European Parliament rapporteur on Corporate Responsibility launches weekend of action against Nestlé baby food marketing malpractice 17 May 2002 - Cambridge PHOTO OPPORTUNITY Richard Howitt MEP will be launching a weekend of action against Nestlé baby food marketing malpractice in Cambridge on 17 May 2002. On Saturday 18 May 2002 Nestlé boycott supporters will gather outside the Nestlé (UK) Headquarters in Croydon to demonstrate against Nestlé's continued violation of marketing requirements adopted by the World Health Assembly 21 years ago this week (click here for details of Saturday's demonstration). Mr. Howitt MEP has issued the following press release. RICHARD HOWITT MEP LABOUR MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT News release for immediate use 15 May 2002 MEP LAUNCHES BABY MILK CAMPAIGN- Invitation to Photocall Cambridge Labour MEP Richard Howitt takes to the city’s shopping streets later this week (Friday May 17) to launch a protest against multinational giant Nestle’s policies of marketing manufactured baby milk in developing countries. The campaign is being organised by Cambridge based organisation Baby Milk Action and will culminate in a demonstration at Nestle’s UK headquarters in Croydon on Saturday (May 18). Labour MEP Richard Howitt commented; ‘Nestle’s actions are cynical in the extreme. There is clear evidence that they are contributing directly to the ill health and death of children in the developing world, yet they continue to put profits first. ‘They claim to have introduced new policies recently but they still flout World Health Authority codes and children continue to suffer. ‘Next week the European Parliament will agree polices I have drafted that will ensure companies like this are accountable for the social and environmental impacts of their actions. We will also develop a set of standards by which their performance will be measured. ‘I am determined that big businesses should be held to account. I have committed to support the Baby Milk campaign because it demonstrates so well that local communities can challenge the behaviour of multinational giants.’ Ends Note to editors; Richard Howitt MEP will join Baby Milk Action workers, with t shirts and banners, to hand out leaflets to shoppers in St Andrew Street Cambridge (next to Robert Sayle main shop), at 2.30pm on Friday May 17. You are welcome to send a photographer. For more details or directions, please contact Ruth Osborn on 07885 945906 or Richard Howitt directly on 07768 122888.   Baby Milk Action's notes for editors Mr. Howitt MEP is the rapporteur on Corporate Responsibility for the European Parliament Committee on Development and Cooperation. The European Parliament has adopted a Report he authored setting out measures to call European based enterprises to account for their activities anywhere in the world, as measured against international standards for human rights, labour and the environment (click here for the text). These include the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent, relevant Resolutions of the World Health Assembly. Mr. Howitt MEP organised the Public Hearing into Nestlé under the terms of the Report, which took place on 22 November 2000 (see report in Boycott News 29). The Hearing took evidence from the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). IBFAN presented documentary evidence of malpractice, including internal documents provided by former Nestlé employee, Syed Aamar Raza, which implicate senior management in Pakistan in practices including the bribing of doctors. UNICEF presented evidence on the interpretation of the Code and Resolutions and stressed that companies interprete these measures differently to limit the products covered and countries where the measures apply. In the past UNICEF has written to Nestlé pointing out the company's interpretation is incorrect (see Your Questions Answered section). Nestlé refused to attend. It now claims that none of its 230,000 employees was available. According to Mr. Howitt, Nestlé refused to attend after numerous attempts at 'influencing' the programme.