In May, 1981, after seven years of review and debate, the World
Health Organisation adopted an International Code of Marketing
Breastmilk Substitutes. Designed to improve the health and
nutrition of infants and children, the code set out rules and
legislations designed to regulate “innappropriate sales
promotion of infant foods that can be used to replace breast
milk.” It’s now thirty years later, and the goal of “health for
all by the year 2000″ has languished in the face of poverty,
lack of education, natural disasters, and the disregard of
formula companies for the code. Nestle, the world’s largest baby
food company, has – according to the International Baby Food
Action Network (IBFAN)- committed over 134 violations of the
code around the world in the past year alone. In reaction to the
report from IBFAN, Nestle has agreed to address four of those
violations. The other 130 it has chosen to ignore. According to
INFACT Canada, the formula industry in Canada continues to
undermine the efforts of public health