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News

• Breastfeeding briefs
  • N° 38 - Editorial: Breastfeeding, Childhood Obesity and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases
  • N° 37 - Editorial: Conflicts of interest
  • N° 35 - Editorial: The Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding
  • N° 34 - Editorial: HIV, infant feeding, and maternal and child health
  • N° 33 - Editorial: The International Code in relation to agreements of the World Trade Organisation: health versus trade interests
  • N° 31-32 - Editorial: The optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding
  • N° 30 - Editorial: Dealing with fears of chemical pollution of breastmilk
  • N°29 - Editorial: Maternity Protection for Working Women
  • N° 27-28 - Editorial: Adequate Food is a Human Right
• Briefing papers
  • ICDC briefing on outrageous health claims 2005 (pdf file)
  • IBFAN report: Child Rights and Health. NGOs Making a Difference. Analysis of the CRC Committee's Conclusing Observations (1993 - 2003) (pdf)
  • Building on Quicksand? The Global Compact, democratic governance and Nestlé
  • Checks and Balances in the Global Economy - Using International Tools to Stop Corporate Malpractice - Does it Work?
  • ‘We the Peoples’ or ‘We the Corporations’? Critical reflections on UN-business ‘partnerships’
  • Maternity Protection at the Workplace - Ratifying ILO Convention 183
  • The Proposed ILO Maternity Protection Convention 2000
  • Breastfeeding: Everyone Benefits - How supporting a working mother's right to breastfed benefits everyone
  • Guidelines for dealing with companies
  • Nestlé and the International Code: Where do they differ? A dozen ways in which Nestlé misinterprets the International Code. An analysis by the International Code Documentation Centre (pdf updated April 2005).
  • Nestlé's public relations machine exposed. Nestlé spends a fortune trying to divert criticism of its baby food marketing, but does it tell the truth? (pdf April 2005).
  • Don't Judge a Book by its Cover - The truth behind Nestlé's book: Nestlé implementation of the WHO Code - Official Responses of Governments.
  • Does Nestlé's Monitoring Report Comply with The International Code? A Legal Evaluation of The Nestlé Report Nestlé Implementation of the WHO Code.
• Press Releases
  • 25 May 2005: Outcome of the 58th World Health Assembly, Geneva 16-25 May 2005 - Babies need no longer wait.
  • 18 May 2005: Babies cannot wait - WHA delegates urged to support parents' rights to full information on possible contamination of powdered formulas for infants.
  • 13 January 2005: Responses to the tsunami disaster and infant feeding - do not send baby milk, support appropriate local responses.
  • 22 May 2004: IBFAN at the 57th World Health Assembly, 17-22 May 2004 - Overview
  • 21 May 2004: IBFAN interventions on infant feeding at the World Health Assembly, Geneva.
  • 13 May 2004: Baby food companies exposed as IBFAN presents evidence at UK Parliament.
  • 22 January 2004: IBFAN interventions on infant feeding and on WHO relations with other organisations at the WHO Executive Board meeting, Geneva.
  • 22 January 2004: NGOs decry industry-drive policy making - Food Industry Attempts to Derail WHO Initiative on Healthy Diets Rebuffed.
  • 21 January 2004: IBFAN interventions at WHO Executive Board discussion on obesity
  • 21 January 2004: Strategies used by industry to undermine WHO marketing requirements exposed in new IBFAN report.
  • 21 January 2004: IBFAN letter to the President of Brazil protesting about Nestlé's involvement in the 'Zero Hunger' Programme
  • 28 October 2003: Briefing paper launch - Building on Quicksand? The Global Compact, democratic governance and Nestlé.
  • 31 July 2003: Wyeth/SMA convicted of illegal infant formula advertising in the UK. "A cynical and deliberate breach of the Regulations” says Judge.
  • 10 July 2003 - IBFAN Letter to the UN Global Compact and the UN Global Compact's response.
  • 30 October 2002 - United Nations Inc.? Nations Unies et Cie.?
    Nestlé enters the UN Global Compact
  • 21 May 2002 - 55th World Health Assembly - Infant feeding issues
  • 10 May 2002 - How safe are infant formulas? The death of a one-week old formula-fed baby in Belgium
  • 17 January 2002 - IBFAN/CI statement to the World Health Organisation Executive Board on the draft Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding
  • 13 July 2001 - IBFAN's monitoring used by compilers of FTSE ethical investment index
  • 18 May 2001 - Science defeats baby food industry vested interests at the World Health Assembly.
  • 15 May 2001 - Multinational baby food companies Nestlé, Milupa, Abbott-Ross, Mead-Johnson and Wyeth are the worst violators of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, says IBFAN.
  • May 2001 - Updates from the World Health Assembly
  • 2 April 2001 - WHO expert consultation on the optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding recommends 6 months
    
  • 22 March 2001 - Baby Milk Action Press Release - Mothers panic following new study on breastfeeding and heart disease
  • 16 January 2001 - WHO Executive Board Meeting updates
  • 23 November 2000 - Baby Milk Action Press Release - Members of the European Parliament shocked as Nestlé snubs Public Hearing on corporate responsibility.
  • 8 September 2000 - Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India Press Release - Nestle involved in misinformation to mothers in India
  • 30 July 2000 - Maternity Protection Convention and Recommendation 2000 - Maternity Protection Coalition Report
  • 5 June 2000 - ILO Conference update - Committee on Maternity Protection
  • 26 May 2000 - WHO suppresses critical debate at the WHO/UNICEF Technical Consultation on Infant and Young Child Feeding
  • 19 May 2000 - World Health Assembly 2000 - Statement by Consumers International and IBFAN
  • 28 January 2000 - WHO Executive Board Meeting in Geneva. Text of today's intervention by Dr. Arun Gupta on behalf of Consumers International/IBFAN

The Issue

• What is IBFAN?
  • What is IBFAN?
  • Coordinating the Network's Activities
  • IBFAN'S Seven Principles
  • How to become an IBFAN group ?
  • Alliances and partnership
• Overview
  • Bottle feeding can kill
  • How does bottle feeding kill babies?
  • Breastfeeding: the best start in life
  • How companies get babies on the bottle
  • The International Code: what companies should not do
  • So what's happening now?
  • The International Code, a minimum requirement
  • The industry pushes for weak controls
  • The role of IBFAN
  • The corporate response to IBFAN
• History of the campaign
  • The International Code
  • The full Code
  • What is the International Code ?
  • Understanding the International Code
  • WHA Resolutions
  • Related international instruments
• How breastfeeding is undermined
  • Promotion using free supplies
  • Inappropriate language
  • Using "humanitarian aid" to create markets
  • Labels which undermine breastfeeding
  • Promotion to mothers and pregnant women
  • Promotion to health professionals
  • Undermining implementation of the International Code
• What scientific research says
  • Benefits to child health
  • Benefits to maternal health

Code Watch

• Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2004
  • Look What They're Doing 2004 - spotlight on the following countries
    • China
    • Egypt
    • Indonesia
    • United Kingdom
    • Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ghana
    • Latin America and Caribbean
• Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2001
• Look What They're Doing 2001 - spotlight on marketing trends
  • Labels
  • Mothers
  • The Internet
  • Hospitals & Clinics
  • The International Code, HIV and Breastfeeding
• State of the Code by Company 2001
• State of the Code by Country 2001
• Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 1998
• IBFAN-ICDC Alerts
  • ICDC Legal Update March 2005: with news on Enterobacter Sakazakii and the countries with 6 month exclusive breastfeeding recommendations (pdf)
  • Nutricia promotion in China planned for March 2004
• Campaign for Ethical Marketing
  • Actions sheets (in English - Baby Milk Action website)

Activities

• Code monitoring
• Codex Alimentarius
  • IBFAN's Codex Working Group
  • IBFAN briefing on health claims for foods - October 2003 (1.6 MB pdf) - for the same briefing without pictures click here (32 kb pdf)
  • IBFAN (INFACT Cananda) Comments on the Proposed Draft Revised Standard for Infant Formula Alinorm 03/26A Appendix II - October 2003 (25 kb pdf)
  • IBFAN Comment on Option A (including infant foods for special medical purposes) - October 2003 (25 kb pdf)
  • IBFAN Report on the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses Berlin, Germany 26-30 November, 2001.
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
  • IBFAN report: Child Rights and Health. NGOs Making a Difference. Analysis of the CRC Committee's Conclusing Observations (1993 - 2003) (pdf)
  • Report on the 35th Session of the CRC - January 2004 (Word Rich Text Format document). Countries reviewed: Armenia (2nd report); Germany (2nd report); Guyana (initial report); India (2nd report); Indonesia (2nd report); Japan (2nd report); The Netherlands and Aruba (2nd report); Papua New Guinea (initial report); Slovenia (2nd report)
    
  • Report on the 34th Session of the CRC - October 2003 (Word Rich Text Format document). Countries reviewed: Bangladesh (2nd report); Brunei Darussalam (initial report); Canada (2nd report); Georgia (2nd report); Madagascar (2nd report); New Zealand (2nd report); Pakistan (2nd report); San Marino (initial report); Singapore (initial report)
    
  • Report on the 32nd Session of the CRC - January/February 2003 (Word Rich Text Format document). Countries reviewed: Czech Republic (2nd report); Estonia (initial report); Haiti (initial report); Iceland (2nd report); Italy (2nd report); Republic of Korea (2nd report); Romania (2nd report); Vietnam (2nd report).
    
  • Report on the 31st Session of the CRC - September/October 2002 (Word Rich Text Format document). Countries reviewed: Argentina (2nd report); Burkina Faso (2nd report); Israel (initial report); Moldova (initial report); Poland (2nd report); Seychelles (initial report); Sudan (2nd report); Ukraine (2nd report); United Kingdom (2nd report).
  • Report on the 30th Session of the CRC - May/June 2002 (Word Rich Text Format document). Countries reviewed: Belarus (2nd report); Belgium (2nd report); Guinea-Bissau (initial report); the Netherlands Antilles (initial report); Niger (initial report); St. Vincent and the Grenadines (initial report); Spain (2nd report); Switzerland (initial report); Tunisia (2nd report);United Arab Emirates (initial report).
• Chemical residues in breastmilk and baby foods
  • Towards Healthy Environments for Children - Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about breastfeeding in a contaminated environment. PDF file (7k kb). Produced by IBFAN and partner organisations.
  • 20 December 2000 - IBFAN Guideline Statement on Breastfeeding and Dioxins
  • Also see Baby Milk Action's archive of articles on contaminants and infant feeding.
• Infant feeding and HIV
  • 7 June 2001: Effect of Breastfeeding on Mortality among HIV-Infected Women - WHO statement
  • April 2001: Saviours or culprits? HIV, infant feeding, and commercial interests Article by Tessa Martyn published in The Health Exchange.
• Infant feeding and trade
  • Infant feeding, trade and the European Union - IBFAN/Baby Milk Action Briefing Paper, October 2001
• Infant feeding in emergency situations
• Maternity protection
• Nestlé Boycott
• Sponsorship and conflict of interest
  • The UN Global Compact - A letter expressing concern, to Kofi Anan, UN Secretary General, from the Alliance for a Corporate-Free UN - 29 January 2002
• Training
  • Contact ICDC
  • Annual training course 20-28 September 2004
  • Past ICDC Courses
  • ICDC monitoring activities
  • Order the ICDC Code Handbook on-line (link to Baby Milk Action's on-line shop - see the publications section)
• World Health Assembly
  • WHA 58 - WHO Executive Board preparatory meeting January 2005
  • Overview
  • WHA 57 - May 2004
  • Agenda Item 12.15 - Infant and Young Child Feeding
  • Agenda Item 12.6 - Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health
  • Agenda Item 12.6 - International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) statement on The Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
  • Agenda Item 12.6 - International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) statement submitted by Professor WPT James, head of delegation, Vice president, IUNS and chairman of the International Obesity TaskForce

Contact

• Request email alerts
• Contact an IBFAN Group
• Contact a Regional Coordinator
• Contact the Webmaster

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IBFAN Groups

• The Regional Coordinating Offices
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PUBLICATIONS and MERCHANDISE

Relevant publications and merchandise may be available from your national IBFAN group. Contact them for details.

Some IBFAN groups have on-line shops where you can make purchases using credit or debit cards. See INFACT (Canada) and Baby Milk Action (UK).