The global perspective -- a bit of a rant (warning: infant death discussed)
I'm wondering if those who think Medela should be exempted from Code compliance b/c they only market stand-alone bottles and teats but not artificial baby milk fully understand the purpose and scope of the Code and the rationale for including bottles and teats in its language.
The 1981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and the rest of the policy framework of which it forms a key part, isn't really designed with you, the North American consumer, in mind. We are sufficiently privileged that even if we do not breastfeed, our children will almost certainly survive to adulthood. The Code's primary field of concern is with infant feeding as a global health issue. Try reading through
the Code with that concern in mind.
Here's another good read -- the
1990 Innocenti Declaration and its follow-up policy document, the
Innocenti Declaration 2005.
Why was another document like this written 15 years after the first one? Because, sadly, so little has changed since 1981 and 1990.
The world (by which I mean governments, corporations, and other powerful institutions in society) knows exactly what it needs to do to increase exclusive breastfeeding rates and save the lives of thousands of babies every day. Most of the world simply refuses to do it. Marketing not just artificial baby milk but also feeding apparatuses like bottles and teats is a huge part of the problem. This is why these items are included in the Code.
Selling bottles and teats to mothers is one step towards disrupting their breastfeeding relationship and selling them artificial baby milk. How many of us here on the lactivist board would think it's a swell idea to give an expectant mother who intends to breastfeed a nice set of bottles, teats, and pacifiers at her baby shower? We know this is not supportive of breastfeeding and that just having them in the house makes it more likely that breastfeeding will fail.
Now imagine how much the risk to the baby's health is increased if that mother doesn't have access to clean water, electricity, or decent medical care. Even if it's breastmilk going in the bottles (which it likely would not be), if the bottles and nipples become contaminated with the fecal matter that is endemic in most of the world's water supply, what's going to happen to the baby who drinks from those bottles and teats? There's a greatly increased risk of that baby becoming seriously ill and dying -- directly due to the use of bottles and teats as a substitute for at-the-breast breastfeeding.
But what does any of this have to do with you, the North American lactivist, who is so privileged you can take for granted 24/7 access to clean water, electricity, etc.?
One of the most powerful provisions of the Code is that it vests nongovernmental organizations with the responsibility to help enforce the Code by monitoring the actions of corporations that produce and sell artificial baby milk, bottles, teats, etc. Ideally, governments will pass and enforce laws to require these companies to be Code compliant. But the Code recognizes that not all governments will cooperate, and so it empowers advocacy groups (like, say, La Leche League International) to be part of the solution by watching companies (like, say, Medela) and using whatever means they have at their disposal to pressure them to adhere to the Code.
The formula makers would absolutely love to get in good with the breastfeeding organizations around the world. Why? For the very same reasons that formula makers love to co-opt hospital maternity wards into their marketing plans. Any organization that works with mothers and babies and is seen as a trusted source on breastfeeding is powerfully attractive to formula makers. If they can somehow worm their marketing message into our educational materials ... or if they can get us to let them pay our bills, thereby gaining influence over what our materials say about their products ... they can sell more stuff AND hamstring their main competitor -- breastfeeding -- all at the same time.
Medela is just the latest example in almost 30 years of this little game. Nestle, Ross Labs, all the big formula makers, have been working this way for decades now. The people who wrote the Code knew it and the people who 28 years later are still trying to enforce the Code know it because they see it happening every day. Please don't let warm fuzzy feelings about Medela's excellent breastpumps blind you to this historical and global context.
Medela can sell its bottles and teats just fine without marketing them as stand-alone products in violation of the Code. They're not the victims here, and LLL is not the bad guy. Also, this is NOT about LLL or any other breastfeeding advocate pitting SAHMs against working-and-pumping mothers in North America. This is about babies dying unnecessarily in large numbers in most of the rest of the world.
