Note from APHA: APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP (E), addresses the Nestlé boycott and the importance of breastfeeding in the letters section of the March issue of The Nation’s Health. This article was written before that response was published.

APHA's Breastfeeding Policy, newly updated and reconfirmed, clearly supports the protection, promotion and support for optimal infant and young child feeding, and continues to support the standing policy: boycotting Nestle and not accepting funding from any formula manufacturer or distributor that violates the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.  Despite this standing policy, APHA accepted a major exhibit by Nestle at the 2007 Annual Meeting.

When presented with this serious breach of trust, APHA Executive Director Dr. Georges Benjamin stated that this was entirely his error, and that he would make an effort to apologize to the membership and to right the situation through improved communication on this issue in an APHA publication.

To date, there has been neither a public statement of apology, nor coverage in The Nation's Health. The only mention of the Nestle Exhibit in The Nation's Health was a note that APHA had awarded it first prize for private industry exhibits. 

The continued sidestepping of this issue should be considered unacceptable by membership; the executives' role must be to maintain the duly endorsed policies, approved by the Governing Council and on record as member policy.