When Mimosa was a baby, most of the baby food choices that Gerber
offered were pretty adulterated…filled with all kinds of yucky stuff in
addition to the actual food, so we didn’t use much of it. When I didn’t
have time to puree our fruits and veggies, we
resorted to purchasing the expensive, organic brands of baby food. Since
that time, I have noticed that Gerber has added to its products such a
lovely variety of organic and inexpensive fruits and veggies that I have
often thought how much easier it will be with The Next Baby who can just
have those. Alas, no more.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, only 44% of women
in Third World countries breastfeed their babies, even though formula
feeding in Third World conditions where much of the water supply is unsafe
leads to high rates of infant death.
Breastfeeding rates drop in every place that is targeted by the marketing
efforts of formula companies, and more babies die when this happens.
To protect babies from the malicious greed of these companies, many
laws have come into existence all over the world regulating what formula
companies can and cannot do when advertising their dangerous product (the
well-known Nestle boycott is a direct result of Nestle’s refusal to abide by
the World Health Organization’s International Code of Marketing of
Breastmilk Substitutes). One such law was passed in Guatemala and went into
effect in 1988. Among other things, this law required that companies could
not market infant formula with pictures of fat, healthy-looking babies on
them and that formula labels acknowledge the superiority of breastmilk. All
other formula manufacturers complied with this
Guatemalan law…except for Gerber, with its classic trademark baby.
Gerber continued to use its trademark on its infant formulas, refused
to acknowledge the superiority of breastmilk on its labels and attacked the
Guatemalan law with all its corporate might. In 1995, Gerber took its
complaints to the newly created World Trade
Organization. As many people have unfortunately learned, public health is
not as important as corporate prerogatives under WTO rules. In the face of
a WTO tribunal, Guatemala backed down and
changed its law.
I,
for one, have no intention of purchasing products manufactured by a company
willing to go to such lengths to prevent a country from protecting the
health of its children. From now on, I’ll boycott Gerber just like
Nestle, until they change their ways.
