The Nestle Boycott .....

[WSM]

Oakmaiden mentioned that she chooses not to purchase Nestle products and someone asked her why Nestle = Bad. It then occured to me that perhaps some of us are not aware of the Nestle baby milk scandal. Here are a few links for those who would like to know more....

background
a summary
make your voice heard

I would like to point out that I am not a raging BF pusher, in fact my daughter was BF for 10 weeks and then put onto formula by my choice. The point is that these mothers are given very little choice.

This thread is in no way meant to offend, merely to inform and educate.

Thanks for reading

P.S. This is wickedstepmother - I shortened my name due to RSI from obsessive postings !!!

Thanks for this WSM. I will be boycotting Nestle products...

Thanks Sonnet, I'm sure every single person will help make that difference

It was I who asked, wsm. I clicked your link and read about it, thanks, I was certainly not aware of it before. No time for news, TV perpetually on CBeebies.

By the way do you really think shortening your name is going to cure RSI? Maybe you should shut down the computer once in a while?

Pot, kettle, kettle, pot.

lol ! I'm off to feed my DD now anyway, so that should give wrists a rest for, oh, 15 minutes ?!

I think it is also important to see what procuts Nestle makes... otherwise you buy them inadvertantly

Company ProfileProducts and brandnames:

Coffee : Alta Rica, Blend 37, Cap Colombie, Elevenses, Nescafé, Nescoré

Breakfast Cereals : Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Coco Shreddies, Crisp Rice, Fincken Flakes, Force Flakes, Frosted Shreedies, Golden Grahams, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Shredded Wheat, Shreddies, Wheetflakes.

Pet foods : Go-Cat, Friskies Go-Cat, Buffet Treats

Fats & Oils : Buitoni, Crosse & Blackwell, Dufrais

Ice Cream & Lollies : Lyons Maid

Jams & Spreads : Sun Pat (Peanut butter), Gales (honey), Ratcliffe (honey)

Sauces, Pickles & Mustards : Branston, Crosse & Blackwell, Pan Yan

Tinned Fruit & Vegetables : Crosse & Blackwell, Libby's

Yogurt, Cheese etc : Bonjour, Nouvelle, Chambourcy

Cosmetics : Biotherm, Helena Rubenstein, Lancome, L'Oreal, Vichy

Note: According to Baby Milk Action, the following Tesco own-brand breakfast cereals are manufactured by Nestlé; Corn Flakes, Bran Flakes, Puffed Rice, Sultana Bran, Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Flakes. This will be true of many other own brand products although it is very difficult to get this information. Co-op brand peanut butter is also apparently made by Nestlé.

It is a total minefield isn't it ?

I did read recently that Sun Pat is in the clear now, but will have to check.

Actually just went here and you can see all brands including SKI and Munchbunch...

Gosh, I had no idea they made Perrier and Buitoni pasta. Thanks for that link pupuce

Good god, they make Vittel and Buxton waters too. We tend to buy Vittel if there is no Evian, will have to have a rethink about my alternatives.

I believe that the main point of the Nestle boycott is/was not to buy their brand leader Nescafe. If you do just this one thing, it's a pretty good result. Boycotting the rest is a bonus.

Yes, but frankly it seems a bit half-baked. Surely if you are against Nestles stance on the baby milk issue then it would be against your principles to buying any of their products, therefore funding the continuation of the baby milk problem ?

Hi - what is the point of boycotting just a product - particularely if you don't buy it ? I'd stop buying what I might normnally buy like kitkat (sometimes )or ski or perrier....

Hmm... good cause in prinicpal, but I have to say that the 'background' link here seems to be fiercely pro-BF.... Saying things like:

"A few mothers may have problems breast feeding, and so there is a small need for a reliable substitute"

EH??? There is a large need for a reliable substitute I would've thought! There are many people out there that can't BF.

Not having a go at you WSM, just pointing out that some of these articles can get a bit political and hysterical. I understand the seriousness of the water quality issues, but apart from that I don't really think the rest is a big deal? I may be missing something....??

M2T DUCKS

What about other boycotts - is Gap still bad - do they still use underage third-world labour? Should we still shop elsewhere or have they changed their ways. I know Nestle promised to be good and then backtracked, did Gap even get that far?

Anyone still avoiding Chilean wine for political reasons?

As I say M2T, this was not meant to provoke a bf argument/debate, call it what you will. I just wanted to put the info out there for others to see and make their own decisions. However 'hysterically' you think it is worded the facts remain the same. Nestle has broke WHO codes and is profiting from it to the detriment of children and mothers in the Third World.

I don?t think anyone minds there being an alternative to BF (and I speak as a mum who could not BF for various reasons further than a couple of weeks, but who greatly respects those who can and do and those who choose not to).

The issue is the exploitative and deceptive tactics that were used by Nestle in the 70?s (and are still being used to some extent today) to push open markets in developing countries once birthrates, and hence their profits, began to drop in the west. Things like:

giving free samples to mothers so that their own milk will dry up, leaving them reliant on expensive formula milk, (obviously we?re not talking about one or two sachets here)

pointing the blame at the mothers milk if the baby was unhealthy, and telling them the formula was safer to use (complete with contaminated water etc)

To try and combat this a WHO/UNICEF Code for Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes was drafted, redrafted, and finally adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. The - final vote was 118 to 1. The United States cast the sole negative vote. This is big business and it sways government action, which iswhy its important for individsuals to take action.

Despite the U.N. Code, an article published by Mothering (12/22/95) revealed that even today, "Billboards and radio jingles encourage women to use formula in order to raise the healthiest baby. Hospital maternity units in developing nations are sometimes sponsored by formula companies...In addition, babies are routinely fed formula and glucose water, and mothers are sent home with unstimulated breasts and free samples of whatever formula paid for the maternity unit."

There?s a bigger issue here though, with the spread of AIDS there has been concern that mothers could be transmitting it to their infants through breast milk. I?m not an Aids expert and its been three years since I was last working overseas, but some observers feel that infant formula may be a powerful weapon to reduce childhood deaths from AIDS.

So yes, it is imperative to find alternatives to breast-feeding including making safe, affordable formula widely available? but that?s not what Nestle are doing!

I'm getting off my high horse now!

Informative post waterbaby, thanks

Just to answer a comment made by M2T - in Sweden there is a 98% breastfeeding rate (and still 80% at 6 months I believe) so they have less need for substitutes there....
So if we were into BF like the swedes we would need less formula too.... It is very much a question of society these things - me think

Thanks Waterbaby - That paints a different picture.
WSM - I really wasn't having a go at you, I just disagreed with what that attachment said.

Can't think where I saw it, but the AIDS risk is actually lowest when baby exclusively breastfed. Next is exclusively formula fed and worst is mixed feeding.

It's ok M2T, I didn't take personal offence but I did want to respond to your post. Perhaps neither of us worded them particularly well, eh ?

bearinthebigbluhouse I am very interested to learn about these sweatshops etc. You make a brilliant point about other firms not being pc.

If you followed every campaign, you'd have to make your own clothes. Most of these campaigns are US based and focus on US retailers, but Gap and H&M seem to figure highly: Unite , BTL , Clean Clothes Campaign Who to believe?
Where we've been at for a while now is not eating Nestle (miss Branston pickle enormously - if anyone's found an identical tasting alternative, please oh please let me know) or shopping at Gap (ooh, miss all that beige). Not really involved enough to try to persuade others, it's just what we do.

Thanks for posting that WSM - and others. Didn't mean to make a comment and then abandon it for others to explain! Havne't really got anythig to add to what has already been said, though. Just that the real issue isn't the fact that they make baby milk - which after all there is a huge market for, but the fact that they market it unethically and continually flout the WHO guidelines for the marketting of baby milk. Which DOES DIRECTLY result in babies dying. Not in countries with good water supplies, sure, but then, aren't we the lucky ones?

So, sadly, I don't buy things by Nestle. And I really miss a lot of the products!