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Baby Milk Action

Email update : 13 March 2013

New Internationalist blog: More action needed on baby food marketing

Baby Milk Action was invited to write a blog for New Internationalist magazine's website. This has now been posted.

Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking Coordinator, gives a brief introduction to how he joined Baby Milk Action and some of the successes achieved by members and supporters over the years.

The subject is brought bang up to date with a new report just published by Save the Children. The report contains on-the-ground research; it is essential to look at what companies actually do, rather than just at what they say they do.

For example, Nestlé claims to abide by World Health Assembly baby milk marketing requirements, but Save the Children found in Pakistan, for example, that 20 per cent of health professionals surveyed reported gifts from baby-food companies – over half were Nestlé branded.

Read the blog to find out more. If you use Twitter and Facebook there are quick links to share it, so please do pass it on. See:

http://newint.org/blog/2013/03/06/baby-milk-action/

GAIN / Gates sponsored Index whitewashes giant food companies

The Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) has just been launched.

This is sponsored by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the Gates Foundation and has already been slammed by critics as a whitewash.

Companies are scored on their Corporate Social Responsibility reports and other information they produce, rather than by on-the-ground monitoring of their practices.

It is not surprising, therefore, to find the companies that invest in PR come out with the highest scores: Danone, Unilever, Nestle, PepsiCo, and Kraft.

In a nod to the concerns about the approach used - and the fact that others are monitoring what companies actually do - the Index launch statements says:

"even the top performers have significant room for improvement with the highest score being 6.3 on a 10.0 point scale.

"In addition, both Danone and Nestlé have been reported to be in violation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, which affected their scores.

"The ATNI recommends that both companies, along with other breastmilk substitute manufacturers, take immediate action to ensure full compliance with the International Code."

Find out more from our press release:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/pressrelease/
pressrelease12mar13

Also see Baby Milk Action's article Governments should govern, and corporations should follow the rules, published in the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition journal and available via:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/
campaignblog160112

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