PHM-Exch> baby food marketing and corporate social responsibility

[Claudio Schuftan]

   - New Internationalist blog: More action needed on baby food marketing -
   PLEASE SHARE<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#13d7179b84d7e6c6_1>


   - GAIN / Gates sponsored Index whitewashes giant food
companies<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#13d7179b84d7e6c6_2>

New Internationalist blog: More action needed on baby food marketing

Baby Milk Action was invited to write a blog for New Internationalist
magazine's website <http://newint.org/blog/2013/03/06/baby-milk-action/>.
This has now been posted.

Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking Coordinator, gives a brief
introduction to how he joined Baby Milk Action and some of the successes
achieved by members and supporters over the years.

The subject is brought bang up to date with a new report just published by
Save the Children. The report contains on-the-ground research; it is
essential to look at what companies actually do, rather than just at what
they say they do.

For example, Nestlé claims to abide by World Health Assembly baby milk
marketing requirements, but Save the Children found in Pakistan, for
example, that 20 per cent of health professionals surveyed reported gifts
from baby-food companies – over half were Nestlé branded.

Read the blog to find out more. If you use Twitter and Facebook there are
quick links to share it, so please do pass it on. See:

http://newint.org/blog/2013/03/06/baby-milk-action/
GAIN / Gates sponsored Index whitewashes giant food companies

The Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) has just been launched.

This is sponsored by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and
the Gates Foundation and has already been slammed by critics as a
whitewash.

Companies are scored on their Corporate Social Responsibility reports and
other information they produce, rather than by on-the-ground monitoring of
their practices.

It is not surprising, therefore, to find the companies that invest in PR
come out with the highest scores: Danone, Unilever, Nestle, PepsiCo, and
Kraft.

In a nod to the concerns about the approach used - and the fact that others
are monitoring what companies actually do - the Index launch statements
says:

 *"even the top performers have significant room for improvement with the
highest score being 6.3 on a 10.0 point scale. *

*"In addition, both Danone and Nestlé have been reported to be in violation
of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, which
affected their scores. *

*"The ATNI recommends that both companies, along with other breastmilk
substitute manufacturers, take immediate action to ensure full compliance
with the International Code."*

Find out more from our press release:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/pressrelease/
pressrelease12mar13<http://info.babymilkaction.org/pressrelease/pressrelease12mar13>

Also see Baby Milk Action's article *Governments should govern, and
corporations should follow the rules, *published in the UN Standing
Committee on Nutrition journal and available via:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/
campaignblog160112 <http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/campaignblog160112>
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