In 1977, about 20 people in Minneapolis decided to do something about the rise in death rates for children from poor, mostly African countries. They were appalled by the marketing tactic of the Nestlé Corporation for their baby infant formula.
Nestlé went on an all-out effort to convince new African mothers that breast feeding was not supplying the proper nourishment to their infants. Nestlé sent sales representatives dressed as doctors and nurses to hold nutrition clinics in these very poor countries. The new mothers were supplied with about a month of free formula to feed their infants. When the free formula was finished, most new mothers found that they no longer were lactating and had to buy formula. The cost of the formula was so expensive that it often totaled the monthly food budget for the entire family. Mothers started to water down the formula and the result was that babies got sick and many died.
The formula was meant to be full strength. Many of these families lived in areas that did not have safe, abundant, potable water. The disease and death rates for infants skyrocketed. And so, in 1977, these 20 Minnesotans organized the first of the nation’s Nestlé boycott. The boycott grew to be nationwide and eventually worldwide. The boycott was so successful that when our young son and daughter went trick-or-treating, there was not even one Nestlé candy product in their collections.
In 1981, the United Nations voted on a set of world standards for the selling and distributing of infant baby formula. The entire UN General Assembly voted on the standards and only two countries voted against it – Switzerland (the home of the Nestlé Corporation) and the United States. President Reagan ordered our UN ambassador to vote against this standard because it was “anti-business.” Citizens of the United States and the world took a stand for children even if two governments did not.
Today we live in a different America where there is no loud and boisterous cry from the Republican Party, the religious community, and other civic leaders, to get the food that has already been purchased by USAID into the hands and mouths of the starving children and families for whom it was bought. While Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar have urged the administration to get that food delivered, there has been silence from Rep. Pete Stauber. And, sadly, there has been silence from the citizens who have elected those who now hold power to save the lives of these poor people. What kind of “Great America” is this?
Andrew Urban
Eagles Nest Township