Whats the Nestle "hate" all about?

[Trillian]

I buy Australian Made and owned products where possible, so apart from coffee (which is DH's preferred brand atm) there isn't a lot of nestle that I buy thankfully. No one is saying that anyone has to go completely Nestle free, but think about the things that are important to you. Maybe the whole formula issue isn't a worry for you, but saving orangutans might be at the top of your priorities kwim? Every little bit that you do makes a little bit of difference and in the grand scheme of things it probably wont damage their bottom line, but surely the pay off is your conscience? That you know that you aren't contributing to it? That may not be by purchasing products but what you do as a whole - like Maz said, she does a lot in different ways to those not using Nestle.

The big thing for me is that when Cadbury briefly changed their recipe to use palm oil, the people spoke and they stopped that practice so they get reps for at least listening to their customers but Nestle wont budge, they just don't give a ****.

[wysiwyg]

I didn't realise until went to the Zoo (MEL) recently that currently food manufacturers do not have to label palm oil as palm oil and are therefore not giving people the choice as to whether they want to buy products with palm oil in or not. The Zoo are running a campaign to try and get legislation changed so that palm oil must be labelled as palm oil so that we can then all choose whether we want to purchase products containing it. If you google palm oil action there is information on how you can identify unlabelled palm oil if you want to avoid it.

[Trillian]

Traveller, it was only a few years ago that Nestle got their grubby paws on Uncle Toby's. My Aunty works for them in Wagunyah and I joke about her working for baby killers LOL.

[BellyBelly]

Heaps of info in our ethical living forum: Ethical & Aware Living - Pregnancy, Birth & Baby Forums ~ BellyBelly. Here are the brands to avoid and why. https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...avoid-why.html

A list of corporate crimes by Nestle, include:

Unethical Marketing of Artificial Baby Milk
Exploiting Farmers
Union Busting
Promotion of GM Food
The Ethiopia scandal
Illegal extraction of groundwater
Pollution
Pyres of Burning Animals
Fraudulent Labeling
Perpetuating Sexism
Promoting unhealthy food
Promoting untested nano-technology
Backlashing against Fairtrade

Yes the Palm Oil thing, check out the short clip on THIS page. Nestle lobbied very hard and got it removed from YouTube. Cadbury stopped using palm oil already due to consumer demand. Nestle say they need til 2015 to stop using it?! What, til the orangutan population has gone?

They are well known for bribery and marketing of formula in third world countries. Picture this: doctor/midwife/nurse tells mother in the Philappines that formula is better than breastmilk and she should try these samples. Mother goes home thinking she's doing something wonderful for her child. She only has dirty, grotty water to make up the formula. Baby gets diahorrea, or worse, even dies. Or, mother gets home, milk has dried up and she cannot afford formula for her baby, and can no longer breastfeed. Or if she can afford it, it costs their entire family salary each month. The WHO estimates that 1.5m babies die every year due to not being breastfed.

Doctors get bribed with air con units, trips, and in poorer areas even food. This unicef mini documentary explains it all: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...countries.html

Then there is the Ethiopia scandal: "Just before Christmas 2002, Oxfam revealed that Nestlé was demanding millions of dollars in compensation from Ethiopia – precisely when the country was in the midst of an extreme drought that put over 11 million people at risk for starvation."

The list goes on. This company is pure evil.

[Nelle]

It's not "hate" like I hate the people who work for them, but knowing about their unethical practices in regard to their aggressive promotion of baby formula in countries where it is just NOT in the best interests of the families, in fact, their careless marketing leads to so many deaths - I can't do nothing.

So I boycott (and have for ages) anything I know to be Nestle. I don't want my money going there if I can help it - obviously there might be a product or brand I don't know about, though I try to educate myself. But I figure boycotting most of Nestle is better than not doing anything.

It's not that hard either, I loved Milo, but have learned to really like (even prefer) other chocolate drinks. I loved Aero but gave it up (and almost cried with happiness when Cadbury Bubbles came out!). Anyway, this is not about how saintly I am, but more about - if I can do it, probably anyone can. It doesn't work out any more expensive to prefer other products either, in my experience.

And as others have said, even to be pro-active, rather than reactive, that's a good thing too - like to be proactive about preferring Australian made and owned to support Australian industry and farming, or to prefer to buy fair trade things. And that's just the stuff that benefits humans (which is my thing). And of course there are options we can choose from that support responsibility regarding the environment too.

[kirsty_lee]

Just a question re; the orangutans. Does that mean everyone is going to throw out their mobile phones too? Its a pretty well known fact that heaps of gorillas and orangatans die due to forests being cleared to get materials used in cell phones

Militias have seized large chunks of gorilla land and logged and mined it. They have done so because the illegal trade in timber and in metals such as gold and coltan -- used in cell phones -- generates between $14 million and $50 million a year for them.

[maz]

They are well known for bribery and marketing of formula in third world countries. Picture this: doctor/midwife/nurse tells mother in the Philappines that formula is better than breastmilk and she should try these samples. Mother goes home thinking she's doing something wonderful for her child. She only has dirty, grotty water to make up the formula. Baby gets diahorrea, or worse, even dies. Or, mother gets home, milk has dried up and she cannot afford formula for her baby, and can no longer breastfeed. Or if she can afford it, it costs their entire family salary each month. The WHO estimates that 1.5m babies die every year due to not being breastfed.

Doctors get bribed with air con units, trips, and in poorer areas even food. This unicef mini documentary explains it all: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...countries.html

OK now im getting educated thanks Kell.

Why does the government in these area's allow it? why arent these ********s being repremanded by the humanitarian's in these countries.
OMG at the doctors and nurses!!!! I can beleive people would do something so stupid for materialisic gain

As for my post early this morning what I was trying to say in my jibberish sleepy state was that even little things make a differnece (as Trill pointed out for me ) even if they are different to others and soryr little bit of passion coming out in what I believe in come through in my post. Yes im passionate about what I do to and I dont talk about it often as I hear people :rolling eye: all the time and I dont like to feel like Im throwing my beliefs down others throats. There is so much I dont understand about how some people do things half heartedly for one cause while going full hog for another when they all have the same outcome....its usefull having thread like this to enlighten some of us mushrooms now and then

[Inanna]

Maz my love when you are starving you will do just about anything... (referring to the medical staff)...
Humanitarian activists are thin on the ground in many third world countries. People are just struggling to survive themselves. YK?

It's a real toughy. That's why I believe us in our incredibly opulent and wealthy society need to throw our shoulders to the door...

[BellyBelly]

Law in some countries isn't the best Maz and there are companies like Nestle ready and waiting to pounce on the holes that let them get away with it. Hence why people like us - consumers - need to speak up and vote with our feet. My feet say no damn Nestle! It is very hard when they own or part own so much, like Ski yoghurt, The Body Shop, Loreal, San Pellegrino, Vittel... so many unsuspecting brands. But it's worth it. If consumers can bring a big company like this to its knees, what does that say about people power vs the big corporates.

Yes there are sustainable plantations but Nestle want til 2015 to change from what they are using - thats pathetic! Its not just about palm oil either. People are reaching out to these poor orangutans but hey, what about the millions of dead babies that die? The water thing where Nestle sells public water and sues those who oppose their practices? All the other scandals that got out due to employee whistleblowers, for which we should be forever grateful. Without them, we'd know so little about these terrible companies.

[Daydream Believer]

There are now sustainable palm oil plantations, which noone has mentioned in this thread, all of which have to meet WWF guidelines. If Nestle want to keep using palm oil they should switch to that.
As far as their formula in third world countries, they should shove it up their backsides & donate their money instead!
ETA- http://www.greenpalm.org/about-palm-...nable-palm-oil

[farmageddon_t]

Nestle are unethical on just so many levels, from their baby milk scandal to using palm oil &
the worst forms of child labour in their chocolate bar production. I have been blogging on these issues for some time, if you want to have a look my blog is blogscrambled.com.
I also boycott Coca-cola for their unethical conduct as well, and any other company that uses the very dangerous, chemical sweetener aspartame, which is being put into so many products these days, including Robinsons fruit shoots e.t.c. It should be banned but, sadly is now being re branded as a natural sweetener ( that has meth alcohol as one of it's components ) and is put into so many products that are branded especially for very young children. It is a travesty, that these companies are doing all they can to get kid's ( hooked ) onto their products from such a very early age & make themselves out to be child friendly.
Aspartame: Sweet Misery A Poisoned World