ACTION ALERT: CODE VIOLATIONS AT SICK KIDS
February 16,
2005
Firstly, our heartfelt thanks to everyone who took the time to write to the
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) regarding the sponsorship of
it's Pediatric Nutrition Day by Nestlé and Mead Johnson. Our efforts have been
successful and the event has been cancelled. According to Luce Lavoie, CHEO's
Director of Public Relations:
"If we were giving the perception of not
being supportive of breastfeeding, that was not our intent. The event won't
take place. Obviously an interesting and important perspective was brought
forward, and we will most certainly consider that perspective in the future."
Some of our active members have made us aware of an equally serious
International Code violation. Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children is hosting
a workshop for health professionals entitled Building Blocks for Paediatric
Growth and Nutrition on May 16, sponsored by Nestlé Nutrition, Mead Johnson,
and Abbot Ross. The workshop is being run through the Specialty Food Shop, a
store owned and operated by the hospital.
The CHEO has already had to cancel its sponsorship agreement, and there is
good reason to expect concerted action will encourage Sick Kids to do the
same. This is an excellent opportunity to show our concerns regarding the
practices of the formula companies to influence infant feeding information to
health professionals and use the credibility of a prestigious institute, like
the Hospital for Sick Children, as a means to enhance the image of their
products. Using the health care system to promote their products is
prohibited under the WHO International Code as this undermines breastfeeding
and endangers infant health.
Help to make one of Canada's most well-known hospitals a little more
baby-friendly. Please send letters of objection to Mary Jo Haddad, CEO of
Sick Kids, care of Public Affairs at
public.affairs.dept@sickkids.ca and to the Specialty Foods Shop at
sfs@sickkids.ca.
Click here to reference INFACT Canada's letter.
If you write your own, some points to note are:
* The manufacturers of infant formula products should not provide sponsorship
or other financial incentives to influence those working in infant and young
child health. Such sponsorships create conflicts of interest.
* The hospital has the mandate to promote and support the highest attainable
standard of health for infants and children and this is through the protection
and support of breastfeeding.
Respectfully requests that the Hospital for Sick Children:
* Cancels its sponsorship agreement with Mead Johnson, Abbot Ross and Nestlé,
* Removes the Mead Johnson, Abbot Ross and Nestlé corporate names and logos
from the registration form and/or course materials,
* Removes references to corporate sponsors as "generous sponsors",
* Severs its "education links" between said "generous sponsors" and hospital
staff,
* Commits to full compliance with the World Health Organization's
International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes to protect
breastfeeding and infant and young child health.
15 February 2005
Mary Jo Haddad
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Hospital for Sick Children
555 University Avenue
Toronto, ON
M5G 1X8
Dear Ms. Haddad:
It has come to the attention of INFACT Canada that your hospital is hosting a workshop for health professionals entitled Building Blocks for Paediatric Growth and Nutrition on May 16. It is our understanding that the event is being sponsored by Nestlé Nutrition, Mead Johnson, and Abbot Ross. The workshop is being run through the Specialty Food Shop at Sick Kids.
Mead Johnson, Nestlé and Abbot Ross are all manufacturers of infant formulas and infant food products that come under the scope of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. All three companies are in major breach of this Code in Canada and globally, and thereby put the health of infants and young children at risk because of their promotion of inappropriate feeding practices. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 million babies die annually because they are not breastfed. This sponsorship of the Building Blocks for Paediatric Growth and Nutrition workshop being hosted by Sick Kids violates the provisions of the Code.
Specifically, WHA Resolution 49.15 (2) states in its opening paragraphs,
“Concerned that health institutions and ministries may be subject to subtle pressure to accept, inappropriately, financial or other support for professional training in infant and child health;
And urges member states to take the following measures:
(2) to ensure that the financial support for professionals working in infant and young child health does not create conflicts of interest, especially with regard to the WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative;
(3) to ensure that monitoring the application of the International Code and subsequent relevant resolutions is carried out in a transparent, independent manner, free from commercial influence;
This resolution has been re-affirmed in the current World Health Organization executive Board resolution EB115/7 (4), adopted January 24, 2005, which requires that,
“…financial support for professionals working in infant and young child health does not create conflicts of interest;
The International Code was designed to encourage and protect breastfeeding and to remove commercial pressure from infant feeding decisions. This pressure has been shown to interfere with independent advice by health professionals who guide parents in decisions about infant feeding.
Because the health care system has a unique mandate to protect infant health, the International Code requires that hospitals not be used as a conduit for the promotion of feeding practices that may prove to be harmful. The decision to breastfeed carries with it significant health implications for both mother and child. As a consequence, the Code stipulates that the provision of information regarding infant and young child feeding is the responsibility of governments, independent non-governmental organizations and the public health care system, NOT the infant foods industry.
A publicly funded hospital such as the Hospital for Sick Children has the responsibility to provide the highest attainable standard of health for infants and young children under the terms of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 24, Section 1). The Canadian Government ratified this document in 2000.
In light of all of the above, INFACT Canada respectfully requests that the Hospital for Sick Children:
· Cancels its sponsorship agreement with Mead Johnson, Abbot Ross and Nestlé,
· Removes the Mead Johnson, Abbot Ross and Nestlé corporate names and logos from the registration form and/or course materials
· Removes references to corporate sponsors as “generous sponsors”,
· Severs its “education links” between said “generous sponsors” and hospital staff
· Commits to full compliance with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes to protect breastfeeding and infant and young child health.
I enclose, for your reference, “Fourteen Risk of Formula Feeding”, which provides evidence-based information about the risks associated with artificial feeding.
Sincerely,
Elisabeth Sterken
National Director, BSc, MSc, Nutritionist
Encl.
cc: Helen Simeon, Director, Public Affairs
Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh, Minister of Health
George Smitherman, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
Marsha Sharp, Chief Executive Officer, Dietitians of Canada
INFACT Canada’s Board of Directors
A member of the IBFAN Network, recipient of the 1998 Right Livelihood Award,
“for vision and working forming an essential contribution to making life more whole, healing our planet and uplifting humanity.”