Still boycotting Nestle?
The Guardian has an article about the current state of play with formula milk for babies in Bangladesh (and, by extension, other poor countries). The message is that thousands of babies are dying every day, and many families are significantly poorer, because companies are pushing formula milk as a replacement for breast feeding. The biggest danger is diarrhoea – a major killer of children in poor countries – because mothers often have no access to clean water or sterile bottles to make up the formula. By contrast, breast milk is free and sterile; breastfed babies are almost never admitted to hospital for diarrhoea. And, of course, it’s the best and most complete food that you can feed your child.
Formula has a purpose, and a valuable one, in supporting mothers who cannot breastfeed. But when sold as a genuine alternative, especially to people who cannot afford it and cannot use it properly, it is extremely dangerous.
pax et bonum
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Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend quite how profit-driven some of these large corporations are.
It’s illegal to advertise formular milk in the UK – but one provider (I forget which) seems to be getting round this at the moment by advertising its ‘follow-on milk’ and other baby-food on the TV – it uses a slogan that runs something along the lines of ‘we understand your baby’s needs every step of the way’. You really have to pay very close attention to the advert to see that, technically, they are not advertising their baby-milk. I MUST remember to contact the advertising standards agency about that ad.
Ruth ()
11:50am on 17 May 2007