Fanie de Boer, Weningnen Institute course director, said in response to my inquiry re the course for Food and Nutrition Security Conference 2009’s questionable funding from Nestles Foundation. “We are quite aware of one of our very good facilitators, the distinguished Professor Gebre Medhin of the University of Upsala, has a seat on the Board of Nestle Foundation. As you are probably aware the Nestle Foundation is an independent institute with funding of Nestle.”
But here is my question: Can the Nestles Foundation [i]really[/i] be separate from Nestles Corporation and promote breastfeeding while Nestles Corporation (its majority sponsor and namesake) is trying to expand its infant formula sales?
Heinz replaced Farley’s formula with a new product called Heinz Nurture which has added betapol to reduce constipation – one common side-effect of infant formula – at double the price of Farley’s formula. Heinz is facing a boycott by angry mothers. That is good, but those mothers are forgetting one thing: they don’t need any infant formula because they have got a superior product, for free, that they naturally produce. It is called breastmilk.
So the breastfeeding marathon for medals is on. Now you only need 50 mothers breastfeeding for one minute. This sends the message we support breastfeeding on schedule. It is still not a good idea.
Do mothers want medals or something else? Let me hear what you think in the comments below!
John Dingell and Bart Stupak asked manufacturers of infant formula to remove BPA from their cans. They declined.
See link for more information: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/15/magazines/fortune/gunther_bpa.fortune/
Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands already have enacted various laws protecting breastfeeding mothers but they are not uniform and most are not comprehensive. We are asking you to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007 to provide a unified national policy to keep mothers, their children and their communities healthy.
The Breastfeeding Promotion Act includes four provisions:
- Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace
- Provides tax incentives for businesses that establish private, lactation areas in the workplace
- Provides for a performance standard to ensure breast pumps are safe and effective
- Allows breastfeeding equipment and lactation services to be tax deductible for families
It is great that someone is attempting to pass such a bill — although it doesn’t cover paid maternity leave, it is a great start for better breastfeeding/maternal work conditions. If you support this, please Congresswoman Maloney (D-NY) here: http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_email_form&Itemid=73.