IN PRACTICE: GLOBAL SUCCESS STORIES
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a boycott of the company's products on the grounds that powdered
baby milk can cause unnecessary health problems when misused.
Like so many nineteenth century innovations, baby milk powder
was a genuine advance. In the days before refrigeration, perishable
food such as milk was hard to store, and any process that increased
shelf-life was a boon. It was not until the 1960s that an awareness
began to emerge of some of the problems of the overuse of processed
foods specifically, that they are not perfect nutritional substitutes
for the unprocessed foods they replace. In the case of baby milk
powder, the main objections center on medical arguments that breast
feeding is preferable and the obvious need to follow the instructions
for preparation. In developed countries this causes few problems, as
mothers generally have good access to healthcare advice, are adequately
nourished, and are sophisticated consumers.
In LDCs, however, circumstances are different. In the late 1970s,
consumer groups began to claim that breastfeeding was declining
in LDCs as mothers switched to substitutes, leading to higher infant
mortality estimates run as high as one million deaths annually. The
health problems, they said, were due to several factors:
» no access to clean water to mix with the processed milk;
» lack of fuel leading to a failure to heat the milk to the correct
temperature;
» mothers possibly being unable to read the instructions for prepara-
tion, and mixing the formula in the wrong proportions;
» mothers possibly overdiluting the formula in an effort to save money;
» a failure to sterilize bottles;
» the fact that, unlike breast milk, substitutes do not contain antibodies
that protect infants from disease.
Consumer groups claimed that companies selling breast milk substitutes
were exacerbating these problems by giving away large quantities of
their products as part of their marketing strategy to promote brand
loyalty. NestlŽ
e, as the largest firm in the industry, was a major focus of
their ire (its rivals in the baby milk business include Hipp, Milupa, and
Meiji).
In 1979 a UNICEF/WHO-sponsored conference concluded that there
was a need for a code of practice to govern the marketing of breast milk
