Email update : 25 March 2011

This alert has four action ideas. Things you can do to defend mothers, babies and families in the UK and internationally.

• Defend infant feeding support and National Breastfeeding Week from UK Government cuts
• Defend the right of parents and carers to accurate information on formula labels in the European Union
• Expose Nestlé malpractice at the London Marathon
• 'Good Grief, Nestlé' - upload your jingle

Defend infant feeding support and National Breastfeeding Week from UK Government cuts

Send a message to the Secretary of State for Health asking for a re-think over scrapping support for infant feeding at the Department of Health - click here.

National and regional infant feeding coordinator posts are being scrapped. The coordinators do extremely important work supporting mothers, whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding.

Support from the Department of Health for National Breastfeeding Week is also being scrapped in Government cuts.

Research from the Government's own National Institute for Clinical Excellence has calculated that millions of pounds of taxpayers' money that can be saved by even modest increases in breastfeeding rates due to reduced illness. Initiatives such as the Department of Health guide to bottle feeding (which has just been updated) also helps to reduce illness amongst babies who are fed with formula by explaining how to mix it up correctly.

Send a message to Mr. Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, by going to:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/cem/cemmar11

Defend the right of parents and carers to accurate information on formula labels in the European Union

Thanks to your help, Baby Milk Action and our partners won an important victory at the European Parliament this month. The Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety voted to block authorisation of a DHA health claim.

The full Parliament will vote on the Committee's Resolution at the beginning of April. It is very important to contact your representatives in the Parliament to ask them to vote in favour of the Resolution.

The Resolution will help to stop formula companies making claims that formula with DHA aids the eye development of babies. This is misleading as the evidence of benefit from adding DHA to formula is not proven and there are safety concerns. If an ingredient is safe and beneficial, we believe it should be in all formulas, not used for marketing purposes.

We believe parents and carers have the right to accurate information on formula labels and claims designed to improve sales should not be allowed.

See our multilingual campaign page:
http://archive.babymilkaction.org/eucampaign/

Please share the page with friends across Europe. There are twitter and Facebook buttons to make this easier.

Expose Nestlé malpractice at the London Marathon

The London Marathon takes place on Sunday 17 April.

Nestlé has a monopoly on providing water to runners, meaning boycott supporters who are running - perhaps for charities - will have to break their personal boycott for the day or they will put their health at risk.

The organisers are refusing to share information about their deal with Nestlé despite the advice in Charity Commission Guidance.

We don't want to put people off raising money for good causes on the day, but wherever Nestlé appears, we can us this to expose its baby food marketing malpractice.

If you are running or know someone who is, contact Baby Milk Action. If you are going to watch, we have leaflets for handing out to spectators.

You can also contact the organisers asking them to reveal their sponsorship policy - and to change it so that unethical partners are not allowed in future.

See the article in our newsletter - click here.

You can also join the campaign on Facebook -
We want Nestlé out of the London Marathon.

'Good Grief, Nestlé' - upload your jingle

The annual demonstrations at Nestlé sites will take place from 11:00 to 12:00 on Saturday 21 May 2011.

Join us at Nestlé (UK) HQ in Croydon, or organise something outside your local Nestlé factory or a store that sells Nestlé products

This year's theme: Good Grief, Nestlé - the Musical

Well, at least the recording of the jingle!

Join us in Croydon to hand out leaflets - and if you wish come with a 'Good Grief, Nestlé' jingle to sing/play.

Nestlé's slogan is 'Good Food, Good Life'. We're looking for boycotters singing/playing, 'Good Grief, Nestlé' and/or 'Nestlé, Good Grief' in as catchy a way as possible. You are also welcome to come with other jingle ideas.

We will film these for a video clip of the day.

Alternatively, record a clip from your own demonstration, other suitable location (such as in front of a Nestlé advertisement) or on your webcam. Upload this to youtube or other sharing site as soon as you are ready. Send us the link and we'll make a montage of the clips and may adopt the best jingle for use in the campaign.

Click here for further details and to request support for a local demonstration.

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