Nestlé
- with you every day.
Abbott-Ross
prescription pad.
Wyeth
bedsheets donated to a hospital in Taiwan.
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While companies
may not explicitly ask health workers to promote their
products, the sense of goodwill generated by gifts and
tokens provided by the companies can often persuade health
workers to subconsciously favour one company's products
over those of another. Many of the gifts offered to health
workers are displayed on desks, etc and thus become direct
promotion to mothers visiting the hospital or clinic.
Financial and
other forms of material support are often given to individuals
and professional associations. Although sponsorship is
allowed under the Code, the line between genuine assistance
and inducement is not easily discernible and conflicts
of interest do occur. A 1996 WHA Resolution warns about
such conflicts, which may interfere with professional
support for breastfeeding.
According to
the findings of the 2000 monitoring, financial support
now goes more frequently to meetings and professional
associations rather than to individuals. Wyeth provided
fellowships and awards to nurses for attending a congress
in Mexico, it sponsored a perinatal society meeting in
the UAE and funded lunch boxes for a meeting in Taiwan.
Abbott-Ross provided file covers for a symposium. Gerber
sponsored educational sessions while Mead Johnson supported
the message centre and district breakfast meetings at
the 2000 annual conference of the American Academy of
Pediatrics. Mead Johnson also provided two awards of US$
10,000 each for research in paediatrics plus expenses
to the conference. Heinz Plasmon sponsored meetings, conferences
and training sessions in Italy. Nestlé sponsored
several seminars in Cambodia.
Doctors
in private clinics get lots of samples; they get passed
on to mothers.
Sometimes
there's an invoice but no payment required.
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Company
reps are in and out of doctors' offices several
times a week. During their short visits they share
scientific findings but as a punch line, they always
recommend a particular brand and leave booklets,
gifts or product samples which get passed on to
mothers. Mead Johnson, Nutricia, Hipp, Milupa, Abbott-Ross,
Wyeth, Danone, Morinaga, Meiji and Dumex are all
guilty of this practice.
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