The tables below give details of some recent violations. The date when the violation was last reported to Baby Milk Action or confirmed to be current is given. The violation reference is for Baby Milk Action's records. Please quote it if forwarding correspondence to us, if possible.

• Mead Johnson in Russia
• Nestlé threatens "to pull out investment in Zimbabwe"
• Nestlé's empty promise?

Mead Johnson in Russia

Company	Item	Date	Violation Reference
Mead Johnson	Promotion to health professionals	March 1998	comp/98/08

The leaflet shown here is for a range of Mead Johnson products. It was available on the company stall at the Regional Health Care Conference in Murmansk in March 1998 along with a similar poster and a range of stickers and posters with pictures of mothers and infants and the Mead Johnson logo.

A pediatrician in Russia typically earns less than US$150 per month. In this context the fees offered by baby food companies for lectures or conference attendance are very attractive. For example, an eminent Professor from St. Petersburg was sponsored by Mead Johnson to attend the Murmansk conference. He spoke on the benefits of breastfeeding but stressed that poor nutrition in Russia means that mothers have to be sure to eat appropriate food. The first question from the floor asked what food the Professor recommended for breastfeeding mothers. The answer was Mead Johnson's EnfaMama.

EnfaMama is a milk for breastfeeding mothers. Milks for mothers are a recent innovation by the infant feeding industry and are now being promoted in many countries (see Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 1998 our latest global monitoring report, published with our partners in the International Baby Food Action Network - e-mail us for details giving your address). They create the idea that artificial products are necessary for infant feeding and violate the spirit of the International Code by undermining a mothers confidence in her ability to breastfeed.

On the flier, EnfaMama is placed amongst Mead Johnson's infant formulas, creating the impression that infants need artificial milk - either directly or via the mother's body. In reality it is the mother’s body which works the miracle to produce the ideal infant food and EnfaMama is unnecessary. Mothers are certainly better advised to eat nutritious local foods rather than purchasing EnfaMama, which costs about US$4 per tin in Russia (the minimum wage is US$14 per month)

In 1996 the World Health Assembly adopted Resolution 49.15 calling for care that funding in relation to infant feeding does not create conflicts of interest.

Write to Mead Johnson requesting that it:

• stops promoting formula for mothers.
• stops distributing posters and calendars bearing brand names or logos to health professionals and limits itself to providing scientific and factual information, in accordance with Article 7.2.
• abides by Article 7.3 of the International Code and WHA Resolution 49.15 and does not offer financial inducements to health workers to promote its products.

Violation	Complain to
Mead Johnson promote products to health workers and offer gifts and inducements to health workers in Russia	Mr. Peter R. Dolan, President, Mead Johnson Nutritional Group, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, 2400 W. Lloyd Expressway, Evansville, Indiana 47721

Nestlé threatens "to pull out investment in Zimbabwe"

Company	Item	Date	Violation Reference
Nestlé	Attempt to undermine implementation of the International Code and Resolutions in Zimbabwe	March 1998	comp/98/09

Last year the International Advertising Association launched an advertising campaign on the CNN International satellite TV news channel attacking the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the Resolutions it has introduced to protect infant health. The Director General of the International Advertising Association, Norman Vale, is quoted in Advertising Age (24th November 1997) as saying, "What is at stake here is the freedom of commercial speech."

The WHA calls on governments to implement the International Code and subsequent, relevant Resolutions. The Advertising Age report cites Zimbabwe, Puerto Rico, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka as countries in the process of adopting strong measures. Nestlé has taken a lead in attempting to undermine these measures by putting pressure on the governments directly. We have exposed several instances recently in the Campaign for ethical marketing.

In March 1998 the press in Zimbabwe reported that the introduction of the law there had been postponed following pressure from the infant food industry. According to the press, Nestlé threatened to disinvest from Zimbabwe if the law was passed. In the Charter setting out its policy on infant formula marketing Nestlé claims to support implementation of the International Code in government measures.

Write to Nestlé asking it to confirm whether it threatened to disinvest as news reports suggest and request that it does nothing to undermine implementation of the International Code and Resolutions in Zimbabwe .

Violation	Complain to
Attempt to undermine implementation of the International Codeand Resolutions	Mr. Peter Brabeck, CEO Nestlé, 55, av. Nestlé, 1800 Vevey, Switzerland. Fax: 41 21 922 6334

Nestlé's empty promise?

Company	Item	Date	Violation Reference
Nestlé	Nestlé advertisement for Valvert bottled water in Russia	April 1998	comp/98/10

On the October 1997 Campaign for ethical marketing action sheet we revealed how Nestlé was using advertisements for Valvert bottled water to promote artificial infant feeding in Russia. Several letter writers received a positive response from Nestlé which said, In view of our policy of support for breastfeeding [sic] we have decided that in future we will not make references to bottles and formula in materials produced. It was with some surprise, therefore, that we note that exactly the same advertisement which was pictured on the October sheet appeared in the April 1998 Russian edition of Parenting magazine.

Write to Nestlé asking it to abide by its promise to stop promoting artificial infant feeding in advertisements for Valvert bottled water in Russia.

Violation	Complain to
Promotion of a product covered by the International Code to the general public	Mr. Peter Brabeck, CEO Nestlé, 55, av. Nestlé, 1800 Vevey, Switzerland. Fax: 41 21 922 6334

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