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…
Press release 25 April 2013 Media coverage: Irish Independent 2 May Danone has branded its sponsorship of Barnardos Ireland’s Big Toddle event running in 2013 with its Cow & Gate formula logo (left, image from the event Facebook page). At…
A new monitoring report commissioned by UNICEF Lao has just become available and looks at marketing from November 2011 to January 2012. The monitoring found sales representatives, principally from Nestlé and Danone, targeting health workers, shop keepers and parents. The…
Baby Milk Action press release 11 April 2013 Nestlé’s 146th shareholder meeting was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 11 April 2013 and, in addition to complaining that “The political and regulatory environment for publicly listed companies is becoming more difficult…
Baby Milk Action press release 9 April 2013 Campaigners are pointing to new aggressive baby milk marketing practices in the UK as a sign of increased competition with Nestlé entering the UK market, where Danone is currently the largest company.…
PRESS RELEASE Gran Hotel, Mexico City 9th April 2013 Marcelo Melchior, President of Nestlé Mexico, and Rosario Robles, Secretary of Social Development signing the partnership deal, Mi Dulce Negocio Nestle (My Sweet Business) as part of Mexico’s Crusade Against Hunger. CLICK HERE for PDF…
Press release 17 February 2013 (click here to download as pdf) Click here for Save the Children’s press release, report and petition campaign Media coverage: Guardian (15 February), PDF 18 February: Daily Mail – Guardian – Daily Telegraph – Daily Mirror JPEG, Guardian (19…
Press release issued by ATTAC Switzerland, 26 January 2013 (English translation provided by ATTAC Switzerland – click here for German version) [Media coverage: Le Courrier 26 January – Background from Baby Milk Action] ATTAC Switzerland has taken notice with great satisfaction…
Baby Milk Action press release 3 December 2012 Campaigners in the Philippines are exposing a threat levelled at the economy by Nestlé and other transnational companies if baby milk marketing regulations successfully defended in 2007 are not scrapped. Nestlé and…
Press release 28 November 2012 Pfizer/Wyeth has another ruling against it today from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) following a complaint brought by Baby Milk Action, this time against an email campaign for its SMA brand of formula. The email headed…
I have been attending an EU Food Law meeting this week on The Revision of the PARNUTs Directive – it was attended by all the major companies. See Nutraingredient article: MEPs back the proposals Presentations from the EU Food Law Meeting Charitini…
Media coverage: Irish Times 16 November 2012, The Sunday Business Post 16 November. Baby Milk Action has been asked to support a campaign in Ireland against baby food companies sponsoring awards to health workers. The event’s main sponsor is Pfizer/Wyeth,…
Press release 25 October 2012 The industry-funded UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is holding an event today to celebrate its 50 years of ensuring advertising is “legal, decent, honest and truthful”. Baby Milk Action is launching a new report on its…
Press release 19 September 2012 Media coverage: Dairy reporter In a national billboard, print and online advertising campaign in March 2012, Wyeth (part of Pfizer, in the process of being purchased by Nestlé) promoted its formula in a series of…
Wyeth is embarking on yet another national advertising campaign for its SMA formula. This must be costing millions of pounds – a bill ultimately paid by those who buy formula. The subvert below made me think about how much mark…
Press release 22 June 2012 Wyeth has cancelled its much promoted SMA Baby Know How roadshow after shopping centres pulled out of the event. Members of the public sent messages of protest to the shopping centres in support of a…
Press release 15 June 2012 The vote on the European Parliament’s Report on the Commission proposal for a Regulation on Food for infants & young children and for special medical purposes took place on 14 June in Strasbourg http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sed/speeches.do http://www.babymilkaction.org/archives/750 European…
CLICK HERE FOR THE ONE PAGE BRIEFING CLICK HERE FOR MY BLOG BEFORE AND AFTER THE ENVI COMMITTEE MEETING CLICK HERE FOR THE POINT BY POINT IBFAN BRIEFING Click here for the recording of the debate that just happened. http://www.nutraingredients.com/content/view/print/646768 One time chance…
Press release 3 June 2012 President Benigno S. Aquino III of the Philippines, who will shortly arrive in the UK, has been sent a message by Baby Milk Action and members of the public from around the world calling on…
Wyeth manufactures the SMA range of formulas. It was planning a series of SMA Baby Know-How events in the UK, to start on 14 June 2012. These break marketing rules. Update 22 June 2012: None of the events went ahead…
Mr. Chairman, Directors, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Mike Brady from the campaigning group Baby Milk Action and GIFA. I would like to speak about the marketing of breastmilk substitutes and other baby foods. As part of the International Baby…
Press release 19 April 2012 Media coverage: Dairy Reporter 20 April 2012 At the company shareholder meeting in Lausanne on 19 April, Nestlé Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, rejected proposals from Baby Milk Action that could ultimately bring to an end the…
Nestlé has quietly weakened its Policy and Instructions for Implementation of the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. The table in Update 44, April 2012. shows the change and the various ways in which Nestlé’s policy and instructions fail to respect the…
Thank you to everyone who supported our efforts to change the way that EU legislation is made – making it more transparent, accountable and protective of child health. MEPs in the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) voted…
Press release 10 February 2012 In the media: Edmonton Journal 10 February – EJ 14 February – EJ 29 February. Baby Milk Action mentions: Vue Weekly 15 February – CBC radio 28 February. Update 29 February: Over 70 organizations from…
The latest edition of SCN News contains an article written by myself and Patti Rundall, our Policy Director, with this title. See page 51 of http://www.unscn.org/files/Publications/SCN_News/SCNNEWS39_10.01_high_def.pdf SCN is the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition. The theme of the journal…
Update 16 May 2014: Danone is now the target of the DanoNO campaign for failing to deliver on its promises. Baby Milk Action will be joining partners in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) in Geneva on 12 May…
27th April, 2011 WHO Global Forum in Moscow. Tackling food-related diseases: voluntary measures or regulation – carrot or stick? Press Release PDF http://www.who.int/nmh/events/moscow_ncds_2011/conference_documents/presentations/en/index.html The World Health Organization’s global forum in Moscow on 27th April, Addressing the challenge of noncommunicable diseases, sparked concern…
Press release 6 April 2011 Media coverage: The Telegraph (11 April 2011), The Independent (6 April), Press Association (6 April). CLICK HERE for DHA briefing Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted today in favour of a Resolution to…
Press release 6 April 2011 Media coverage: The Telegraph (11 April 2011), The Independent (6 April), Press Association (6 April). CLICK HERE for DHA briefing Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted today in favour of a Resolution to block…
Press release 2 April 2011 Nestlé, the UK’s most boycotted company over its marketing of baby milk, is trying to improve its image by sponsoring the London Marathon on Sunday 17 April 2011 with its ‘Pure Life’ bottled water brand,…
DHA briefing for MEPs DHA V13 European Parliamentarians oppose bogus baby food health claim 16 March, 2011 – 15:33 — Patti European Parliamentarians oppose bogus health claim 16th March – Brussels Members of the European Parliament have moved to block a…
Archive piece How media reporting can derail health policy 18 January, 2011 – 19:16 — Patti The debate about the value of the BMJ comment piece rages on, with misleading stories and headlines falsely implying that breastfeeding is a risk…
What happened when Nestlé was reported for violating the UN Global Compact and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises? Abstract The UN Global Compact and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises seek to improve compliance of businesses with human rights…
Greenpeace is reporting that Nestlé has agreed to all of its demands regarding its sourcing of palm oil from suppliers accused of destroying Indonesian rainforest to produce it. Nestlé had earlier resisted calls to change its policies and practices and…
Nestle Annual Shareholder Meeting, Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland Press release: 15th April 2010 As Greenpeace activists cut through the ceiling and absailed into Shareholder Meeting with huge banners and leaflets, Nestlé was held to account for its exploitation of…
Below is my intervention at Nestlé’s Shareholder meeting in April 2010 in Lausanne. I challenged the company about its failure to abide by marketing standards adopted by the World Health Assembly and about it health claims strategy which tells mothers…
UNHCR uses ‘due diligence’ and abandons US$ 5 million deal with Nestlé Press release 23 November 2009 Baby Milk Action, colleagues in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and thousands of health campaigners around the world are sighing with…
Archive Press release European opinion on baby foods influenced by industry funding Press release 23 December 2009 Health advocates predict a decline in breastfeeding if a new opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which is at variance with…
Update 1 August 2013: Apparently stung by criticism of taking a Nestlé paycheck, George Clooney told the Guardian: “Most of the money I make on the [Nespresso] commercials I spend keeping a satellite over the border of North and South Sudan…
People are always wanting to know whether Nestlé and other baby food companies are still misbehaving in the way they push their products. What is going on right now? The article in The Guardian on Tuesday was the journalist’s eye…
EU Platform for Action launched today acknowledges that breastfeeding lowers the risk of obesity 15 March 2005 The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) [i] has accepted an invitation from the European Commission to join the European Platform for Action…
IBFAN PRESS RELEASE 10 May 2002 The recent death of a 5-day old boy from meningitis in Belgium raises important questions about the labelling and promotion of breastmilk substitutes and the adequacy of commercial surveillance systems, issues currently being discussed…
1997 The Nestlé Boycott is the best supported consumer boycott in the UK, according to an independent survey. The Nestlé boycott is at the top of ethical consumers’ boycott lists in the UK, according to a survey in the 50th…
