sarah from the baby milk action website:

"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."

I personally will try to not buy Danone products either.

I was reading "The Politics of Breastfeeding" last night and it said Danone also flout WHO advertising regulations when it comes to formula milk. Should we be boycotting them too?

nannynick - also email nestle and tell them of your intentions. Then they will be aware.

I've been doing it for years...would have loved one last kitkat ah well!

There is some material in Gabrielle Palmer's book about how the Church of England backed the campaign at one point and then was persuaded that Nestle had cleaned up their act or something, and not to any more. The boycott clearly affects them, but Nestle must still be making more money from unethical practices than it loses from the boycott, sadly.

I think it's useful to boycott what you know about/what you can from Nestle. Unfortunately dp still buys Kitkats and other Nestle branded sweets, and I fear most of our catfood is from one of Nestle's brands which doesn't say Nestle on the packaging.

There was a piece a little while ago from Nestle admitting the boycott hurts them.

Good show, I say.

And brilliant, MN

nannynick even more reason that an influential site like mn that reaches many thousands of parents promotes the boycott. The more people who dont buy some/any Nestle products, the better. Other things you can do are lobby your MP and MEP for change and report advertising breaches to the Advertising Standards Authority.

treedelivery that is a typical example . Other advertising is more subtle but just as damaging ie "when breastfeeding fails, use X".

I explained the boycott to my brother recently, outlining the formula companies' tactics. He said it was no different to arms dealing where the trade results in death. I think the formula companies are worse because the people dying in this instance are the most vulnerable in the world. It's worth fighting that whatever the odds.

Even if you just boycott Nescafe (and maybe try something more ethical like cafe direct instead?) then this is one of their leading brands and if enough people do it then there will be a £ impact.

Yay Musnet. I think a small piece detailing why this is an issue for all those who have an interest in the well being of humanity would be a good thing. Save on...er....misunderstandings.

When in Peru in 2001, I saw a huge mural painted on the side of a doctors surgery. Common practice as part of health education, and an attempt to reach those with reading difficulties. It had pics charting the growth of the baby in utero, and the resulting huge plump white baby feeding from a bottle with the leading formula brand written on the bottle.
I felt the message was clear. Look to Europe and the USA, see how plump and happy their white bottle fed babies are.



Clearly, there is a role for formula milk. I support anyone and their right to choose. I found that mural highly manipulative.

Can I ask a question? Does the Nestle Boycott actually work? I've heard about it for many years, even tried doing it for a while, but found it next to impossible.

Supermarket Own Brands may be made by Nestle - for example Cereals. Supermarkets won't tell you who makes their own brand products... so if you support the Nestle boycott, then you can't buy any Own Brand items either... as they MAY be made by Nestle.

Surely a few hundred, or even few thousand consumers not buying their products has little effect on a giant manufacturer like Nestle. Is boycotting their products really that effective?

utterly horrendous, how can these Nestle execs sleep at night?