REPORT OF THE SIXTY-NINTH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, 8 -11 July 2014 and 14-18 July 201 Full report here: ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/reports/Reports_2014/Rep14_EXe.pdf Thanks to the IBFAN Codex team for spotting the many useful…
Nestlé entered the mainstream UK formula market in December 2012 when it completed its takeover of the SMA brand. We are now seeing the aggressive marketing practices it uses around the world in the UK, driving down standards for the…
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Baby Milk Action press release 15 July 2014 Baby Milk Action, a campaign group that monitors the baby food industry against United Nations marketing standards, says it has received a letter (dated 9 July 2014) from the Executive Director of…
Baby Milk Action’s readers will be aware of our concerns about the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) – both of which are part funded by the foundation set up by the software giant, Bill Gates. The…
In its latest session, the Human Rights Council appointed Mr. Dainius Puras from Lithuania as the third Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. http://www.kractivist.org/new-special-rapporteur-to-health-appointed-by-the-human-rights-council/ — “The activities…
Baby Milk Action press release 7 July 2014 The Tour de France is visiting Cambridge today and is sponsored by Nestlé Perrier Vittel bottled water, presenting an ideal opportunity for campaign group Baby Milk Action to promote the boycott of…
Please ask health, human rights or development organisations to endorse the statement calling for effective safeguards against conflicts of interest. Large for-profit corporations and their front groups will be attending the Comprehensive Review and Assessment of the Progress achieved in the Prevention and Control…
19 November, 2014 Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Roma, Italy FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Roma, Italy CLICK HERE FOR NEW LETTER MTG 11 Julyfinal3 CLICK HERE for background Papers CLICK here for a letter sent from…
Baby Milk Action press release 2 July 2014 Baby Milk Action has today sent an open letter to the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, George Kell, over the failure of the Global Compact Office to hold Nestlé to account for…
UPDATE: The response to the Memorial described below was not discussed, but was adopted with the undertaking: The Conference accepts the suggestion of the Lancashire District Synod that a further report be brought by JACEI to the 2015 Conference that includes…
Baby Milk Action and IBFAN are supporting the campaign for a new Treaty to hold corporations accountable for their Human Rights abuses. Baby Milk Action’s Policy Director, Patti Rundall, was in Geneva with IBFAN’s Geneva-based group, GIFA, FIAN other NGOs…
UN HRC vote-1 UN HRC vote and HERE Treaty Alliance Fantastic news This morning the Human Rights Council adopted the Ecuador resolution on the Elaboration of an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human…
UPDATE 26 June 2014: Victory at the UN Human Rights Council – the resolution to draft the treaty was passed, despite opposition from the US and EU. The UK has a vote at the Council and voted against. So please…
Baby Milk Action organised a protest on Tuesday (24 June 2014) outside an event where Nestlé was promoting its SMA formula brand to health workers. Nestlé’s event was ostensibly about ‘food hypersensitivity management in infants and pre-school children’, but is part of…
20th June 2014 The EU Health Council adopted some important Conclusions on Nutrition and Physical Activity on Friday. Because of its importance to the economy, the EU seems to have chosen to ‘persuade’ rather than ‘regulate’ the food industry.’ In our view this overlooks…
US infant formula hospital stance ‘confuses’ domestic law and WHO Code: UNICEF, PAHO By Mark Astley+ , 16-Jun-2014 The International Formula Council (IFC) “confuses” US law and the WHO Code when defending the practice of supplying free infant formula samples for hospital discharge bags, the…
General Assembly: Informal interactive hearing with NGOs, civil society organizations, the private sector and academia on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) Round Table 2: “Mobilizing whole of society efforts for NCD prevention and control at…
It’s not a free lunch – it’s a Nestlé marketing strategy Nestlé is actively targeting health workers in the UK having completed its takeover of Pfizer Nutrition/Wyeth and the SMA brand of formula in December 2012. On 24 May 2013…
The Nestlé boycott puts pressure on the world’s largest baby food company to market its products in line with international minimum standards. The boycott focuses on Nestlé’s main brand: Nescafé coffee. Nestlé has today announced a global promotion for Nescafé, giving boycott…
Whistleblowing FSM This is an excellent article, that should be read by all policy makers reprinted from Food Safety Magazine, June/July2014 by Yasmine Motarjemi. It makes an important case for supporting, rather than harassing whistleblowers. Yasmine Motarjemi, Ph.D., holds an M.Sc. degree in food…
Baby Milk Action press release 10 June 2014 Baby Milk Action is today joining colleagues around the world calling on governments to support international efforts to strengthen international law, thereby better protecting people from human rights abuses caused by corporate activities.…
I have just joined the call for a binding international treaty to address corporate human rights abuses! You can do so to here. The United Nations Human Rights Council is meeting at the moment (10 – 27 June) and an international civil…
A major health conference in Scotland was cancelled last week following complaints about it being sponsored by Nestlé. Sunday Herald (1 June 2014) C&IT (2 June 2014) The Building A Healthier, Fairer Scotland conference was planned to take place at Dynamic…
CLICK HERE http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA67/A67_R2-en.pdf Improved decision-making by the governing bodies The Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly, Having considered the report on improved decision-making by the governing bodies, 1 1. DECIDES to introduce webcasting of future public meetings of committees A and B…
24 April 2014 CLICK HERE for background papers Here are the IBFANBFLG comments on EFSA IBFAN and the Baby feeding law Group have submitted comments to EFSA’s public consultation on its draft Scientific Opinion on the essential composition of infant and…
Stop Press 24th May 2014: It’s been a very busy week – one very good result: Following our joint lobby with the People’s Health Movement, Third World Network and others a decision was adopted on Saturday 24th to have further…
For online version Click HERE GENEVA (19 May 2014) -The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, called today for a new global agreement to regulate unhealthy diets. “Unhealthy diets are now a greater threat to…
A video with edited highlights of the press conference launching the global monitoring report Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules (BTR) 2014 will be available in due course. This will include the presentation by Annelies Allain, Director of the IBFAN…
Press release 16 May 2014 Media coverage: Dairyreporter Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2014 will be launched on 16 May 2014 at the Club Suisse de la Presse in Geneva by Annelies Allain, Director of the International Code Documentation Centre (IBFAN…
We hope you like our new website! Older documents, press releases and blog spots from our previous website are still being copied over. The new site was developed after Baby Milk Action’s members and supporters told us how they would like to…
Opening the door to Business lobbying – what’s wrong with the new WHO policy proposals CLICK HERE for TWN article on the outcome CLICK HERE for PDF CLICK HERE for many related stories in Update 46 26th March 2014 …
Period of consultation 29.04.2014 to 15.08.2014 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-491_en.htm?locale=en Press release Brussels, 29 April 2014 EU Corporate Social Responsibility policy: The Commission seeks stakeholders’ views on achievements and future challenges The Commission is seeking stakeholders’ views about the impact of its Corporate…
Two important media articles in Nutraingredients about Danone’s ‘risk of non-compliance’ with the Indian IMS Act: http://www.dairyreporter.com/Manufacturers/Danone-Group-trying-to-whitewash-Nutricia-India-marketing-practices-BMA http://www.dairyreporter.com/Manufacturers/Nutricia-India-at-risk-of-non-compliance-with-IMS-Act-Danone?nocount
I attended the Nestlé shareholder meeting on 10 April 2014 with a colleague from the Geneva Infant Feeding Association (GIFA), a partner in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). We both raised concerns about Nestlé’s marketing of breastmilk substitutes…
CLICK HERE for TWN article on the outcome CLICK HERE for PDF CLICK HERE for many related stories in Update 46 26th March 2014 WHO has published a draft proposal for a Framework and set of policies to address its…
CLICK HERE CLICK HERE for Update 46 story Times of India Rema Nagarajan, TNN | Apr 19, 2014, 10.00AM IST NEW DELHI: The question of conflict of interest among academics who serve on various boards or councils of private corporations…
Danone promotion of its Cow & Gate brand of baby milk in ASDA has been brought to Baby Milk Action’s attention. We are communicating with ASDA about the promotion and the misleading claims being used in it. Curiously, ASDA told…
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The tie-up between Google and Nestlé through the new Android KitKat smartphone operating system is prompting a reaction in the media and amongst campaigners. This reminder of Nestlé malpractice comes in the lead up to International Nestlé-Free Week, taking place…
(Information concerning the use and marketing of follow-up formula) A new statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) released on 17th July, states that follow-up formula is not necessary, is unsuitable as a replacement for breastmilk after 6 months and…
Press release 3 July 2013 The British Methodist Conference (4-11 July) will receive a report from the Church’s Joint Advisory Committee on the Ethics in Investment (JACEI), which has been released to the media. This includes a paragraph on Nestlé, in…
The Independent in the UK has a front-page story on Danone’s marketing of Aptamil formula in Turkey, exposing how it misleads mothers and has misrepresented its relationship with UN bodies. See: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-after-nestl-now-breast-milk-scandal-strikes-aptamil-manufacturer-danone-8679226.html Danone’s campaign encourages mothers to question whether they…
Baby Milk Action has been contacted repeatedly about two events being sponsored by Danone in the UK in coming days: Tommy’s baby race on 30 June, promoting the Cow & Gate formula brand, and a Royal College of Midwives training…
The Guardian is reporting that breastfeeding rates are falling in the UK. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/22/breastfeeding-figures-fall-nhs-cuts I have posted the following comment (which can be used by the media as a quote): Part of the problem is also the massive sums baby…
Oxford English Dictionary definition of idealize: “regard or represent as perfect or better than in reality.” At lunchtime today – 11th June – the European Parliament voted through new regulations that will apply to the marketing of baby foods and…
European Parliament to vote New regulations on baby food marketing The European Parliament will vote today on regulations that will cover legislation on baby foods and formulas in all EU Member States. CLICK HERE for a Background Briefing CLICK HERE…
CLICK Here for IBFAN’s Infant feeding in Obesity poster Pediatr Obes. 2013 Apr 2. doi: 10.1111/j.2047-6310.2013.00155.x. [Epub ahead of print] Socioeconomic status, infant feeding practices and early childhood obesity† Gibbs BG, Forste R. Source Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, Provo,…
Following Nestlé’s entry into the UK and Irish formula markets in December 2012, when it finalised its takeover of Pfizer Nutrition/Wyeth and the SMA brand, we are starting to see more aggressive baby milk marketing practices, both from Nestlé and…
Please sign this petition addressed to the European Union, calling it to accept that access to water is a human right. See: http://www.right2water.eu/ Nestlé Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, has rejected this view in an interview. Under his principles, water is a…
