WIC saved US$478 (€350) in WIC costs and Medicaid expenditures (the US welfare schemes) during the first 6 months of the infant’s life.

Montgomery DL, Splett PL. Economic benefit of breast-feeding infants enrolled in WIC. J Am Diet Assoc 1997 Apr;97(4):379-85 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9120189

They also looked at broader savings to the economy [SLIDE: 3.6 billion]

The US study found a minimum of $3.6 billion would be saved if breastfeeding was increased from current levels (64 percent in-hospital, 29 percent at 6 months) to those recommended by the U.S. Surgeon General (75 and 50 percent), for each year at the higher rate. Pro rata to the population of Ireland, this equates to € 40 million per year of improved breastfeeding.

Figure based on treatment of only three childhood illnesses: otitis media, gastroenteritis, and necrotizing enterocolitis.

This does not count the savings of the cost of formula.

It does include the loss of earnings of the 720 babies who were estimated to die each year in the US from Necrotizing Enterocolitis who would not have died if breastfed.

Weimer. The economic benefits of breastfeeding: A review and analysis, Food Assistance & Nutrition Research Report No. 13. Wash.D.C., USDA, 2001. www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/FANRR13/

In our submission in the UK, we recommended the government commission research on environmental impacts of babies not being breastfed – our figures are out of date. There is no food more locally produced and unprocessed than breastmilk. For formula we need to consider: [SLIDE: Environmental impact]

• Methane from cows is a greenhouse gas. Transport and processing impact.

• Resources used for packaging: 86,000 tons of tin plate would be used each year if every US baby was formula fed, with 550 million discarded tins (1991 figures).

• In 1987, 4.5 million feeding bottles were sold in Pakistan alone.

• A formula-fed 3-month old baby requires a litre of water a day for preparing formula and the equivalent of 73 kg of firewood per year, contributing to deforestation in poor countries.

Radford, A. Breastmilk: A world resource, Baby Milk Action, Cambridge, UK, 1991. www.babymilkaction.org/pdfs/worldresource91.pdf

The UK Government, like the Irish Government, did not listen to the calls for implementing the Code and Resolutions and has done the bare minimum to implement the EU Directive. [SLIDE: Montoring report]. We produce monitoring reports on behalf of the Baby Feeding Law Group, which show the strategies companies are using. You see advertising for follow-on formula on television and idealising claims on formula labels, as well as promotion to health workers, sponsored events, misleading information and so on. The same as you have in Ireland. This is a Cow & Gate mailout after the company signed up a mother. [SLIDE: Sore boobs]

I bought some formula yesterday from the supermarket and I want to demonstrate what the companies are doing. [Formula Race - you had to be there to appreciate this!].

But these claims are misleading. Let's look at the claims made about LCPs - Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids. [SLIDE: LCPs]

Longchain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in infants born at term

It has been suggested that low levels of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) found in formula milk may contribute to lower IQ levels and vision skills in term infants. Some milk formulas with added LCPUFA are commercially available. This review found that feeding term infants with milk formula enriched with LCPUFA had no proven benefit regarding vision, cognition or physical growth.

Simmer K, Patole S, Rao SC. Longchain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in infants born at term. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD000376. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000376.pub2. www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab000376.html

[SLIDE: DH study]

Mothers are misled. ‘Myths stop women giving babies the best start in life’ Department of Health survey, May 2004:

“Myth: Over a third (34%) of women believe that modern infant formula milks are very similar or the same as breast milk

“Fact: Infant formula milk does not contain the antibodies, living cells, enzymes or hormones present in breastmilk. Breastmilk is designed for each individual baby and changes over time whereas infant formula milk is designed for every baby.”

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Pressreleases/DH_4081944

So these and other claims are untrue, but companies base their marketing strategies upon them. This can have a devastating impact in developing countries where access to health care to treat sick infants is often lacking.

According to the Lancet series on child survival, improved breastfeeding could save 1.3 million under-5 babies every year.

[SLIDE: Lancet]

By improved breastfeeding, they mean 90% exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months, with continued breastfeeding for 99% of babies during the first year. We are a long way from that at present. But if it were not for breastfeeding, many more millions of babies would die each year.

Improving breastfeeding rates in the 42 countries where most under-5 deaths occur, could prevent 13% of those under-5 deaths. [SLIDE: Lancet comparison] That’s more than would be saved by:

• universal provision of safe water and sanitation (3%)

• universal provision of HIB, Tetanus and Measles vaccines (4%, 2%, 1%).

(Combined total 10%)

Appropriate introduction of complementary foods could save a further 6%.

[SLIDE: World Bank estimate] The World Bank has estimated that meeting the health Millenium Development Goals of providing universal access to safe water and sanitation by 2015 at US$ 30 billion (€22 billion) per year. Of course, there needs to be the improvements to water, sanitation and vaccination, but this give an indication of the value of increasing breastfeeding, which could save more lives. Indeed, many of the children who survive unhealthy conditions would have died if they had not been breastfed.

The Costs of Attaining the Millennium Development Goals, World Bank, accessed March 2010, www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/mdgassessment.pdf

Where is the money and support for breastfeeding? Putting money into breastfeeding support and taking action over marketing are political decisions. And the baby food industry is big money. [SLIDE: Baby food industry]

The retail value of the global baby food market in 2008 according to analysts Euromonitor was € 23 billion. Two-thirds of this is formula. So there's about a € 15.3 billion industry because of babies not receiving breastmilk. Let's consider that some babies cannot be breastfed because they are abandoned or orphaned without access to alternative supplies of breastmilk or because the mother cannot breastfeed for medical reasons. Formula is essential for some babies, so let's knock off the formula required as a nutritional medicine and reduce the sum to € 15 billion to reflect the value of the breastmilk that is being substituted.

To defend this market, companies battle against regulation. According to Euromonitor: [SLIDE: Industry action].

“The industry is fighting a rearguard action against regulation on a country-by-country basis,”

“Government Regulation a Growing Constraint”.

“There are significant international variations in the regulations governing the marketing of milk formula, which are reflected in sales differences across countries.”

To finish, I want to turn this question around and ask you: "What is your milk worth?" By which I mean, what are you doing to defend breastfeeding?

In the discussion about the Politics of Breastfeeding yesterday, people were wanting to know what they could do. We'll be able to explore this more in the discussion, but I want to see if I can inspire you with a story from the Philippines. This is a country where, according to WHO, 16,000 babies die every year because they are not breastfed.

In 2006 the Department of Health introduced regulations to stop companies marketing formula as if it would turn babies into geniuses. [SLIDES: Abbott, Nestlé].

Abbott's formula had an IQ logo, with the word 'eye' in the letter 'I', suggesting it benefits visual and mental development. Nestlé undermined the legally required 'breastmilk is best for babies' message with a colourful logo claiming its formula contains, "Brain Building Blocks". These are referring the the LCPs I mentioned before - where the Cochrane Library review found such claims are not proven.

The pharmaceutical companies that make formula took the government to the Supreme Court and the US Chamber of Commerce wrote to the President demanding the law be struck down or American companies would pull out of the country.

Here's what happened next [SLIDES: Philippine campaign - showing demonstrations, media work, letter-writing campaigns, petitions, UNICEF DVD, culminating in the 'brave breasts' protest outside the Supreme Court. Also see Update 40].

Now, topless protests might not be the thing to do in Ireland. But next time you see an advertisement you might like to remember this story and think, "What is breastmilk worth?" [SLIDE: Action ideas]

Is it worth a letter to the Advertising Standards Authority? Sending violations to La Leche Leage? Starting a campaign in Ireland?

[SLIDE: International ideas - boycott] Supporting the boycott of Nestlé, worst of the companies? Writing to all companies about practices that harm health. Our current priority is Nestlé's new strategy of claiming its formula 'protects' babies. This is about the LCPs we hear about earlier. This label shows that campaigning works. It is from Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries and Nestlé refused to translate it into the national language until we campaigned and shamed it on UK television.

Here's the challenge facing you in Ireland. [SLIDE: Breastfeeding rates]

"Ireland is in the unenviable position of having the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe and this has been the situation for at least two generations.

"Currently only about 40% of new mothers in Ireland initiate breastfeeding and many of these cease doing do so before their infants are four months old."

Fallon M, Breastfeeding in Ireland, Department of Health and Children, Accessed March 2010, www.equality.ie/index.asp?docID=586

I understand the situation has improved slightly from this figure, but rates are still low.

Here's the hope. [SLIDE: The hope]

La Leche League Ireland exists.

You have come to the Conference.

You know what your milk is worth!!

[SLIDE: Contact us]

Baby Milk Action can help. So do please visit our website and stay in touch. Also look out for an online training course on monitoring which is being added to our website.

Online training course coming soon

We are developing an online course on monitoring the baby food industry.

You can find out more by watching a short film clip and trying a sample quiz on our website.

Please take a look and let me know what you think of the technology. If you are a member of Baby Milk Action, also register with our site because the first module will be free to members. Members will also receive a discount on the remaining modules. The planned price for non-members is £10 per module.

See:

http://info.babymilkaction.org/courses/monitoring

Updates and Campaign blog available on our new-look site

Our new-look website is gradually taking over from our present site. The present site will remain as an archive.

You can now find Update 42 on the new site at:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/update/update42

There will be a duplicate of this campaign blog on the new site. This is the first entry! See:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/campaignblog

New-style email alerts - sign up now and tell us what you think

Here's a new innovation: html email alerts. I'm just sending the first one out.

You can subscribe to alerts and view the online archive, including the first html alert, at:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/emailalerts

Take a look and click on the link telling me if you like it or not.

This is a screenshot of it (note that clicking the links on this won't work)

If you are not on our email alert list, you can sign up via our new-look website that is coming online section by section (our old site will continue while we make the switch over and as an archive.

Boycott Nestlé leaflet for Fairtrade Fortnight

Fairtrade Fortnight is taking place from 22 February to 7 March. If you would like to support this, you can find out more at:

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

As you may know, Nestlé has gained Fairtrade certification for 4-finger KitKat. There are 6,000 farmers benefiting, gaining about an extra £400,000 per year from the Fairtrade premium. Nesté's has already received global publicity for this sum, which is a fraction of the price of its curent £43 million Nescafé UK advertising campaign. But much of the coverage is undeserved as Fairtrade KitKat involves just 1% of the cocoa Nestlé purchases while it is criticised for failing to deliver on its promise to end child slavery in the supply chain for the rest by 2006.

http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2010/01/fairtrade-kitkat-launch.html

You can find a simple leaflet with facts that Nestlé executives do not want you to know about Nestlé and cocoa - and its pushing of baby milk. Why not download it, print it back-to-back to make A5 copies and use them on your Fairtrade stall if you are having one, or give to friends.

http://www.babymilkaction.org/pdfs/nestlefairtrade0210.pdf

Nestlé is the worst of the baby food companies. As it boasts about the new Fairtrade logo added to KitKat, we are campaigning to force it to remove new logos from its infant formula that claims this 'protects' babies - it does not, babies fed on it are more likely to become sick than breastfed babies and, in conditions of poverty, are more likely to die.

Nestlé is not only trying to improve its image by promoting its Fairtrade KitKat, it is about to embark on a multi-million pound campaign in cyberspace. See:

http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2010/02/nestle-launches-cyberwar.html

Nestlé is one of the world's four most boycotted companies because people like you spread the word. This is why Nestlé is stepping up its spending on trying to improve its image. And this is why we need your help more than ever - with the financial crisis we have lost some members and had to cut staff hours. By becoming a member, sending a donation or buying something from our online shop, you help to keep us operating. See:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/

The more we can do, the more cases of aggressive pushing of formula we can stop (by Nestlé and other companies) and the more laws we can bring in and defend (there are over 70 countries now with laws). The more people support the boycott, the more Nestlé has to spend trying to counter it, which tips the balance towards it actually making the changes required to bring its practices into line with the marketing requirements adopted by the World Health Assembly. Join those sending messages to Nestlé about its 'protect' logos and eventually it will drop them as it has with many of the other strategies we have exposed. See:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/CEM/cemjuly09.html

So if you can, please click here. We don't need the millions Nestlé spends to have an impact. Membership starts at just £7 and every member makes a big difference.

Where's Mum? - or - Here's looking at you, kid!

Baby Milk Action produces a calendar with breastfeeding pictures from around the world on behalf of some of the groups belonging to the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN).

We are always on the look out for good-quality pictures, so contact us if you have any to offer.

Putting the calendar together is always a challenge because all the groups that will sell it to help raise funds for their activities to protect infant health have to be happy with the selection of pictures. There is a voting process that goes on to ensure that the views of each group are respected and everyone has mainly their favourite pictures, plus a few they just like a lot.

I have a vote myself and have always been a bit suspicious of disembodied pictures such as the one that appears in January, shown below.

I tended to mark such pictures down because, regardless of how much we are focused on infant feeding, women - and mothering - is about much more than offering a breast to a child, so where's Mum?

But someone who has breastfed and loves these pictures pointed out to me that these are not pictures of disembodied breasts (though such pictures exist), but a Mum's-eye-view of breastfeeding and that is why these pictures are so popular.

Which just goes to show, you have to be open to other perspectives!

What do you think?

You can see the rest of this year's selection of pictures at:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/calendarlatest.html

IBFAN's 30th birthday and breastfeeding calendar

On 12 October I was fortunate to attend the 30th anniversary celebration of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) in Geneva. Our press release about the event can be found here:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/press/press13oct09.html

In 1977 six civil society groups attended a WHO/UNICEF meeting on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, where it was decided to draft the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. Those six groups formed IBFAN, which today consists of more than 200 groups on over 100 countries.

Representatives of 24 groups from the European region stayed on for a training and planning meeting. I recorded interviews at our last meeting, which you can listen to by clicking here:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/ram/ibfaneurope06.html

When I have had found the time to put together a report from this meeting, I'll post it here.

Also launched at the event was the IBFAN Breastfeeding Calendar 2010. You can order this right now in our online Virtual Shop at:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/calendarlatest.html

IBFAN breastfeeding calendar 2009 now reduced in price

Our 2009 breastfeeding calendar has now been reduced to £3.00 including UK postage and packing.

It's still great value as the pictures can be used as a training resource. Some people laminate them to be able to hand them around.

See:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/calendarlatest.html

Two awards and an authority rating

News of two awards and something similar.

Firstly, Nestlé has won yet another shaming award. This time it is from a consumer group in Taiwan. The Taipei Times reports:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/12/20/2003431591

---
In the private sector, RT Mart, Fonterra and Nestle Taiwan all received the “Very Black Award” — “black” standing for black-hearted products — by the foundation for poor business practices during the melamine scandal.
---

Nestlé had criticised a delisting order from the food safety authorities, claiming the level of melamine in its products was within safe limits. Nestlé did say it would comply with the order, however. For more on the melamine scandal, analysis of the levels found in different products and Nestlé's response see the Nestlé Critics website at:
http://www.nestlecritics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=1

Meanwhile in Argentina, our partners in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) are in the news for a breastfeeding photo compeitition. They received a silver medal from the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action in a 'marathon' during World Breastfeeding Week for staging the long-running event. See the report at:
http://www.anbariloche.com.ar/noticia.php?nota=6748

Finally, not an award as such, but a reader of this blog has alerted me to a report by someone tracking the reputation of companies at:
http://bacatu.blogspot.com/2008/09/perceptions-of-cow-and-gate.html

This includes the following comments on the authority of blogs that are critical of the aggressive marketing strategies used for Cow & Gate (a brand owned by Danone):
http://bacatu.blogspot.com/2008/09/perceptions-of-cow-and-gate.html

---
Both websites have a greater authority than cowandgate.co.uk measured by how many sites are linking to them and how authoritative those sites are, on average.

• Half Pint Pixie has 233 sites linking to it which are (on average) 240 times more authoritative than that site
  
• Boycott Nestle has 167 / 114
  
• Cow and Gate has just 71 / 60

---

So hurrah for us and raspberries for the misbehaving baby food companies.

Three awards

News of three awards.

Firstly, Nestlé has won yet another shaming award. This time it is from a consumer group in Taiwan. The Taipei Times reports:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/12/20/2003431591

---
In the private sector, RT Mart, Fonterra and Nestle Taiwan all received the “Very Black Award” — “black” standing for black-hearted products — by the foundation for poor business practices during the melamine scandal.
---

Nestlé had criticised a delisting order from the food safety authorities, claiming the level of melamine in its products was within safe limits. Nestlé did say it would comply with the order, however. For more on the melamine scandal, analysis of the levels found in different products and Nestlé's response see the Nestlé Critics website at:
http://www.nestlecritics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=1

Meanwhile in Argentina, our partners in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) are in the news for a breastfeeding photo compeitition. They received a silver medal from the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action in a 'marathon' during World Breastfeeding Week for staging the long-running event. See the report at:
http://www.anbariloche.com.ar/noticia.php?nota=6748

Finally, a reader of this blog has alerted me to a report by someone tracking the reputation of companies at:


This includes the following comments on the authority of blogs that are critical of the aggressive marketing strategies used for Cow & Gate (a brand owned by Danone):
http://bacatu.blogspot.com/2008/09/perceptions-of-cow-and-gate.html

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Both websites have a greater authority than cowandgate.co.uk measured by how many sites are linking to them and how authoritative those sites are, on average.

• Half Pint Pixie has 233 sites linking to it which are (on average) 240 times more authoritative than that site
  
• Boycott Nestle has 167 / 114
  
• Cow and Gate has just 71 / 60

---

So hurrah for us and raspberries for the misbehaving baby food companies.

Improving the search experience

A couple of search engine issues have been on the work plan for today.

Firstly we have a new search engine feature on the Baby Milk Action website. This not only searches that site, but the IBFAN website and the Nestlé Critics website. See:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/

I did try including this blog in the searches, but it pulled up irrelevant pages in my tests, due to the archive links that appear on the right. Until I find a solution (suggestions welcome), the blog will have to be searched separately.

Also on search engines, we had an issue with pages from the old IBFAN site appearing in search engine listings. People visiting that site might think corporate malpractice and the campaign to protect infant health stopped in 2005. So I've added re-directions to the new site. Personally I hate it when I follow an old link and it just takes me to the home page or a 'page not found' message. So I've tried to be a bit more user friendly and the re-directions take you to the actual page on the new site, or at least the relevant index.

Let me know what you think of these two developments.

Who is setting the global health agenda?

We have a new addition to our on-line Virtual Shop.

It is called Global Health Watch 2 and is an alternative world health report. Our Policy Director, Patti Rundall, contributed to the section on infant feeding.

If you are concerned about the corporate takeover of the health agenda it is a particularly relevant read. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, is pumping large sums of money into initiatives such as GAIN, which is operating in the field of infant nutrition. GAIN has companies such as Danone on the board. Danone is a major violator of the World Health Assembly marketing requirements, more so since its takeover of the Nutricia, Milupa and Cow & Gate brands. We have asked Danone's Chief Executive to indicate the company will bring policies and practices into line with the WHA marketing requirements and he refuses to give this undertaking.

GAIN is pursuing the promotion of processed foods for addressing micronutrient malnutrition in developing countries. Critics suggest it is more beneficial, cost effective and respectful of indigenous cultures to promote more balanced use of local foods. But with the sums being pumped into GAIN and the involvement of transnational corporations there is a danger that the public health debate is being distorted.

You can find the book and lots more information about it (including a flier) at:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/publications02.html#globalhwatch2

The right to post information on Nestlé and debate its activities

This blog has been locked by blogger over the past ten days, supposedly as a 'spam blog'. This happened once before. I believed at the time this was because I was posting daily and the Google algorithm thought this must be the work of an automaton!

But it happened ten days ago and again today - I am not even sure if this will post as my unlock request is still listed as pending.

People can flag blogs as objectionable and potentially this has happened. Certainly over on the Nestlé Critics website there have been some recent comments from people complaining about it being one sided. This despite the fact it directs people to Nestlé's own site and, in specific instances, Nestlé's press releases and other materials and allows people to comment.

Anyway, I have no objection to people hearing from Nestlé employees - that's why a section specifically for them to leave comments exists on the Nestlé Critics site. See:
http://www.nestlecritics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42&Itemid=88

Here's the recent comment:

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Guys
Get balanced, why you are having 1 sided view in 21st century?
. I am a boiler operator in Nestle' factory in India.
Let me share, ok you find out:
- Check water reduction to produce same product in last 5 years.
- Check energy reduction to produce same product in last 5 years.
- OK check the CFC phase out & check with other MNCs
Having no comment from any of Nestle' worker should be enough to review your opinion
l am lucky to be with Nestle'
cheers
---

And another couple of pro-Nestlé comments from the visitors section:
http://www.nestlecritics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=89

---
when you are stoping this site?
We are pained to see the -ve propaganda from ill informed people......
Ok, guys. You are enjoying the freedom of expression.
Fine one day some one shall alunch a site "friends of Nestle'"
Cheers
---

And:

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I caution readers that this site does a disservice to the public. Promoting breast feeding is admirable and should continue whole-heartedly. However, presenting misleading or half-truths about Nestle (or any infant formula manufacturer) does not further the health of children in this country or elsewhere. I work in academia (not industry) and it is essential for facts to be presented in a forum where many experts can comment (representatives from academia, healthcare, and industry). Sites like this one do just the opposite and no one can make a decision to boycott or promote anything related to infant nutrition from reading information solely from this site.
---

Anyone who is familiar with the campaign and the evidence-base for all claims made about Nestlé malpractice will be able to form their own opinion about such comments.

I'm all for debating Nestlé malpractice and took part in many debates myself with Nestlé Executives until they called a halt having being embarassed at losing them and fueling support for the boycott in the process.

Today Nestlé refuses to even set out its terms and conditions for attending an independent expert tribunal we have proposed.

So, yes please, let's have more debate, not less.

And whoever keeps getting my blog locked, please stop it!

A gift that helps to save lives and reduce suffering

If you are looking for an unusual and useful gift for someone for Christmas - or any other time - how about membership of Baby Milk Action?

See:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/membership.html#gift

Here's what Baby Milk Action is about:

Baby Milk Action

Baby Milk Action is a non-profit organisation which aims to save infant lives and to end the avoidable suffering caused by inappropriate infant feeding. We work as part of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) to strengthen independent, transparent and effective controls on the marketing of the baby feeding industry. IBFAN has over 200 member organisations in more than 100 countries.

Protecting breastfeeding

There is no food more locally produced or sustainable than breastmilk. A breastfed child is less likely to suffer from gastroenteritis, respiratory and ear infections, diabetes, allergies and other illnesses. In areas with unsafe water a bottle-fed child is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhoea. Reversing the decline in breastfeeding could save 1.5 million lives around the world every year. Breastfeeding helps fulfill the UN Millennium Development Goals and has the potential to reduce under-5 mortality by 13%. A further 6% of deaths could be saved through appropriate complementary feeding. Breastfeeding also provides health benefits to the mother, such as reduced risk of some cancers.

Protecting babies fed on formula

Breastmilk substitutes are legitimate product for when a child is not breastfed and does not have access to expressed or donor breastmilk. Companies should comply with composition and labelling requirements and other Code requirements to reduce risks - independently of government measures. Parents have a right to accurate, independent information.

Baby Feeding Law Group

Baby Milk Action is the Secretariat for the Baby Feeding Law Group (BFLG) which is working to bring UK legislation into line with UN Resolutions. BFLG members include consumer and mother-support groups and professional bodies such as the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors’ Association, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and UNICEF's Baby Friendly Initiative. We are also on the Steering Group of the Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition (BMC) which has 7 Objectives to support and protect breastfeeding. Ojective 7 is to implement the Code and Resolutions.

International Code

We work for controls implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (The International Code). This Code was adopted in 1981 by the World Health Assembly (WHA), the world’s highest policy setting body. The International Code bans all promotion of breastmilk substitutes and was adopted as a ‘minimum requirement’ to be implemented by member states ‘in its entirety’. The International Code and the subsequent relevant WHA Resolutions, which have clarified or extended certain provisions of the Code, must be considered together in the interpretation and translation into national measures.

Become a member and receive our newsletter

Baby Milk Action members will shortly be receiving copies of our latest newsletter.

If you are not yet a member, you can join today through our on-line Virtual Shop. If you opt to pay by standing order, you can even gain a free gift (see conditions). Go to:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/membership.html

The newsletter is made available on line for the general public after being sent to members - and members can elect to receive it electronically to save on postage and printing costs and the Earth's resources.

Non-members can also sign up for alerts, but do please consider becoming a member, because the fees (which start from just £ 7.00 per year) are essential for funding our work. Sign up for alerts at:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/contact.html#contactform

Baby-led Weaning

I've had the good fortune to hear Gill Rapley speak on her work on baby-led weaning a couple of times. In the talks she passes films of babies who were given the chance to decide when and what they would eat from 4 months of age. The recommended age for introducing complementary foods - foods in addition to breastmilk (or formula) - is 6 months of age. And, left to their own devices, that is the age when babies seem themselves to choose to eat. Now Gill has co-authored a book on her studies, available at:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/publications03.html#blw

Prior to 6 months they put food - and just about anything they can get their hands on to - into their mouths, but they don't swallow. They explore colours, shapes, textures and tastes, but don't actually eat until 6 months or thereabouts. The poop proves it.

The World Health Organization has studied the subject extensively and the World Health Assembly adopted a Resolution in 1994 giving a public health recommendation of promoting complementary feeding with local foods from about 6 months of age. Under most conditions, their research suggested there is no nutritional need for foods in addition to breastmilk (or formula) prior to 6 months and introduction of foods other than breastmilk before this age makes them more likely to develop infections.

From my experience, companies try to promote the introduction of foods at an earlier age because, in the words of an executive from one company, it stops parents 'drifting into home-prepared foods'. They make special concoctions to be fed by spoon and some parents are drawn into seeing it as a positive sign of development if their child takes to 'solids' at a younger age than its peers.

The industry fought long and hard against the recommendation from the World Health Assembly introduced in 1994. It took further action by the Assembly and a lot of denunciations of breaking of the Resolutions and pressure from the Nestle boycott before Nestle, the largest of the baby food company, agreed, in 2003 (9 years later) that it would stop promoting complementary foods from before 6 months - a promise it has not entirely kept and recent indications are it is backsliding on it. Get babies onto processed foods and the chances are they will then 'progress' through the entire range.

Most countries, including the UK, have adopted policies of not promoting complementary feeding before 6 months of age, though that does not preclude different medical advice if necessary.

With baby-led weaning, babies can share in the family meals (with attention given to salt levels, of course). They develop a discerning palate. And while they may be behind the babies eating processed pap off a spoon, at 8, 9 months they are feeding themselves with a spoon and enjoying what they eat.

At least that is what you see in the films in Gill's presentation and there is plenty of supporting testimony on various discussion groups and boards.

This new book gives plenty of information on the theory and practice of baby-led weaning. It is well worth investigating. Available at:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/publications03.html#blw

The Nestle Critics website - search it out

Nestlé's pretence for trying hi-jack the website we launched for International Nestlé-Free Week (4 - 10 October) was the absurd claim that it was "passing off" as a company website.

Aside from it being obvious when visiting the preview site (and the current site) that it was not a Nestlé website (and it directed people to the company website for the company's words), the meta data for the site, used from the beginning, makes it clear it is not a company site.

Meta data is invisible on the page, but is used by search engines in their listings. An example of this is shown in the screen shot below. This is for a Google search on 'Nestle and melamine'. We have been getting a lot of traffic to the site from this and similar Google and other searches and so I was interested to see how the listing appeared.

On the second page the top item is:

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Nestlé
Nestlé reaffirms that all our milk products in China and Hong Kong are absolurely safe, and none are made with milk adulterated with melamene.
---

The next item is:

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Nestlé's 'no melamine found' found in products claim examined
Nestlé's actions speak louder than its words. Visit this site for information on concerns about Nestlé practices.
---

It is the meta data that appears under the article headline.


I happen to think it is clear which is the Nestlé site and which is not a Nestlé site. The whole point of the site is to provide objective, independent information to people who want to know if Nestlé's words are reflected in its actions.

To further deflate Nestlé's pretence, we are promoting the site with the domain name:
http://www.nestlecritics.org/ rather than the previewed Nestlé's Actions domain name.

We haven't handed the old domain name over to Nestlé however, as we have good reason to be suspicious of what it would put on the site - it has previously hired a secret agent to "pass off" as an activist to gather information on campaigners.

In its press release appearing in the search results above, Nestlé referred to a testing report from The Hong Kong Government's Food and Environmental Health Department. You can find it from a link on the Nestlé Critics site (though curiously there is no link from the press release on the Nestlé company site). There, on the "Unsatisfactory results of testing of Melamine" list, is a Nestlé whole milk. See:
http://www.nestlecritics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=1

The site is providing a valuable service and, thanks to the way search engines work, people are able to find information they may find useful. Information that very clearly is not coming from Nestlé, but from those with concerns about Nestlé practices.

The site is also being promoted around the world. For launch information in Swedish, for example, see:
http://www.vardforbundet.se/templates/VFArticlePage4.aspx?id=23117

Please do link to :
http://www.nestlecritics.org/

Baby Milk Action advertisment

This is our new t-shirt, mug and calendar advertisement. Click on it for a larger version. Contact me if you have a publication where we can run a higher resolution version.