www.nesmilk.com

The Nestle Boycott

The Nestle Boycott occurred twice within the past thirty years, once from 1977 to 1984, then Nestle briefly stopped their actions, until 1988, when it started again, and it is still going on at the moment. The first boycott officially started on Independence Day, July 4^th, 1977, and it originated in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The formula companies, like Nestle primarily go for mothers in third world countries. This was stated in an interview that I recently had with Dolores Onorato, who is currently learning about the subject at West Chester University, “The primary targets of the formula companies are third-world countries, like Asia and Africa”, said Dolores Onorato. While the boycott was happening, the Governor of Minnesota declared that April 3^rd is “Infant Food Day”, throughout the state of Minnesota. Also, some other things that occurred while the boycott was in progress are, the international code of marketing of breast milk substitutes was taken in by the World Health Association, in 1981, and a physician, Cecily Williams was sued by Nestle. She was sued, because when she made a speech, she referred to Nestle as a murderer, and this did not go over well with Nestle, therefore they sued her. Nestle should stop glorifying formula and discontinue pushing formula onto mothers, especially in third world countries.

Nestle and other formula companies are glorifying formula and giving out free samples until the mother can no longer breastfeed, forcing the mother to use formula, which is too expensive for some families, especially in third world countries. The cost of baby formula is too expensive, which can lead to malnutrition in the baby, in some cases. Formula is very money consuming, especially when breast milk is always free. For example, a weeks worth of salary for a doctor in Somalia, costs the same as a weeks worth of powdered formula, which is about 2.2 lbs. (Bar-Yam 2 “The Nestle Boycott”). “Formula can cost up to almost half a family’s annual income” Dolores Onorato said, which she believes is true in most cases, other than those exceptions that have enough money to buy formula, like it is a luxury. Malnutrition can happen, when a family does not have enough money to provide the proper amount of formula, so they dilute the formula with water, which causes malnutrition. Also if the water in the area where certain families live is dirty or undrinkable the baby may get deathly sick or even die.

Nestle is the largest formula distributor in the world, which happened because of some of the slimy things that Nestle does. To get a better idea, Nestle has control of about 40% of the world’s formula supply (Nestle Boycott 1). Being that Nestle is the largest formula company in the world, they don’t want to lose that control, so they joined up with some of the other big formula companies in November of 2003. Nestle joined with other formula companies to keep their freedom to tell people what they want to tell them, which is false information, so more and more mothers will decide to use formula over breast milk. Nestle is the largest formula supplier, and is taking full advantage of it, causing many babies to die each year.

Many babies are dying or becoming very sick, because of the formula that their mothers are feeding them, because Nestle and other formula companies are untruthful and pushing formula onto mothers. The truth is that breast milk is way better for a developing infant, than formula. If a baby is not feed breast milk, there is a higher chance of the baby becoming deathly sick at a young age. A proven fact, by scientists, stated by Dolores Onorato is, “breast milk is the most nutritious food for babies”. Breast feeding can prevent a baby from sudden infant death, or cot death (Onorato). Diarrhea is a leading cause of death in infants, about 3.5 million deaths a year (Patterson 1). Studies have shown that if a baby is formula feed, that baby is more likely to have diarrhea, and maybe die (Patterson 1). Also breast milk provides an infant with the antibodies it needs to protect against diseases, such as pneumonia, botulism, bronchitis, staphylococcal infections, influenza, ear infections, and the German measles (Onorato). For the first six months of age, breast milk changes and adapts to the different types of nutrients that an infant needs. From studies taken, it has been established that, if every baby was feed formula, then about 1.5 million less babies would die a year (Nestle Boycott 1). In places like Africa and Asia, were money is very low and medicine is a comfort, the decision to breast feed or to formula feed, is like the decision between life or death for the baby. The only problem is that so many mothers do not realize this, which is why the infant death rate is increasing very rapidly every year.

To avoid the “International Code of Formula”, formula companies are no longer calling it baby formula or infant formula, and now referring to it as, follow-up formula, for slightly older infants (Bar-Yam 5 “The Nestle Boycott”). This and other ways that formula companies, like Nestle, sell formula and get out of trouble, are horrible, it is a big scam. Some other dreadful things that Nestle does are, Nestle is using the excuse that mothers with HIV should use formula over breast milk, so their babies do not get the disease. That way of selling formula is primarily targeted towards third world countries, because many people in third world countries have HIV, and also the chances of a baby catching HIV from breast milk is slim to none (Brady 1). Formula is also getting to babies and mothers through some maternity units, that are lying about, that formula is better for babies, so as to bring in more profit to formula companies. Furthermore formula companies are getting formula to babies as young as right after birth, by supplying hospitals with formula to feed the babies in the hospital nursery (Bar-Yam 2 “The Nestle Boycott”). By formula companies supplying hospitals with formula, the hospital sends the mother home with formula samples and unstimulated nipples, or nipples that are ready for breast feeding, which makes it hard to breast feed if the nipples are unstimulated.

Believe it or not, but even though most of society is opposed to this rising dispute, we are also contributing to it. In many public places, like theatres, malls, restaurants, and other places, mothers are not allowed to breast feed their baby (Bar-Yam 3 “The Nestle Boycott”). Also most mothers oppose to breast feeding, because they are scrutinized for feeding in public, which embarrases them and draws them away from breast feeding and more towards formula feeding (Bar-Yam 3 “The Nestle Boycott”). Formula companies are pulling off one of the biggest scams in history, and they and the rules of society are harming many children and people, who are grown up now.

Nestle and other formula distributors are lying and using sneaky ways to get more and more mothers to use formula over breast milk. Nestle, once got away from being stopped, by lying. In 1976 Nestle sued a magazine for publishing an article titled “Nestle Kills Babies” (Bar-Yam 4 “The Nestle Boycott”). The case was back and forth, but Nestle won the case, because they used the excuse, “We are not feeding the babies the formula, their mother’s are” (Bar-Yam 4 “The Nestle Boycott”). That was the case that almost put the Nestle scam away forever, but Nestle weaseled their way out of trouble. Some other lies and false information that Nestle has used to keep the formula problem alive are, at one time formula companies, especially Nestle, were paying young women to pretend to be nurses, and go into towns, with majority of the people that live there are uneducated, then tell the mothers of the town, that baby formula is better for a baby, than breast milk. One of the largest reasons why so many mothers are choosing formula over breast milk is, uneducated doctors in third world countries are giving out false information to new mothers; therefore, they are using formula (Bar-Yam 3 “The Nestle Boycott”). Sometimes when a family cannot read (in a third world country), they do not follow the direction for the powdered formula, and make it improperly, and hurt the baby, in the long run. “Formula companies, like Nestle are lying to people, mostly in third world countries, that formula is better for an infant, than breast milk, by the radio stations, newspaper adds, TV, and billboards”, as said by Naomi Broomberg Bar-Yam, in an article that she wrote on the matter.

There are codes against the glorification of formula, which means there can be no pictures, phrases… that make formula sound as if it was better for a baby, than breast milk (Bar-Yam 1 “The Nestle Boycott: the story…”). Codes have been made to enforce, that formula companies only put true information about formula and breast milk in pamphlets and brochures. It is required that all formula have directions and the positives of breast milk on the bottle or container, and that information must be in the native language of who the formula is being sold to (ex. USA-English, Spanish). Many laws and codes have been passed ensuring that formula companies cannot do what they have been doing in the past, but none yet have stopped the scam in all, nor have enough been passed to stop every aspect of the scam.

Nestle should stop glorifying formula and discontinue pushing formula onto mothers, especially in third world countries. Formula is consuming way too much of a family’s money income, the high cost of nutrition is causing a serious problem, malnutrition, and Nestle is controlling way more of the business, than any other formula supplier. Formula is a funny thing, because it is so expensive and every mother has her own breast milk, which is free, yet they still decide to use formula to feed their babies. Breast milk is better for an infant, than formula, and formula companies are trying to get people to think otherwise. Our society is contributing to the dilemma, why more mothers are relying on formula to feed their babies. All this is one of the biggest epidemics in record, and Nestle and other formula companies are getting away with this possibly biggest scam ever. There are codes stopping some of the things formula companies used to do, but not enough to stop it all together, which is why this growing predicament is still in the works.

Some other broad facts about this catch-22 situation are, breast milk is better for a developing infant, than formula. Babies are dying and becoming very sick, due to the lack of nutrients in formula, but if a baby is breast feed, it will receive all of his or her nutrients and antibodies. Also formula is priced way too high and making it too expensive for some families and leading to malnutrition and other complications in the baby. Most families and mothers begin using formula, because they are given free samples and told that formula is better for the baby. After the baby is feed the samples long enough, the mother’s breast milk dries up (a week to two weeks for breast milk to dry up), forcing her to use formula for the baby. Nestle is the leader in formula distribution in the world, today and formula companies, like Nestle, are getting away with their crime exceedingly effortless. Formula companies, similar to Nestle, are lying, in order to get more mothers to resort to formula to provide food for their infant, but codes are being worked on, to stop this crisis. To stop this quandary, more laws and codes must be passed, in order to stop the horrible things that formula companies are doing to the parents of young children today. Many products of Nestle are being boycotted, about 150 products, including Kit-Kat, Nestle Ice Cream, Perrier Water, Nesquick, Lean Cuisine, Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, and many more. It is obvious that formula is not as high-quality as breast milk is for a growing baby, and it is awful what formula companies are going through to make another dime. Their felony is plainly evident to the government and to people, and that disgusts me, which is why this problem needs to be stopped. This swindle was stopped once and can be halted again, it will be easier said than done, but it is what is right and is what needs to be done.

By: Mark Onorato