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Nestlé
claims that its founder, Henri Nestlé, invented the world's
first artificial infant food in 1867. By 1873, 500,000 boxes
of Nestlé's Milk Food were sold in Europe, the United
States, Argentina, Mexico and the Dutch East Indies. Markets
expanded and other companies saw an opportunity. In 1998 it
was estimated that annual sales of baby milk were worth US$
8 billion.
1939
Cecily
Williams presents a talk on bottle-baby deaths and condensed
milk to the Singapore Rotary Club. Using the title Milk and Murder
she said that "misguided propaganda on infant feeding should
be punished as the most criminal form of sedition, and that those
deaths should be regarded as murder."
1968
Dr. Derrick
Jelliffe coins the term "commerciogenic malnutrition"
to describe the impact of industry marketing practices on infant
health.
1970
The UN
Protein-Calorie Advisory Group (PAG) raises concern about industry
practices.
1972
International
Organisation of Consumers Unions (IOCU) submits a draft
code of practice on the advertising of infant foods to FAO/WHO Codex
Alimentarius
Commission.
1973
New Internationalist
magazine has cover story on The Baby Food Tragedy which calls
for an action campaign to halt unethical promotion of baby milks.
The UN
PAG states that promotion to mothers in hospital immediately
after birth is inappropriate.
1974
War on Want
publishes The Baby Killer, a report on infant malnutrition and
the promotion of artificial feeding in the Third World.
Bern Third
World Action Group (AgDW) translates The Baby Killer and publishes
it in Switzerland with the title Nestlé tötet Babies
(Nestlé Kills Babies). Nestlé sues AgDW for libel.
1975
First hearing
in the Nestlé libel lawsuit.
International
Council of Infant Food Industries (ICIFI) formed. Cow &
Gate, Dumex, Meiji, Morinaga, Nestlé, Snow Brand, Wakado
and Wyeth join.
1976
The US Sisters
of the Precious Blood file shareholder action against Bristol-Myers
regarding the threat to infant health caused by the company's
promotion of baby milks.
The judgement
in the Nestlé lawsuit finds AgDW guilty of libel for
the title only. AgDW is given a token fine and Nestlé
is warned to change its marketing practices.
1977
Papua New
Guinea bans advertisements for feeding bottles and puts bottles
and teats on prescription.
The Nestlé
boycott is launched in the US by INFACT (Infant Formula
Action Coalition) to protest against Nestlé's unethical
marketing.
Nestlé boycott launched
1978
Nestlé
boycott spreads to Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Bristol-Myers
settles lawsuit with the Sisters of the Precious Blood out of
court and agrees to halt all direct consumer advertising of
baby milks and to end promotion to mothers by the use of company
representatives acting as mothercraft nurses.
US Senate
Hearings held by Senator Edward Kennedy on the inappropriate
marketing of baby milks in developing countries.
Nestlé
issues what is to be the first of many policy statements which
do little to address the genuine concerns of its critics. Nestlé
uses the statements to try and improve its public image.
1979
WHO/UNICEF host an international
meeting on infant and young child feeding. The meeting, which
includes representatives of governments, health organisations,
companies and campaigning groups, calls for the development
of an international code of marketing, as well as action on
other fronts to improve infant and young child feeding practices.
The International
Baby Food Action Network
(IBFAN) is formed by six
of the campaigning groups at the meeting. IBFAN starts to grow
as other groups are recruited or formed.
IBFAN formed
1980
In testimony
at a US Senate Hearing, Nestlé and three US companies
admit that they do not intend to abide by WHO's interpretation
of the recommendations of the 1979 WHO/UNICEF meeting.
The 33rd
World Health Assembly adopts recommendations of the 1979 WHO/UNICEF
meeting and charges these bodies with drafting a code and conducting
widespread consultation (WHA33.32).
Nestlé boycott launched in the UK.
1981
Nestlé
boycott launched in Sweden and West Germany.
Writing
as President of ICIFI, Nestlé Vice President, Ernest
Saunders describes the draft marketing code as unacceptable,
restrictive, irrelevant and unworkable.
IBFAN meets
in Geneva and resolves to campaign for the implementation of
the marketing code and to monitor the industry. Breaking the
Rules reports are published at intervals over the coming years.
The 34th
World Health Assembly (WHA) adopts Resolution WHA34.22 which includes the
International Code of
Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes as a "minimum
requirement" to
be adopted "in its entirety." WHA calls on the WHO
Director General to make a report in even years. 118 nations
vote in favour with only the US voting against.
The
International Code
European
Parliament votes for the preparation of a Directive based on
the International Code.
1982
Peru becomes
the first country to adopt the International Code as national
legislation.
The 35th
World Health Assembly recalls that the International Code is
a "minimum requirement" to be implemented "in
its entirety" and urges Member States to give it renewed
attention.
Resolution
WHA35.26
The European
Commission (EC) begins work on a draft directive looking to
a draft code of practice prepared by IDACE (Association of Dietetic
Food Industries of the EEC) rather than the International Code.
Nestlé
Infant Formula Audit Commission (NIFAC) set up to monitor Nestlé's
marketing practices using Nestlé's guidelines rather
than the Code. Former US Secretary of State, Edmund Muskie,
is chair.
The Nestlé
boycott is launched in France.
1983
European
Parliament again passes a strongly worded resolution in favour
of the International Code.
Nestlé
boycott spreads to Finland and Norway bringing the total to
10 countries. Boycott in North America intensifies.
1984
January
- Nestlé agrees to implement the International Code in
developing countries.
February
- Boycott groups agree to suspend the boycott for six months
to allow Nestlé time to put its promises into practice.
October
- Nestlé boycott is suspended. Monitoring has shown that
Nestlé has stopped some of its more blatant malpractice
and top management undertakes to resolve other concerns including
applying the International Code in Europe and abiding by WHO
policy on free and low-cost supplies.
Nestlé boycott suspended
The Association
of Infant Food Manufacturers (IFM) is formed, replacing ICIFI.
The 37th
World Health Assembly renews its call for implementation of
the International Code, a call which is repeated with every
Resolution relating to the Code. The WHA calls for an emphasis
on using "foods of local origin."
Resolution
WHA37.30
1985
IBFAN publishes
first edition of Protecting Infant Health (a health worker's
guide to the International Code); begins publishing Breastfeeding
Briefs
(a summary of scientific literature on breastfeeding), sets
up the Code Documentation Centre in Penang, Malaysia (ICDC)
and launches workshops on the International Code in Africa.
IBFAN-ICDC
begins code training
The ACP (African,
Caribbean and Pacific) group of countries calls on EEC Member
States to implement the International Code in Europe.
WHO/UNICEF
Committee of Experts calls for an end to free and low-cost supplies
of baby milks.
1986
European
Parliament votes again to include most of the provisions of
the International Code in a draft directive.
The 39th
World Health Assembly adopts a resolution banning free and subsidized
supplies of breastmilk substitutes and states that the use of
"so-called 'follow-up' milks is not necessary."
Resolution
WHA39.28
European
Commission submits directive to the Council of Ministers. When
it comes before Parliament there is a sweeping majority vote
to bring it further in line with the International Code.
1987-1988
IBFAN
monitoring reveals companies flooding health facilities with
free and low-cost supplies and violating other provisions of
the International Code.
1988
ICDC publishes
the first State of the Code by Country report. Seven countries
have
implemented the Code as law.
June
- The US IBFAN group gives Nestlé and Wyeth/AHP (American
Home Products) until
October to end free and low-cost supplies of baby milks or it
will call for consumer action.
UK Government
announces a ban on free and low-cost supplies.
October
- The US IBFAN group launches boycott of Nestlé and AHP
in the US; the German group launches boycott of Nestlé
and publicity campaign against Milupa in Germany. Canada joins
the boycott of Nestlé.
Nestlé boycott resumes
The 41st
World Health Assembly notes with concern "continuing decreasing
breastfeeding trends in many countries."
Resolution
WHA41.11
1989
Nestlé
boycott launched in Ireland, Finland, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway,
Sweden, and UK.
IBFAN holds International Forum in Manila to celebrate 10 years
of IBFAN. Boycott launched against Nestlé, Wyeth, Bristol
Myers and Abbott-Ross in the Philippines.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United
Nations.
Convention on the Rights of the
Child
1990
The 43rd
World Health Assembly notes that, in spite of its 1986 resolution,
"free or low-cost supplies continue to be available to hospitals
and maternities."
Resolution
WHA43.3
Following
the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child, the Innocenti
Declaration, signed by 32 countries, calls on all Governments
to adopt the International Code as a minimum
requirement in its entirety and to adopt imaginative maternity
legislation by 1995. Heads of
state at the World Summit for Children endorse the Innocenti
Declaration.
Innocenti Declaration
Nestlé
boycott launched in France.
1991
Nestlé
boycott launched in Australia and Switzerland.
Although
IBFAN has been able to encourage some improvements, the finalised
EC
Directive
covering the marketing of infant formula and follow-up milks
in the Internal Market is weak.
UNICEF
and WHO launch the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative aimed at transforming
maternal and child health practices. They call on companies
to end free supplies of baby milk to hospitals and maternity
wards worldwide by the end of 1992.
NIFAC commissions
research in Mexico which finds widespread distribution of free
supplies with a consequent detrimental effect on breastfeeding
rates. Nestlé closes NIFAC down with the majority of
complaints registered by IBFAN unanswered.
UNICEF
says
in State of the World's Children that reversing the decline
in breastfeeding could save 1.5 million lives every year.
World Alliance
for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) formed to follow up targets
of the Innocenti
Declaration.
IBFAN lists
9 countries with the International Code implemented as law and
28 with some provisions as law.
1992
The 45th
World Health Assembly calls on Member States to enact legislation
to protect the
breastfeeding rights of working women.
Resolution
WHA45.34
European
Union Export Directive adopted calling on EU-based companies
to remove baby
pictures and use appropriate language on tins.
EU Export Directive
India introduces
the Infant Milk Substitutes (IMS) Act.
Nepal introduces
the whole of the International Code as law.
1993
Lawsuit filed
against Johnson & Johnson in India under the IMS Act after
a complaint by an Indian IBFAN group.
Nestlé
sues other baby food companies in the US for agreeing to a ban
on advertising infant formula.
Nestlé
boycott spreads to Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey bringing
the total number of countries to 18.
1994
Lawsuit filed
against Nestlé in India by an Indian IBFAN group.
The 47th
World Health Assembly adopts a resolution calling for an end
to free and subsidized supplies in all parts of the health care
system; for care in accepting donations for emergency relief
and for complementary feeding to be introduced from about the
6th month. For the first time the US supports a resolution which
reaffirms support for the International Code and subsequent,
relevant resolutions.
Resolution
WHA47.5
IBFAN
publishes Breaking the Rules 1994, a result of monitoring in
62 countries.
1995
Implementation
of the 1991
EC directive
bans advertising in five European countries.
Nestlé
loses court case against companies in the US which had adopted
an advertising ban, but the voluntary agreement has collapsed.
IBFAN hosts
national and international meetings to discuss infant feeding
and emergency
relief.
1996
IBFAN reports
that 16 countries have introduced the International Code as
law.
In India,
Johnson & Johnson settle the action against them out of
court. A second separate action is brought against it and two
other companies by an Indian IBFAN group. J & J announces
it will withdraw from the Indian feeding bottle market.
Nestlé
issues a Writ Petition against the Indian Government challenging
the provisions of the IMS Act under which it is being prosecuted.
The 49th
World Health Assembly adopts a resolution calling for independent
monitoring, free from commercial influence; for measures to
control marketing of complementary foods and for health professionals
to be wary of accepting commercial sponsorship.
Resolution
WHA49.15
The UK IBFAN
group successfully defends claims made in an advertisement promoting
the Nestlé boycott before the advertising regulatory
authority.
The European
Commission publishes a green paper on Commercial Communications
in the Internal Market which has important implications for
national bans on advertising infant formula.
1997
Threatened
with court action, Indian formula manufacturer Wockhardt apologises
and makes changes.
The Interagency
Group on Breastfeeding Monitoring, a coalition of 27 UK church,
academic and development organisations, commissions research
in Bangladesh, Poland, South Africa and Thailand to investigate
whether IBFAN's monitoring is accurate. The resulting report,
entitled Cracking the Code, concludes that
the International Code and Resolutions are being violated by
companies in a "systematic rather than one-off manner."
UNICEF states: "the findings of IBFAN are clearly vindicated
by this report."
1998
IBFAN publishes
its latest monitoring report, Breaking the Rules,
Stretching the Rules 1998, exposing current marketing malpractice.
For the
first time a Resolution is not tabled at the World Health Assembly
in a reporting year. Instead, WHO proposes a series of meetings
looking at "removing obstacles to full
implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk
Substitutes and its
subsequent resolutions by all countries."
IBFAN meets
with WHO to present its evidence of marketing malpractice and
its proposals for removing obstacles to implementation of the
International Code and Resolutions. IBFAN receives the prestigious
Right
Livelihood Award
"for its committed and effective campaigning over nearly
twenty years."
1999
IBFAN
is
twenty years old. It has grown from 6 groups to over 150 in
more than 90 countries.
Twenty
countries have implemented all or nearly all of the provisions
of the International Code and Resolutions. A further 27 have
many provisions in law.
It is
not yet over...
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