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World Health Assembly takes action against baby food companies

Mike Brady | 02.08.2005 21:57 | Analysis | Globalisation | Health

Baby Milk Action's latest newsletter highlights the latest resolution from the World Health Assembly addressing baby food marketing. After years of campaigning, action has been taken on health claims used in marketing, contamination of formula and commercial sponsorship of research. Plus other news.

Update 36 and Boycott News 36

Baby food marketing laws hit formula sales and improve breastfeeding rates

World Health Assembly tackles health claims, warnings and sponsorship

The latest news on Baby Milk Action’s work is in Update 36
PLUS Nestlé’s Public Relations Machine Exposed briefing paper now available

See the 'latest news' section of  http://www.babymilkaction.org/

* Developing countries and rich nations, where baby food companies are
based, battle over the latest Resolution on Infant and Young Child Feeding which was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May. The Resolution tackles health and nutrition claims and inappropriate
sponsorship. It also responds to recent deaths linked to powdered formula which was contaminated during the manufacturing process – protecting the rights of parents for better information and warnings on labels.

* Breastfeeding tops the list of interventions which can reduce under-5
mortality and morbidity. Update 36 looks at laws in Botswana, Ghana,
Tanzania and India which are reducing formula sales while protecting
breastfeeding and helping governments reach the Millennium Development Goals. Meanwhile Tanzania has banished Nestlé’s controversial ‘Nest’ which dominates the front of many of its tins in Africa.

* The campaign to bring the UK and EU regulations into line with World
Health Assembly standards moves on. The UK Government has promised to strengthen the law and is taking a lead in negotiations with the Europe Commission. Meanwhile practices, which are already illegal, go unpunished and companies exploit grey areas of the law.

* Our partners in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) in
Latvia win a court case over the label of Nestlé’s Nan HA. The UK industry front organisation INFORM resurfaces to suggest ‘Breast is not always best’. Scare headlines of rocket fuel in breastmilk are denounced by the study’s author.

* Nestlé Boycott News: Nestlé is found to be the world’s “least responsible company”; Peter Brabeck, Nestlé’s CEO, says charity giving must boost shareholder value; the Edinburgh Fringe prepares to boycott the Nestlé-owned Perrier Awards and the fifth corporate-free Tap Water Awards alternative.

In Brazil, Nestlé’s production of Pure Life bottled water is stopped (as
featured on BBC Face the Facts, 22 July 2005). PLUS Nestlé’s Public
Relations Machine Exposed briefing paper launched to counter Nestlé’s new PR offensive on the baby milk issue.

* New merchandise – Breastfeeding calendar 2006 now available, plus new books.



Mike Brady
- e-mail: mikebrady@babymilkaction.org
- Homepage: http://www.babymilkaction.org/

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

Is this the same WHO that says it's ok to eat irradiated food?

03.08.2005 17:21

Is this the same World Health Organization that is giving out the same propaganda as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That it is perfectly safe to eat food that has been irradiated with gamma radiation and it doesn’t destroy nutrition. The scientific facts are, that food irradiation causes chromosome damage, cancer and leukemia and makes food sterile. More that 75% of humans, animals and vegetables are comprised of water. Ionizing metals in water such as iron, maintain the radiation charge and carry the radiation from the gamma irradiating process through the digestive system and into the bloodstream, causing the chromosomes and the white blood cells to mutate, thereby causing destruction of the immune system. White blood cells are destroyed and mutated thus preventing their multiplying process and the chromosomes that are important to the development & design of the human embryo are mutated thereby causing deformity in children.

Peter Graves-Goodman
mail e-mail: pggoodman@yahoo.com


Here comes the pseudo-science bit, concentrate!

05.08.2005 13:58

“…Makes food sterile”

Do you mean sterile as in infertile? Or do you mean in terms of having no bacteria and viruses in it? I presume you mean the latter. In which case it is a GOOD THING.

“More that 75% of humans, animals and vegetables are comprised of water”

Well, let’s assume that what you meant to write was that the composition of humans animals and vegetables is more than 75% water (actually it’s more like 70% but there you go), as opposed to what you wrote which implies that three quarters of my friends are made of water (a bit like the alien in “The Abyss”).

“Ionizing metals in water such as iron, maintain the radiation charge and carry the radiation from the gamma irradiating process through the digestive system and into the bloodstream”.

Ohmigod! So much mumbo jumbo in one sentence! Where to begin?
For a start gamma radiation is comprised of highly energetic photons which carry NO ELECTRIC CHARGE. These photons cause electrons to jump free of their associated atoms, which then become ions (carying a +ive electric charge). These free radicals soon react with other particles though, to form stable atoms/compounds again. The same process happens with oxygen in your bloodstream. If the food was left with a +ive charge you’d get an electric shock when you picked it up! I’m afraid there’s no such thing as an “ionizing metal” (all metal atoms (well, all atoms) can become ions, a metal atom itself does no ionizing).

You can scan irradiated food with a Geiger counter, and get a background level reading (as close as possible to zero) about 10-12 clicks (mRh) per second.

So no need to panic.

Sim1


To Sim1- Food for thought

06.08.2005 16:13

When I said that irradiating food makes it sterile, I meant sterile as in no nutrition. Most people eat food for nutrition. Most people eat food for nutrition. Why would anyone eat food that was bombarded with Caesium 137 or Cobalt 60 making it devoid of nutrition.

You say that, "For a start gamma radiation is comprised of highly energetic photons which carry NO ELECTRIC CHARGE". I’ll have to get back to you on that one. In the meantime, maybe you can explain how irradiated food when digested, causes mutation of chromosomes in the bloodstream.

It has been known for many years that large doses of ionizing radiation, very much larger than background levels, can cause a measurable increase in cancers and leukemia ('cancer of the blood') after some years delay. It must also be assumed, because of experiments on plants and animals, that ionizing radiation can also cause genetic mutations that affect future generations

Adverse results in scientific research into irradiated foods have been suppressed and discounted in favor of more lenient and positive results. We note with utmost concern that the results of trials conducted by the National Institute of Nutrition, India have been retrospectively discounted. The results were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1975 in a paper entitled: ‘Effects of Feeding Irradiated Wheat to Malnourished Children’ by C. Bhaskaran and G. Sadasiran. A clinical trial was conducted in undernourished children who were fed wheat freshly irradiated at a dose of 1 kilogray. It was proven that ‘they developed polyploidy cells and certain abnormal cells in an increasing number as the duration of feeding increased, and showed a gradual reversal to the basal level of nil after withdrawal of irradiated wheat. In a marked contrast, none of the children fed unirradiated wheat showed polyploidy, and abnormal cells were of a significantly decreased number.’ These studies have linked irradiated food with leukemia and abnormal development of white blood cells.

Irradiation destroys vitamins in food. According to a Parliamentary Library Legislative Research Service paper prepared by Dr R Panter, Science, Technology and Environment Group, 22 August 1986, entitled ‘Food Irradiation in Australia – A Short Discussion Paper’, there is significant destruction of several vitamins, especially the vitamins B1, C, B12, A, E and K resulting from irradiation of food. Furthermore, it added that ‘if an irradiated food is cooked at home, further vitamin losses will occur.’

In her article ‘Food irradiation and vitamin A deficiency – Public Health Implications’, Food Policy, vol 18, Feb 1993, pp 64-72 Leah Bloomfield gives an example of large-scale vitamin destruction associated with irradiated food: ‘irradiation of chick feed at 20 kGy resulted in losses of vitamins A and beta-carotene of 12.5% and 25% respectively; treatment of cat feed reduced vitamin A by 93% and beta-carotene by 6.3%. As the irradiation in this case was demonstrated on animal laboratory feed, vitamins then have to be added to ‘bring it up to the required laboratory specifications.’

Ciao for now Sim1.

Peter Graves-Goodman
mail e-mail: pggoodman@yahoo.com


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