From: yar@cs.su.oz.au (Ray Loyzaga)
Subject: Re: Why you shouldn't buy Nestle
Reply-To: yar@cluster.cs.su.oz (Ray Loyzaga)
Organization: Basser Dept of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 22:02:25 GMT

In article <BvApAw.E2v@dptspd.sat.datapoint.com: dscharfe@dptspd.sat.datapoint.com (David Scharfe) writes:
:My apologies if I'm being redundant; I have not followed this
:thread until the article to which I respond here.
:
:In article <1992Sep28.053336.9290@cs.su.oz.au: yar@cluster.cs.su.oz (Ray Loyzaga) writes:
::being unablt to lactate properly in the first day and a half, and the child's
::requirement for food. I don't recall any horror "child hooked on powdered
:
:Would you care to document this assertion?  My wife is an active (an
:understatement I assure you) La Leche League leader, and I STRONGLY 
:suspect this statement to be untrue.  Can you provide references for
:this assertion?  I would like to see what is known about these
:studies.

As a leader of the "La Leche League" I would have thought that she (and you)
would have been aware that the first few flows of milk from the mothers
breasts after child birth are rarely rich and creamy, in fact even after
breastfeeding has been going on for a while the mother is advised to feed
on a breast until it is tapped out and then switch to the other (around
15 minutes a side, and start from the one you finished at) as this allows
the child to suck the richer milk which flows later once the "letdown reflex"
has had its chance to work ....

:An insidious (sp?) tactic of these manufacturers is to portray
:themselves in favor of breast-feeding, but in the very same ads 
:provide pictures of women nursing their babies in positions virtually
:_guaranteed_ to cause common and easily corrected nursing problems 
:(sore nipples, weak suckling response, etc).  These claims _can_ be 
:documented; however, this is something which will have to wait until 
:I can gather the evidence and take the time to enter it (such as over 
:the weekend).

Geeze, I didn't know it was a conspiracy, I just thought it was
the problem with using models in ads and trying to get the photo
to show the baby's face (cute and cuddly) and the mother holding
the child in the traditional way, kind of like how Republican
mothers hold them. So you are saying that instead of some magazine
photographer trying to create the "right" artistic image, he is instead
working on orders from the company to only use certain wrestling grips
on the child. Somehow I think you have entered the twilight zone.

:Perhaps this is not entirely germane to this discussion, as the ads
:to which I am referring are targeted at American consumers (and
:probably read most often by the "middle class").
:
::milk" scenarios on Hinch, so I guess this milk addiction must be something
::that only happens in underdeveloped countries. I do know however, that
:
:You make what seems to be a valid assumption here, but I suspect this
:is also not true.  There are many people here in America who live in
:conditions approximating those of "underdeveloped" countries.  Would
:it not be rational to expect simliar problems?

Valid assumption? I was kidding! The only reason that baby formula causes
problems in underdeveloped countries is the lack of sanitation and
the lack of education. The formula is not poison as it was described in
the original article, and it does have a place in the raising of children
in all societies.

:: [a bunch of interesting observations deleted; I am in no way
::  qualified to provide an informed opinion on these]
:
::The solution for some seems to be to blame the evil large multi-national,
::and if that make you feel good, then go ahead, but don't delude yourself
::that this goes on inch closer to solving the problem.
:
:As always, education is the key.  One of the things which could be
:reasonably demanded from the "evil large multi-national"s is that they 
:desist from deliberately providing FALSE information.  This could
:move us several inches closer to solving the problem...
:
:Dave

False advertising is always evil, but I don't think a ban on a company's
products is the answer, after all some children will need formula to
survive, WHO should recognise this and instead of opposing the powdered
milk vendors, it should exploit them. Impose some regulations that make the
milk companies have to subsidise health care workers in underdeveloped
countries, sure let them peddle the formula, and in some areas it will
do some good, but make the workers give the information that WHO wants
them to provide.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,ne.general