[van-announce] Commodification of Infant Feeding - this week on People's Health Radio

[Martha Roberts]

*What happens to the health of moms and babies when infant feeding is
commodified?*

Tune in this week to *People's Health Radio* where we discuss the
commodification of infant feeding and the politics of breastfeeding in
Canada, featuring interviews with:

*Elisabeth Sterken*, National Director, INFACT Canada (Infant Feeding Action
Coalition)
*Frances Jones*, Lactation Consultant, Program Coordinator Lactation
Services, BC Women’s and Children’s Hospitals, and Coordinator of the BC
Women’s Milk Bank
*Anne Simmonds*, RN, PhD, Perinatal Nurse Consultant, Reproductive Care
Program of Nova Scotia

With music by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Afu-Ra
*
Wednesday, March 9, 1-2pm
Vancouver Co-op Radio CFRO 102.7FM

Missed it live? Download our podcast:
http://peopleshealthradio.wordpress.com/*

It is estimated that 1.5 million babies die each year due to inappropriate
feeding practices, while millions more suffer from malnutrition related to
improperly mixed formula and a wide gamut of other health concerns directly
attributable to formula use.  In the United States and Canada, as the
production and marketing of pharmaceutical infant formulas to health care
providers, hospitals, and mothers rapidly expanded, breastfeeding rates
dropped to all-time lows, in some areas of Canada reaching as low as 20% in
the 1970s and 1980s.  With the commercialization of infant feeding,
breastfeeding was no longer the norm, and the health of our babies and
mothers was sacrificed on the altar of corporate profits.

In 1979 the World Health Organization, in partnership with UNICEF, drafted
the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, which was
subsequently passed at the 1981 International Health Assembly. This Code
bans the promotion of bottle feeding and sets out labeling requirements for
commercial infant feeding products with the aim of restricting the
unnecessary use of formula; the Canadian Government endorsed the Code, but
failed to adequately enforce it in the face of industry lobbying and
opposition.

Opening a ‘second front’ in the struggle to protect and promote
breastfeeding, the Baby-Friendly Initiative was launched by WHO and UNICEF
in the early 1990’s to impact infant feeding at the level of health
services. The initiative is a global effort to implement practices that
protect, promote and support breastfeeding by accrediting maternity and
community health-care facilities and higher education institutions that have
passed an external assessment. In Canada, BC Women's Hospital is the largest
designated Baby-Friendly tertiary care centre.

And what is gained by the pharmaceutical and baby food industries at the
expense of our babies and mothers?  In 2005 the estimated world market for
formula was 7.9 billion dollars. In 2009, Nestle Corporation, makers of Good
Start formula, earned over 200 million from the sales of infant milks alone!

Join People’s Health Radio for an engaging conversation on the politics of
breastfeeding!

-- 
Martha Roberts, Registered Midwife & Community Organizer
Open Door Midwifery
Alliance for People's Health
http://aphvan.wordpress.com/
http://philippinessolidarity2008.blogspot.com

"Development with social justice can take place only when we are clear where
injustice is taking place."
Anne Hope