to expect politically correct snacks from the BBC?

[Elasticwoman]

Dh and I had free tickets to see a BBC show being filmed. In the break between filming they didn't want the audience to disperse so they gave us all cartons of juice and (oh no!) chocolate biscuits made by Nestle - boo! hiss! I could have murdered a chocolate biscuit but not that one.

When I pointed this out to a BBC flunky she had a blonde moment and claimed never to have heard of the Nestle boycott.

Comments from any one who works for the Beeb would be much appreciated. Shame on you!

Well I keep seeing things like this boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2007/12/nestle-defends-branding-babies.html as one of the reasons to boycott Nestle. Its allowed by the WHO guidelines but is apparently something evil being done by Nestle. Why isn't the campaign targeting the WHO?

Then we come to illogic. Formula's main problem in developing countries is dirty water. Lets assume that Nestle fulfil BabyMilkAction's 4 point plan and the boycott ends - will water now be clean? Will no more babies die?

The third world is no different than here - not all women will be able to exclusively breastfeed their babies and formula is therefore essential as an alternative if - and only if - the mother cannot feed the child. A total ban on formula and manufacturer advertising (like we're the only one....) in those countries won't change that. And yet the water will still be dirty. Imagine how much actual change could be done to actually save the lives of third world babies if the people who obsess about Nestle actually obsessed about getting charities and governments to invest in clean water supplies.

The Nestle ban seems more like a fashionable social statement by people trying to show their superiority - same as fairtrade obsessives, the organic food mob and people who drive Hybrids.

iwork - the point about Nestle is that it aggressively markets formula in developing countries, with the result that babies who would otherwise have been breastfed are put onto formula instead, and consequently become ill because of sanitation/poverty problems. If Nestle stopped promoting formula, fewer women would use it. Babies would continue to die, but there would be fewer dead babies.

You cling very tenaciously to the idea that people want formula banned. They do not. They just believe that Nestle should stop promoting it so fiercely. Women who have found that they cannot breastfeed would still be able to switch (although very few of those living in poverty can afford to use the recommended amounts of formula, which is one reason why so many formula-fed babies die - malnourishment from watered-down formula).

You're right that the supply of potable water in developing countries is an issue about which everyone should be concerned.

The last sentence of your post suggests to me that you are disposed to sneer at anyone who espouses left-ish views - which is your right, I suppose.

well said, PW...
(repeat as necessary)

Actually I am very much a leftie - its pointless activism that bemuses me. Fairtrade is a fantastic movement that needs to be supported and greatly expanded. I know people who think non-Fairtrade products should be banned. The fact that this would shut down most of the world's tea/coffee/cocoa etc producers seems to pass them by.
Organics - great if that's what you want. Just remember that going all organic would leave half the world starving.
And don't get me started on people who think driving a Prius will save the world.

As for aggressive marketing of formula, we come back once again to the basic point that gets repeatedly ignored - its the WHO guidelines that you object to. If we market formula and follow guidelines its then balmy to complain about it. Remember how our fair trade coffee brand was branded "cheating" by Coffee activists? Fine - lobby the Fair Trade organisation to accredit large-scale producers then. Until then we get abuse for not being Fair Trade even though the large suppliers we use are not allowed to even be considered for Fair Trade approval.

If that's "sneering" then fine.

Nestle is not following the guidelines. That really is the whole point. It continues to market formula in a way that it is not supposed to.

I take it the handbags are still out on this one.

iwfn - Nestle does not follow the guidelines
and even if it did why would it be "balmy" (sic) to complain?
I think the guidelines don't go far enough
I think that infant nutrition should not be left in the hands of companies (not just Nestle, I might add, but other companies too) who care so very little about infant mortality that they prioritise profits over dead babies.