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Nestle and child labour

(10 Posts)
AlisonMA Sun 01-Jul-12 10:15:01

When it will just be a PR excercise then they will continue with their unethical policies. They didn't learn from the formula milk thing and they never will, it is all about profit and nothing else. I don't usually go in for boycotting anything but I will not use their products - ever- and even take my own instant coffee when I go to hotels in case theirs is Nestle. I used to work for them, I know what they are like!

whenim64 Sat 30-Jun-12 11:49:31

It seems Nestle have had an unwritten policy of being passive about child labour being used by farmers in areas like the Ivory Coast, and they have turned a blind eye when making quality checks if it isn't staring them in the face. Now they have a more robust plan to stamp it out on the farms that they use, so it has hit the headlines again. We'll see whether they mean it, but meanwhile I will not buy their products (I still think twice before buying South African apples - it takes a long time to forget apartheid).
Here's Nestle's action plan:

www.nestlecocoaplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Action_Plan_for_FLA_-cocoa_report.pdf

crimson Sat 30-Jun-12 11:24:13

Yes, I remember how annoyed I was at that. And also Margaret Thatcher being involved in seling cigarrettes to third world countries, something that I hold against her far more than her policies in this country [which is saying something]. Slipped under the radar at the time and remains buried in the mists of time..but not mine.

AlisonMA Sat 30-Jun-12 11:24:07

Yes Vampire and also because they coudn't afford the formula milk which they were initially given free, they diluted the formula to make it go further and some of their babies died. They have very good PR to overcome these things but all they care about is the bottom line, not people or animals.

vampirequeen Sat 30-Jun-12 11:09:03

I never forgave them for the way they sold baby formula in the developing world. They made breast feeding women feel they weren't caring for their babies properly because bottle feeding was the way we did it in the developed world. What they didn't tell these poor women was that a lot of women in the developed world did breast feed and that we had access to sterilisers and clean water. The baby formula was also very expensive. So poverty stricken woman spent money they couldn't afford on milk that wasn't as good as the breast milk they could provide and was more likely to make their babies ill due to cleaniness issues. Also a lot of these women were illiterate so couldn't read the instructions which led to babies being given mixtures that were too strong or too weak.

nanaej Fri 29-Jun-12 14:27:29

I now use Liz Earle toiletries and cosmetics as the company ethics seem to be good!

AlisonMA Fri 29-Jun-12 14:05:11

They will do anything for profit and turn a blind eye to what is going on. FYI they are 50% owners of L'oreal and Body shop so I boycott those too.

When the petcare division was thinking of new offices it had plans for a dog creche in the basement until some staff made their views known!

In case you didn't know Purina is Bestle.

absentgrana Fri 29-Jun-12 13:43:08

Not the first time and probably not the last when the finger is pointed at Nestlé for unethical practice.

nanaej Fri 29-Jun-12 13:33:14

Not a lot!
I do try to buy lotsof Fairtrade chocolate.

However for other items so many brand names are now part of other conglomerates that it is hard to know , when in the supermarket aisle, who owns what!
At one point in the past I thought my kids would get scurvy as I was boycotting so much stuff it was hard to find fruit i felt was ethically sound for me to buy.. but now it is even trickier.

Lever Bros own masses, Veolia run all sorts of services....and I am not sure their credentials stand up to much scrutiny..and there will be other companies too confused However I can do 'no Kitkats'!

AlisonMA Fri 29-Jun-12 13:08:09

Just heard this on the news. Is there anything ethical about this company?