PHA-Exch> NGOs expose Nestlé at 'the other Davos' meeting 30 January

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Patti Rundall prundall at babymilkaction.org

 *The Other Davos meeting – NGOs expose Nestlé baby food pushing, trade
union busting and spying

**Baby Milk Action asks George Clooney to reconsider his defence of Nestlé

Media briefing 30 January 2009, 18:00 GMT+1, Kongresshaus, Zurich.
*
(For links to supporting documents and images, see the online version at:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/press/press30jan09.html)

While political and business leaders gather in Davos, Switzerland, for the
World Economic Forum campaigning Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are
gathering in Zurich to expose malpractice by Swiss food giant, Nestlé.

Patti Rundall OBE, of Baby Milk Action, which promotes the boycott over the
company's aggressive marketing of baby foods, will participate in a public
meeting on 30 January at the Kongresshaus in Zurich (www.kongresshaus.ch) at
18:00 alongside a speaker concerned about Nestlé trade union busting
activities in Colombia and a member of ATTAC Switzerland, which is taking
legal action against Nestlé over its infiltration of the group with a spy
hired through the private security company, Securitas. The spy included
information gathered on the baby milk campaign in reports sent to a former
MI6 officer employed by Nestlé to run the operation. Nestlé's Global Public
Affairs Manager has described the company as 'widely boycotted'.

Patti Rundall, Policy Director of Baby Milk Action, said:

    "We have no choice but to continue boycotting Nestle, because the
international monitoring we conduct with our partners in the International
Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) continues to shows it to be the worst of
the baby food companies. The boycott and our work for legislation has had
some success in stopping malpractice, but Nestlé still refuses to make the
sweeping changes required to bring its policies and practices into line with
the international marketing standards adopted by the World Health Assembly.
Instead, Nestlé uses its involvement in the UN Global Compact and
'partnerships' in areas related to health and nutrition in an attempt to
divert criticism and present an ethical, responsible image. In this way it
has recruited celebrities, such as George Clooney who seem unaware of the
depths of dishonesty of Nestlé's claims."

Baby Milk Action will be releasing an exposé of claims made in a Nestlé
briefing provided by George Clooney's office to those who question why the
actor, known for his humanitarian campaigning, is willing to appear in
Nestlé Nespresso advertisements. Mr. Clooney expressed irritation when this
issue was raised at the Venice Film Festival in 2007. Baby Milk Action is
appealing to Mr. Clooney to consider the evidence it has provided to him.

In addition to concerns about trade union busting and spying, there are
concerns over Nestlé's failure to address child slavery in its cocoa supply
chain, its treatment of coffee and dairy farmers (and the use of a token
Fair Trade coffee brand to try to divert criticism) and its breaking of
environmental and other laws in Brazil in its water bottling operations.

Campaigners launched a new Nestlé Critics website serving as a portal for
concerns on various aspects of Nestlé malpractice at the start of
International Nestlé-Free Week in October 2008. See www.nestlecritics.org

The text of Patti Rundall's presentation and associated images and briefing
papers will be available on the Baby Milk Action website (
www.babymilkaction.org) on 30 January at 18:00 GMT+1.

*Contact
*
Patti Rundall: prundall at babymilkaction.org Tel: +44 7786 523493 or

Mike Brady: mikebrady at babymilkaction.org Tel: +44 20 3239 9222

*Notes for editors (see online version for links)
*
1. For pictures see http://www.flickr.com/babymilkaction/

2. Nestlé is the target of the boycott as independent monitoring finds it is
responsible for more violations the International Code of Marketing of
Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent, relevant Resolutions than any other
company.

3. Baby Milk Action is a not-for-profit organisation and the UK member of
the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). It is funded by
membership fees, merchandise sales and donations, along with grants from
development organisations and charitable trusts.

4. The boycott of Nestlé focuses on Nescafé, its flagship product, but Baby
Milk Action lists the brands from which Nestlé profits so boycott supporters
can avoid them all. Guardian reported on 1 September 2005:

"What do Nike, Coca Cola, McDonald's and Nestlé have in common? Apart from
being among the world's most well-known brands, they happen to be the most
boycotted brands on the planet. That finding came from this week's global
GMIPoll, an online opinion poll that surveyed 15,500 consumers in 17
countries. Nestlé emerges as the most the most boycotted brand in the UK
because of what respondents consider its "unethical use and promotion of
formula feed for babies in third world countries."

5. Nestlé won a global internet poll for the world's 'least responsible
company' coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2005.
Nestlé received 29% of the votes. This was more than twice that of joint
second Monsanto and Dow Chemicals (of Bhopal infamy), each on 14%.

6. For information on baby food marketing malpractice see the codewatch and
boycott sections of the Baby Milk Action website. For an overview of other
concerns see the Nestlé Critics website (www.nestlecritics.org)

7. According to the World Health Organisation, 1.5 million infants die
around the world every year because they are not breastfed.

8. Nestlé is found to be responsible for on-going systematic violations of
the World Health Assembly marketing requirements in the report Breaking the
Rules, Stretching the Rules 2007.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20090130/414051ed/attachment-0001.html>