- Written by Mike Brady
October 26th to November 1st 2009
A week for boycotters to do more and for non-boycotters to do something!
Nestlé is the target of a boycott because it contributes to the unnecessary death and suffering of infants around the world by aggressively marketing baby foods in breach of international marketing standards. Even Nestlé’s Public Affairs Manager acknowledges the boycott has widespread support.
According to the World Health Organisation, 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed. The World Health Assembly has adopted marketing requirements for baby foods to protect breastfeeding and to ensure breastmilk substitutes are used safely if necessary. Nestlé is singled out for boycott action as monitoring shows it to be responsible for more violations of the requirements than any other company. The boycott helps to stop some of the specific cases of malpractice we expose and has forced some changes in policy. But Nestlé continues systematic violations in those countries which have not yet brought in independently monitored and enforced legislation implementing the marketing requirements, which is another part of our strategy for protecting infant health and mothers’ rights.
