wfn.org | English Bishop Says Infant Formula Battle Must Resume

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

28-January-1997 
97047 
 
      English Bishop Says Infant Formula Battle Must Resume 
 
                        by Cedric Pulford 
                  Ecumenical News International 
 
LONDON--A senior Church of England bishop has called on the church to 
resume a boycott of Nestle after a survey found the manufacturer was among 
companies violating an international code of conduct on the promotion of 
substitutes for breast milk.  
 
     Simon Barrington-Ward, Anglican Bishop of Coventry, described the 
promotion of infant formula over breast-feeding as "a glaring example of 
commercial exploitation in Third World countries, where people are 
particularly vulnerable."  
 
     Bishop Barrington-Ward told ENI that women in developed countries were 
also affected by the pressure to switch prematurely from breast to bottle. 
 
     "Christians need to be concerned as critics of society," the bishop 
said. "We must call on our society to reform its ways when commercial 
interests are exploiting it."  
 
     At issue is the compliance of international baby food manufacturers -- 
including Gerber, Wyeth, Milco and Nutritia as well as Nestle -- with the 
international code on breast-milk substitutes, adopted by the World Health 
Organization in 1981 after a lengthy international boycott that included 
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  
 
     From 1991 to 1994 the Church of England's ruling general synod 
approved a church-sponsored boycott of Nestle's best-known product, Nescafe 
instant coffee, because of the controversy over commercial baby food. In 
the face of company denials that it was infringing the WHO code, the 
boycott was suspended to allow for a survey of the issue.  
 
     The result is "Cracking the Code," the survey report released this 
month by an inter-agency group whose supporters include Save the Children, 
Oxfam, Christian Aid and the Church of England's Board for Social 
Responsibility.  
 
     Cracking the Code found extensive -- although not systematic -- 
infringements in the four countries surveyed: Thailand, Poland, South 
Africa and Bangladesh. Thailand emerges as the country with the worst 
problems.  
 
          The survey found that:  
 
      *   Many mothers are receiving negative messages about breast-feeding 
          in information associated with a company or brand name. This 
          applied to 10.8 percent of pregnant women in the Thai sample and 
          to 35.6 percent of mothers with children of six months or under 
          (nursing mothers) in Poland 
     *    Free samples of baby food products are being sent to many mothers 
          and health care centers. This applied to 26.2 percent of nursing 
          mothers in Thailand and to 7.5 percent of health centers in 
          Bangladesh 
     *    Many mothers attending health centers are being directly 
          approached by company representatives. This applied at 17.4 
          percent of health centers in South Africa and at 45 percent in 
          Thailand. 
 
     The WHO and UNICEF (the United Nations' children's agency) recommend 
exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months and continued 
breast-feeding for about two years. Many health experts are concerned about 
women in developing countries who are persuaded to wean their babies too 
early and then find they cannot afford enough commercial baby formula. They 
may also have to make up the formula with polluted water.  
 
     UNICEF said of the research findings: "We wish that the study 
demonstrated progress.  Unhappily, it documents the opposite: it sets out a 
pattern of repeated violations of the International Code of Marketing of 
Breast-milk Substitutes [the WHO code]." 
 
     Both Nestle and the infant food manufacturers' association, IFM, 
insisted they supported the WHO code. IFM secretary general, Andree 
Bronner, said the survey report would "do nothing to end the 25-year-old 
controversy surrounding the code".  
 
     Nestle accused the researchers of producing statistics "based on a 
subjective interpretation of the code", with many claims not backed up by 
the data. Nestle pointed out that according to the research the main source 
of negative information about breast-feeding was "personal" information, 
not company material, while only about 4 percent of women in the survey had 
received free samples from any baby food manufacturer. 
 
     As the statistical arguments continued, Bishop Barrington-Ward said 
extending the boycott to companies other than Nestle was "a good idea in 
theory", but more research was needed on the practicalities.  
 
     The earliest date the possible resumption of the boycott can be 
debated by the Church of England is July 1997 when the general synod next 
meets.  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) agencies have not yet called for a 
resumption of the Nestle boycott, though the situation is being monitored. 

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