Action

This section gives an overview of what has been - and is still being - done in various countries in the West, about the marketing of baby foods, especially on impetus from publication of The Baby Killer in England in 1974.

Information is based mostly on material received from groups themselves. Where this is sparse, it is not necessarily an indication of lack of activity, but lack of information at time of going to press.

It is intended to give a perspective on what kinds of things can be done at different levels, by local and national groups.

Actions taken by the international humanitarian bodies, or national governments, are not included here. However, several governments (e.g. Papua New Guinea and Sweden) have taken steps to curb or ban advertising of commercial infant foods. The World Health Organisation, Food and Agriculture Organisation, the United Nations Protein-calorie Advisory Group, and the International Pediatrics Association have all issued official statements about both the crucial importance of breast feeding and the necessity to curb advertising of substitutes (see Resources section for listings).

AUSTRALIA

Action for World Development
100 Flinders Street
MELBOURNE
Victoria 3000

Two copies of the film available.

CANADA

Development Education Centre
121 A Avenue Road, Toronto,
ONTARIO M5R 2G3
Tel. (416) 964 6560

In November 1975 made a mass mailing throughout Canada on the Nestlé/Third World Action Group case. Film available.

Oxfam Ontario
175 Carlton Street, Toronto
ONTARIO

Undertook a major educational thrust in April 1976, including diffusion of the film, "Bottle Babies".

DENMARK

NOAH
Radhusstrede 14,
1466 COPENHAGEN
Tel. 01/15 60 52

Late 1975 produced a small booklet in Danish, based on "The Baby Killer". Members of the group have also produced a cartoon film in Danish on the issue for use in schools.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

Teldok Films
Schillerstr. 52,
D-78 FREIBURG
Tel . 0761/75 752

Summer 1975 production of the film "Bottle Babies" ("Flaschenkinder") by Peter Krieg of Teldok Films. The film won the Silver Medal in the International Science and Technology Film Festival in Tokyo, February 1976. Many copies of it are now available in Europe, North America and Africa. Film available at:

Landeszentrale für pol.
Bildung, Mannesmannufer 1 a,
D-4000 DUSSELDORF.

or

Evang. Medienzentrale,
Theodor Heuss Str. 23
D-7000 STUTTGART 1.

Arbeitsgruppe für sozialökonomische Probleme,
c/o Georg Biemann Brauweilerstr. 48
D-5000 KOLN 40

Group formed in 1975 during an action and educational campaign in several German towns in support of the United Farm Workers' action in USA. The group got to know about the activities of Nestlé subsidiaries in the USA and used this information to start focusing in on what has become their main concern: project Bottle Babies.

Their main aim is an informational one: to inform the public, various organizations and groups, and the mass media, about the socioeconomic problems involved, and to establish an information exchange with groups in other countries.

Rainer Stiehl
Lorscherstr. 27
D-60380 BAD HOMBURG
Tel. 06172/4 65 16

A new group formed in order to work on the problem of infant foods in the Third World.

HOLLAND

In mid-1975 the Feministies-socialistiese Vrouwenwerkgroep in Amsterdam published their Dutch translation of "The Baby Killer". They printed 1,000 copies which sold out very quickly, and a further 500 copies were printed on request from a group in Ghent (Belgium).

There has been much press coverage of the Nestlé/Third World Working Group case, and on 26 November 1975 the Dutch television network, IKOR/CVK/RKK showed the "Bottle Babies" film on nationwide television. It is now available at the Tropical Institute, Amsterdam.

In the meantime a group has been formed in Rotterdam to continue action on the issue:

DE CLAT
c/o Me. W. Harms
Rusthoflaan 12,
Rotterdam
Tel. 010/120 511

- This group is specifically examining and collecting data on Nestlé activities in Latin America.

NORWAY

"Ammehjelpen"
Boks 15, Holmen,
OSLO 3

"Ammehjelpen" is a non-political, independent organisation founded in 1968 with the aim of giving information about breast feeding in Norway. It has a centre for exchange of information. Membership is increasing, and there are about 250 "assisting mothers" (women who have passed a minor examination to assist mothers needing practical advice on how to breast feed) all over the country.

"Mot Sult" Kampanjen
Pilestredet 57, OSLO 1
Tel. 60 68 71

This is the Norwegian section of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

These two groups are joining forces to monitor the activities of industry in Norway and to diffuse information on breast feeding and on the "bottle babies" issue. They write:

National Actions:

  • In 1974 the Norwegian Social Department appointed a committee with the purpose of presenting a recommendation on conditions and consequences of breast feeding in Norway;
  • A book has been written on this subject for women wanting to breast feed. This has been translated into Danish and Swedish. A brochure, "How to breast feed your child", has also been published and distributed. Translations have been made of this brochure into Lappish, Danish, English and French.

International Actions:

  • Publicity: a group of people, many of whom are taking active part in the work of "Ammehjelpen", have taken action to have this matter elucidated on various occasions in the mass media in Norway. Several newspaper articles have been written. Radio programmes have been made, and lectures given by the above groups;
  • Norwegian mass media have also been informed about the present court case brought by Nestlé against the Third World Working Group;
  • Pressure: the Norwegian delegation to the FAO 17th General Assembly, 1973, raised the matter of the Third World women and powdered baby milks. The statement of Mr. Thorstein Treholt, Minister of Agriculture, Norway, expressed concern at the loss of natural protein resource and subsequent deterioration in hygiene and health by use of artificial substitutes;
  • The issue was raised again at the World Food Conference in 1974 by the Norwegian Delegation, which called upon the conference to review the harmful and increasing tendency in developing countries to use artificial baby foods, and proposed a resolution for human milk to be protected as a natural resource for every country.

The above two organisations report "a pleasant increase in breast feeding frequency in Norway".

SWITZERLAND

Arbeitsgruppe Dritte Welt
(Third World Action Group)
Postfach 1007, 3001 BERN
Tel. (031) 23 20 18 or (031) 24 58 79

In 1968 a group of students in Bern started a campaign at Christmas called "Denken statt Schenken" (think rather than buy presents) to draw attention to the huge discrepancy between Swiss affluence and the poverty in much of the rest of the world.

In 1970 this same group became the "Angola Group" when it waged a massive campaign against the building of the Cabora Bassa dam, and especially the involvement of the Swiss company Brown-Boveri. The group then became the "Arbeitsgruppe Dritte Welt", and began to mushroom with the continuation of the Christmas campaign in other parts of Switzerland - Basel, Fribourg, Zug, Zürich. In 1973, although functioning independently, these groups formed themselves into a network - SAFEP (Schweizerische Arbeitsgruppen für Entwicklungspolitik - Swiss Action Groups for International Development).

For the past 7 years the Arbeitsgruppe has been engaged in continuous study and action on Swiss involvement in Third World Countries (Chile, South Africa, Portuguese Africa) and such issues as development assistance law, arms sales and Unctad 3. They had already been studying multinational companies in Switzerland for a year when the Baby Killer first appeared in print.

Action Group versus Economic Imperialism - a case without precedent

In 1974 the Third World Working Group in Bern translated the English publication "The Baby Killer" into German and published it with the title "NESTLE TOETET BABYS" (Nestlé Kills Babies).

The title, the introduction and the summary of the English study were changed, and replaced by a Swiss version. A short chapter on baby nutrition in England was left out.

In Zug (Switzerland) a text-poster that summarized the accusation against Nestlé was published. Then two members of the Third World Group in Zug wrote an open letter to Nestlé which found repercussions in Swiss and Austrian newspapers.

Many newspapers in Switzerland and the Swiss television reported on the paper and made summaries.

In July 1974 Nestlé Alimentana AG, Cham and Vevey, Switzerland, submitted several libel suits claiming damage to their reputation. The criminal charge submitted in Bern contains the following points (summarised):

Nestlé claimed it had been defamed because "the whole report charges Nestlé with using incorrect sales promotion in the Third World and of pulling mothers away from breast feeding their babies and turning them to its own products".

Nestlé mentions above all the following passages as defamatory:

  1. The title "Nestlé Kills Babies"
  2. The charge that the practices of Nestlé and other companies are unethical and immoral (written in the introduction and in the report itself)
  3. The accusation of being responsible for the death or the permanent physical and mental damage of thousands of babies by its sales promotion policy (in the introduction)
  4. The accusation that in developing countries the sales representatives for the baby foods are dressed like nurses to give the sales promotion a scientific appearance.

The legal action, pending for over a year, finally began on 26 and 27 November 1975 in Bern. The plaintiff was Nestlé Alimentana AG, Cham and Vevey (counsel: Hans Peter Walter, Bern); the defendants, 13 members of the Third World Action Group, Bern, and of the responsible association for KONZEPT, (counsel: Gerhard Lehmann, Bern, and Moritz Leuenberger, Zürich). The judge was Chief Presiding Judge Sollberger, Richteramt VIII, Bern.

The case ended after a three-day session, on 24th June 1976, after Nestlé had withdrawn all but the first of its charges, the one concerning the title. The judge found the defendants guilty on this charge, fining each member of the group 300 Swiss francs. However, he emphasized that this was by no means to be taken as an acquittal of Nestlé. If the company wanted to avoid the risk in future of being accused of unethical and immoral advertising, it must thoroughly reconsider its promotion practices. The verdict rested solely on the wording of the title of the publication and not on the accuracy of the accusations against the Swiss company. In addition, the judge pronounced that the legal costs of the trial were to be divided into three. Nestlé, the Third World Action Group and the State each paying one third. (For a detailed description of the whole case, readers who understand German should see Export-interessen gegen Muttermilch, by the Third World Action Group, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, November 1976).

UNITED KINGDOM

Baby Foods Action Group (BFAG),
c/o War on Want,
467 Caledonian Road,
LONDON N7 9BE.
Tel: 01/609 0211

Film available from War on Want (above) and Concord Film Distribution, Nacton, IPSWICH.

After a visit to the UK by members of the Third World Action Group, a meeting was convened of people working in the development agencies to discuss the implications of the trial and the need for a campaign in Britain. It resulted in the forming of the BFAG - a loosely - structured group in which people working with development and church agencies participate.

The aims of the group were:

  • To encourage restrictions on the inappropriate commercial promotion and distribution of artificial baby milks in the Third World and the West;
  • To show how the harmful trend away from breast feeding to bottle feeding is an example of what happens when societies are based on production for profit rather than for use.

Most members of the group felt that the focus of attention should be the link between the problem in the Third World and the parallel situation in Britain.

Chronology of Action in the UK

1973:  - Publication of two articles in the New Internationalist, "Action now on baby foods" (August) and "Milk and murder" (October) 
1974: -

Publication and (3 months later) reprint of The Baby Killer by Mike Muller, published by War on Want. An investigation describing the problems of processed baby food in developing countries, based on more than 40 scientific works;
  -

Statement by the Rt. Hon. Judith Hart, Minister of Overseas Development, about the harmful effects of widespread promotion of bottle feeding to an unsophisticated community;
  - Formation of the BFAG;
  - Publication of a government report entitled "Present Day Practice in Infant Feeding";
1975: - 2nd edition of The Baby Killer with appendix (May);
  - December 1st: 30 minute documentary on the issue, with a focus on the Nestlé trial shown on BBC television, in the programme "Panorama".

 

BFAG Action - the group writes:

International

  • Publicity: on the specific issues raised by The Baby Killer and the Swiss trial, the group has regularly contacted the press, radio and television.
  • Research/information gathering: in 1974 BFAG and the Third World Action Group sent Mike Muller to West Africa to collect further information on the problem for use in Switzerland and the UK.

National

  • Medical profession: within Britain the group has made many contacts with interested organisations in the medical and development fields. A medical subgroup was established to involve doctors, nutritionists, midwives, etc. One product of this has been the distribution of information together with a questionnaire on milk company activities to pediatricians in many developing countries;
  • Meetings: the group has held meetings with local development groups, women's and students' organisations. The completion of the film "Bottle Babies" has helped considerably in this.

UNITED STATES

Eco-Justice Task Force, 

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR),
475 Riverside Drive,
New York, NY 10027
Tel. (212) 870-2295
(Coordinator: Leah Margulies)

Film available.

An ecumenical agency that helps twenty-three protestant denominations and more than fifty Roman Catholic orders to challenge corporations to accept social responsibility for their policies. One of their concerns has been the practices of corporations of marketing and aggressively promoting infant formulas as a substitute for mother's milk.

Leah Margulies writes:

Work was pioneered by the Consumers Union, whose staff devoted a chapter of Hungry for Profits, a forthcoming book, to infant malnutrition. The work was previewed as "Formula for Malnutrition" in The Corporate Examiner, the publication of the ICCR (April 1975).

International Action

Leah Margulies brought up the issue at the International Women's Year Tribune in Mexico, June 1975, where it was discussed with women from many different countries.

In October 1975 the ICCR sent a request with questionnaires to over 1000 overseas church-related personnel, to investigate the impact of formula sales in their locale and to document, if possible, the role of companies, clinics, hospitals, health care professionals and governmental policies in promoting either bottle or breast feeding.

National Action

One of the major parts of the campaign to end Third World Market exploitation by producers of infant formula include stockholder disclosure resolutions sponsored by church groups, submitted to American companies which, with Nestlé, dominate the market.

A stockholder's resolution is a formal proposal that seeks information, action or adoption of a particular policy. A shareholder submits the resolution for publication in the corporation's proxy statement (like an annual general report), and stockholders then vote for or against the resolution. In general, resolutions deal with some aspect of corporate responsibility. These were filed with the three largest companies, Abbott, American Home Products and Bristol-Myers, asking specific information regarding sales and marketing operations, promotional practices, and the companies' efforts to educate the consumer about the benefits of breast feeding and the requirements for safe bottle feeding.

Both American Home Products and Abbott published a statement of concern in 1975, but action is still being undertaken to get them to publish more detailed information.

Bristol-Myers, on the other hand, were very reluctant to cede under pressure, but finally published a report entitled "The infant formula marketing practices of the Bristol-Myers Company in countries outside the United States". This caused an enormous storm, and allegedly contains false information.

As a result, in the early part of 1976, the Sisters of the Precious Blood - a Catholic congregation - filed a lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit states that Bristol-Myers - whose subsidiary Mead Johnson markets baby foods worldwide - has misled shareholders about their sales promotion practices in developing countries. This action is being coordinated by ICCR.

At the end of September 1976 ICCR submitted their brief to Bristol-Myers' lawyers. It i s 80 pages long with over 1,000 pages of supporting materials including affidavits (signed legal documents) from all over the world, giving evidence that Bristol-Myers have lied about their sales and marketing practices.

The case continues.

Congressional Resolution: as a result of widespread publicity on the issue in the US, several members of Congress have submitted a resolution to the House of Representatives to study the promotion and misuse abroad of infant formula as a substitute for mother's milk. It calls on the Agency for International Development "to devise and carry out in partnership with developing nations a multifaceted strategy designed to promote breast feeding". It also requests the President to undertake a comprehensive study of the nature, extent, and effect of infant formula use in developing nations.