Nestlé to be exposed by gathering of human rights campaigners in Edinburgh

Nestlé, the world's largest food company, is to be exposed for malpractice including aggressive marketing of baby foods, trade union busting,environmental destruction and exploitation of suppliers as experts present evidence at a public meeting in Edinburgh, 23 October, 13:00 - 17:30.
The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), celebrating 25 years of campaigning to protect infants and their families, will present monitoring results gathered in 69 countries, which show Nestlé continues to be the worst of the baby food companies in pushing artificial feeding over breastfeeding. While Nestlé is the target of a 20-country boycott for this malpractice, there are other concerns about its activities, which experts will expose. Mark Ballard MSP, will introduce an international panel.
Workshops will focus on exposing the malpractice highlighted in the
presentations and an adjoining exhibition and promoting the boycott of
Nestlé (including of the Nestlé Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Representatives of the corporate-free Tap Water Awards for outstanding artists at the Edinburgh Fringe will take part and there will be an interlude for entertainment.

The Brazilian Citizens' Movement for Water will explain its involvement in winning a legal action against Nestlé over the environmental destruction caused by Nestlé Perrier's water bottling operation in the historic spa town of São Lourenço. Despite promising the judge and a hearing in the House of Representatives that it would close down its operations this month, Nestlé has increased the volume it is pumping, which has already damaged medicinal springs in the town's water park.

The Colombia Solidarity Campaign will describe how trade unionists have been targeted by paramilitary death squads after being labelled as enemies of the company and "personae non gratae" by Nestlé Colombia executives.

Together with coffee growers' organisations in producing countries, Oxfam International is running a campaign attempting to persuade governments, multilaterals and coffee roasters, including Nestlé, to pay a decent wage to suppliers and will present information about this. Information on this will be available.

Campaigners will discuss strategies for taking action against Nestlé
malpractice. The meeting is being conducted jointly with Simpol-UK, which is developing policies for holding corporations to account in the Simultaneous Policy, and Edinburgh University People and Planet group.

The meetings arise from a similar gathering in Nestlé's home town of Vevey, Switzerland, in June 2004, hosted by the Berne Declaration,
Attac-Switzerland and Greenpeace Switzerland where Attac-Switzerland
launched a book exposing the 'Nestlé empire'.

For further information contact: Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking
Coordinator, Baby Milk Action, 23 St. Andrew's Street, Cambridge, CB2 3AX.
Tel: 01223 464420.
Mobile: 07986 736179.
Email: mikebrady@babymilkaction.org