RESPONSE TO BABY MILK ACTION'S ALLEGATIONS, JUNE 2003
November 2003
1. Botswana: leaflets for health professionals
In line with WHO Code Art. 6.2, those leaflets are handed over by our medical delegates to health professionals only, never to the general public.
As we continuously review and update the informational materials given to inform health professionals about the properties of our products, taking into consideration new scientific developments as well as the health professionals' opinion on the literature we provide them, the use of some of the leaflets quoted by BMA ("37% in the shade") has been discontinued some years ago. Likewise the leaflet about Lactogen is no longer being used. We are instead preparing new materials for health professionals in Southern Africa, with increased focus on the factual and scientific matters in these materials.
2. Leaflet for the trade handed out on a public bus in Gaborone
This leaflet is part of a set of materials that Nestlé uses to educate the distributors and their salespeople in South Africa about the restrictions stemming from the recommendations of the WHO Code. With easy to understand pictures, it shows concrete examples of marketing practices that should be banned.
These materials are handed to distributors only, not to the general public. Moreover none of these leaflets have ever been used in Botswana.
It would not be sensible for any manufacturer to promote its products to mothers by handing out to them posters showing their products being barred, as BMA claims Nestlé is doing.
3. Properties of NAN Pelargon
Our Corporate headquarters have already written to Baby Milk Action on this topic on 21st December 2001. In that mail we enclosed a list of scientific references as well as a sample of NAN Pelargon to provide Baby Milk Action with the opportunity to analyse the product should they wish to.
Actually Pelargon is a product that has been sold for over 50 years in many countries. Its properties have therefore been known to a multitude of health professionals who have recommended it to mothers and to mothers who have actually used it, including in environments where hygiene is unsatisfactory. Pelargon has undergone some nutritional improvements that led to the new formulation (marketed in Southern Africa as NAN Pelargon) but its basic properties have not changed: it is a biologically pre-acidified infant formula that can inhibit the growth of certain pathogenic bacteria in the prepared feed, therefore providing some advantage over non-acidified formulae or indigenous breast-milk substitutes.
The clear effects of Pelargon were established over a decade ago in a carefully conducted field trial in a highly contaminated environment in Chile, as reported in the study Brunser O., Araya M., Espinoza J. et al.:" Effect of an Acidified Milk on Diarrhoea and the Carrier State of Infants of Low Socio- Economic Stratum, Acta Paediatrica Scand. 1989; 78:259-64". The scientific evidence can also be found in the other studies listed out in our above-mentioned letter of 21st December 2001.
4. Hong Kong: recommended age for introduction of complementary foods
Nestlé has voluntarily taken the decision to change the labels of its infant cereals and the related communication materials to recommend introduction from 6 months in all developing countries.
In developed countries, which Hong Kong by all respects qualifies for, Nestlé follows the policies recommended by the national authorities.
In Hong Kong, the Department of Health is conducting consultations with health professional associations with a view to agreeing on a general policy concerning the age for introduction of complementary foods. Nestlé Hong Kong will readily follow that general policy.
