The Shady History of Nestle in Latin America (and the global south) Part One

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is
Estodias Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin American history.
Sometimes it's normal and deals with tywee topics like criticism, corruption,
and genocide. But more than that, it's also about resistance,
power and community. And today today it's all about corruption, corruption, corruption. Yes,

(00:35):
we're finally doing episodes on Nesli. Wait, you told me
this and I forgotten it, and I love the gasp.
I love how you were surprised. I have to say
before we get into the topic. One of the reasons
I begged, literally begged Carmen to do Estodia as a
known with me this podcast is because I wanted it

(00:55):
to talk about Neslie and what three years later, here
we are, literally my notes, three years later, here we are,
Oh wow, Yeah, I wanted to. I wanted to talk
about their horrible history in the global South, in our
case focusing on Latin America. Okay, and before I can
talk about the horrible things Nestli has done, which actually

(01:18):
we have already talked about it a little bit. But
it was Coca Cola. But Coca Cola is under Nestli.
But you talked about Coca Cola murdering all the union
people and allegedly but allegedly murdering allegedly but yes, Coca
Cola and its contractors, yeah, allegedly suppressing workers' rights and

(01:41):
labor union organizing with murder allegedly allegedly, but yes, in Colombia,
but also got the Mala. But you focus on Columbia,
so that is still under Nestli, like at the end
of the day, because that's under Nestlie, right. But yeah,
before I can talk about that, the that I want
to talk about, which does include killing babies for slavery,

(02:03):
modern slavery, child labor, stealing the water things, and then
the paramilitary groups that were union busting with murder allegedly,
I want to start the beginning of NESTLEI so we
can get context, and then I'm going to get into
the baby killing. This is depressing. Baby's dying because of
Nestley in the Global South mostly, but also I think

(02:26):
a lot of people by now have heard about I
think the formula thing, right, is what you're talking about. Yeah,
I think that is what a lot of people know about.
So that's this episode, and I don't think it's going
to be a very long part one, but I want
to talk about that in part one, and then in
part two I'm going to talk about how they didn't
really stop doing that, oh like like till now messing

(02:49):
with baby and it's not formula anymore. But you know,
like the drinks, the powdered drinks like ovaltine. Oh yeah, yeah,
you know, like where it's like for older kids to
get nutrients like a supplement. Yeah, like those kinds of
things now and also formula stuff. That's going to be
part two, okay, and in Latin America, but like and

(03:11):
I'll and obviously well we'll get into it. So but
that's this episode is just like the beginning of Nestli,
the horrible things they've done with infant formula up to
where all that people think it ended because it seems like,
oh we changed, but like really they didn't. But that's
part too. Does that make sense? Oh wow, yeah, no
I can't. I'm catching when you're putting down perfect Also,

(03:35):
I'm sure we'll get into it. But like Nestlie is,
I mean, we know how evil they are, but there's huge,
They're huge. Yeah, almost every drink you could think of
it is under them. Anyway, My point being that's so
hard to boycott them because of that. Yes, okay, so yes,
we're starting at the beginning of Nestli because like a
lot of ideas that became evil mega corporations, it didn't

(04:00):
out with bad intentions, or it doesn't seem like it
started with bad intentions, but we know they're evil, evil
because capitalism inherently makes every corporation evil because if you're
all about growth, growth, growth, it's going to come at
the expensive people and the environment. You know. True that.
So Nestli, the corporations and birth is a result of

(04:22):
two mergers and then a bunch of mergers, an insane
amount of acquisitions and mergers that make it the mega conglomerate. Yeah,
is that a conglomerate, conglomerate whatever it is, what it
is today? That was a series of an insane amount
of mergers and acquisitions. But it began with two. But
before that, it began with Onnried nest Lee And I

(04:42):
thought it was Henry because it's h E. N R I.
But it's on Reed. It's a fringe pew. Yeah, And
at least for this series, I'm only focusing on this
because again it's an initial of like two companies and
then like these like American Brothers. It's too much. I
don't give a fuck, but basically two companies. So I'm sorry,

(05:06):
I just don't like it's so boring to me, and
reading about all these mergers are like, fuck this not
writing any of this down anyway, Yeah, yeah, who cares
about that? So the two companies became the Anglo Swiss
Condensed Milk Company. One of these was Andri Neslie's Company,
and then the other we WI. And then the other

(05:26):
one was the Page Brothers Company. And that's the school
of a name, their fucking name. And this is the
original two mergers. But we're just focusing on Anri. So
Henri was born Heinrich Nesli on August tenth, eighteen eighteen,
in Frankfurt, Germany. A Leo, yes, a Leo and a
Swiss German. Oh was with Naven French? Oh no? Why

(05:50):
did I get French from my bad? No Swiss? I
got it because of the name Henri. Actually yeah. And
then I said we sounds friendly. We yeah, and then
we just kept going yeah Swiss German, my bad, no,
well scratch everything, we just like Brench and yeah, Frankfurt Germany.
He was the eleventh of fourteen children. God damn, well

(06:11):
that's what it was like. Yeah, yeah, that birth control. Yeah,
the dark times if you will. Yes. His parents were
Johann Ulrik Mattias Nestli and Anna Maria Karina Achaman. When
his father passed away, Heinrich inherited the family business. And

(06:32):
this business was in glazing. He was a glazier. And
this is a trades person whose job is to cut
and stall unremoved glass. Oh god, okay, well why was
that thing like a glazed donut? I honestly because we're
kind of we we like we like the donuts, you know,
stupid like donuts. All right, So I'm no same. This

(06:56):
business had been in the family for five generations goddamn
before was given to Heinrich. Five generalarys. Wow. Yeah, okay,
but I guess, like a typical Disney plot, he didn't
want to do the family business. Wow. So he didn't
do it. And before he turned twenty in eighteen thirty four,
he completed a four year apprenticeship under a pharmacist. I

(07:17):
don't know why, though, I mean, there's fourteen other kids,
so one of them could do one of them can
inherit and keep that family business going because yeah, and
for some reason that has been lost to history. In
between eighteen thirty four and eighteen forty he moved to Switzerland.
Here he was able to fully use his training, and

(07:38):
he was authorized to perform chemical experiments, write out prescriptions,
and sell medicines. And it was in this era of
his life that he changed his name from Heinrich to
Henri to better fit with the Swiss. I guess Heinrich
was too German. I mean, as soon as you said Heinrich,
I'm like, wait, is he German? Yeah? I mean yeah.

(08:00):
And Henri nest Lee was always chasing the bag, trying
to find a new thing to make money. He buy
into the region's production of wrap seeds. I don't know
that's how you say. That's not like seeds that were
made into oils. Basically, oh, okay, a production of nut oils,
rum and absinthe like liquor, okay, absinthe. Yeah. He then

(08:24):
began to manufacture and sell carbonated mineral water and lemonade.
At some point he left mineral water production and then
in eighteen fifty seven began to work on gas lighting
and fertilizers. Like this man has done it at all, Yes,
and again chasing that bag. What was going to make
him the most money it fuels? I don't know. Or
maybe he just had new interests. I don't know he

(08:45):
had ADHD. I know, ron maybe he had ADHD, and
it's not exactly known why or when he began to
work on infant formula. That's what he did. It seems
that maybe he was hearing about the ongoing intro mortality
rates because him and his wife were childless. Oh and

(09:09):
they I don't think they wanted children honestly, Okay, child
free Queen's oh my god, that's the word I was
looking for. Child free, I said, childless and that sounds
more depressing than child free. Well for some people, they
use childless. Okay, okay, but we don't know. We don't know. Yeah,
we don't know. But he started working on this, and

(09:30):
so maybe he thought an alternative to breast milk could
make him some serious money or save some serious amount
of lives. I don't know which one. Wow, I wish
I knew why not both? I want to know his
intentions right, well, where they start out? Evil or not? Right?
Because we don't know. There were different rumors on his
reasons for getting into this venture. Some say he washed

(09:52):
his neighbors struggle to feed her daughter and that was
his inspo, or that he just saw the world around
him that infants were dying. Well, you know what, it's true. Yeah,
back then there was no other option. It was either
you could you breastfeed, or the baby didn't eat and
the baby died. And not everyone can breastfeed, So exactly

(10:12):
why so many can? Well, besides the lack of breast control, Yeah,
it was people or babies didn't live past well as
if like five years. A lot of the time there
was like a high mortality rate for five and under. Yeah,
so who knows what his intentions were, But in all seriousness,
this was, like we were saying, a time of high
infantmortality mortality. Breastfeeding during this time was the ideal way

(10:35):
to feed babies because it was the only option, especially
for the poor. Because the rich they could choose to
hire wet nurses h and then of course in the
US force enslaved women to be wet nurses. However, we're
talking about Henri and Europe, so in this case, it
was hiring wet nurses and there was even a whole

(10:57):
regulated program in Europe for wet nursing. Really wow. Yeah,
And like in this program, a brunette women were preferred
to were the preferred women for to hire as a
wet nurse. Why over blondes or redheads, because they thought
that the milk of a brunette's woman was more nutritious

(11:18):
and balanced. Why though, I don't know, okay, brunettes, yeah, okay,
well when for us? Finally, although I time, I would
rather kill myself than be a wed. I mean doesn't
sound like fun. No, it sounds miserable. I mean some
people like it. It was miserable, little fucking but like

(11:39):
with their own kids, right yeah, yeah yeah. And so
the women in the wet nurse programs were chosen with
the utmost care because this was one of the most
important jobs. Okay, slain. They all lived in one building
together until their services were needed. M that's weird. Yeah,
that's a little weird. And nurses had to go through

(12:01):
routine health examinations and they were prohibited from nursing more
than one baby at a time. And with all these regulations,
there was not enough wet nurses for the need. I'm sure. Yeah,
And there was a clear, clear need for an alternative,
and so infants were starting to be I will add
here though I didn't write this on my notes, but

(12:22):
like during this time in Europe, it was like growing
less and less popular for rich people that could hire
wet nurses to do it just because they could. And
obviously it's a woman's choice, but now it's like this
thing where like well like a societal thing, not even
like a like a personal choice. It was like a
societal pressure to not wed nurse, which then made the

(12:42):
demand more and there still wasn't enough wet nurses. Like
maybe if they had I don't know, regulated a little
bit more and been like only if you absolutely need it,
But that's not what happened. That's such a it's a
tricky thing to say, though I will add on top
of that, I don't know, such a what like a
tricky trick I was gonna say. It reminds me of

(13:04):
what people say about sergacy now, because you know, you
have like rich people and celebrities that use services because
they don't want to quote ruin their bodies or put
their bodies through pregnancy, which obviously is a uh an experience.
If you will, Yeah, a physical experience if you will.

(13:26):
But there's also some people who can't carry pregnancies, and
so they opt for sergacy because it's one of their
only options. And then it's yeah, it's like a it's
a whole ethical question, like because is it something you
should pay for because it's inherently exploitative. I don't know,

(13:48):
I don't know. Yeah, pretty much the same argument for
a witnessing, like I see it very interesting, interesting to
say the least, which I will say the least, let
me come. So, yeah, there was a need for something else,
something different, and so infants were starting to be dry nursed,

(14:09):
which is they were fed cow's milk or goat milk
like animal milk, and these babies clearly struggled more than
breast of the babies because it's just like it's not
made for people, especially people that's small, that can't process
certain things. Also, arguably some of us were never meant
to drink milk. Yeah, doctors and scientists noticed that infants

(14:31):
who were given this unaltered animal milk or in other words,
raw milk. Yes, in other words, so babies that had
this unaltered or another words, fro raw milk had a
high mortality rate and were more likely more likely to
suffer from indigestion and dehydration. And scientists had been working
for a while to find a solution, and unread nest

(14:54):
Lee wasn't the first to try. Before him German scientists
Johann Frontz Simon or Simon, that has to be Simon,
Simon s Seaway Simon. He published the first chemical analysis
of human and cow's milk, which served as the basis
for formula. And this was in the eighteen thirties. And

(15:16):
why did I not write down the exact year. I
remember typing it. I don't know what happened anyway, I
didn't write it down, but it was in the eighteen thirties,
and so yeah, this was like a comparison of what
the breakdown of the differences of human and cow milk.
And so they found that cow milk had a higher
protein content and a lower carbohydrate content than human milk.

(15:37):
And so the new recommendation was to add water, sugar,
and cream to cow milk to make it more digestible
for babies. And that's what they were doing. This was
like the first version of formula. Interesting, so by eighteen
sixty German chemists Justice von Liebig libig Li big Li Big,

(15:58):
I don't know, developed the commercial formula and he Justice
just he was inspired to work on this when he
saw his favorite daughter, because yes he has favorites. Okay, ye,
at least he's admitting it, he is. He saw her
struggle to feed her baby ah, and so he claimed

(16:19):
that his granddaughter thrived on this new solution that he made.
And this was a powdered formula made from wheat flour,
cow's milk, multi flour, and potassium chloride. And this one
was meant to be added to heated cow's milk. But
when a skeptical French doctor tried to replicate this formula
to see if it really was the best alternative to

(16:40):
breast milk when you can't breastfeed, he found that infants
were dying. He stopped the experiments because they were dying.
Every c there was like five infant deaths. Oh no,
two were twins. So his granddaughter just got lucky. Then,
I think so, I think so. And you know that's
the tricky thing. I guess, like you had to like,
this had to be made. I mean, how do you

(17:01):
test this out? You know, exactly, and like this episode,
I don't want it to be taken as like, oh,
breastfeeding is the best, because no fed is best and
formula does really save one like if a woman can't
or like mentally but for different reasons specifically mentally can't breastfeed. Yes,

(17:21):
this is like the babies have to eat something like,
there's no denying that. And obviously things have to happen
in order for these things to have been made. But
then once they were made and once it was known,
like certain things were known, then like was there a
need to for this to be pushed so aggressively in
certain markets where maybe I wasn't the safest. That's the

(17:43):
purpose of this, not trying to like be like, oh
breast is best because no. Yeah. So, scientists kept working
on making formulas better, and this is where where Anria
Nestley comes back into the picture for us. Using already
existing work in this area, he created a new formula.
This formula was made with malt cow's milk, sugar, and

(18:05):
wheat flour. He also removed the acid and starch from
the flour because these were difficult for babies to digest,
and Nestle's new version was more accessible than Justice von
Liebigg's because it didn't need cow milk. They didn't need
to have cow and heat up the cow milk. This
just needed diluted water that needed to be boiled before

(18:30):
feeding babies. So yeah, more accessible, so soon freeing Lucktee
and Rey Nestle that's the name of them. The first
name Henry Nesley's Milk Flour, which said not the first
name was Kinder Milk or children Flour, and then it
became Onri Nestley's Milk Flour, which I guess sounds better

(18:52):
than children flour, children's flour maybe children flour. Yeah, anyway,
it was being sold all over Europe and then in
the eighteen seventies all over the US for fifty cents
a bottle. And in eighteen seventy five Andri NESTLEI retired,
but the Anglo Swiss Nestle In Corporation of course continued

(19:14):
and they continued and continued to grow. They added milk
based baby foods in eighteen seventy seven. Then in eighteen
seventy nine NESTLEI merged with Milk chocolate inventor Daniel Peter,
and so they're adding more products all the while their
formula market grew and grew, and at first Nestley, under

(19:36):
the wishes of Henri stated like in their official like
marketing like they stated formula should only be used when
absolutely necessary, and that breast milk was still best for
babies and so like it shouldn't be used just because
like for convenience. It should be an emergency or like
no other option type of thing. Yes, and that's what

(19:57):
they would say at first. Eventually, though, this line of
thinking and marketing would change for the worst, especially after
Henri Nestlei died because this was the messaging that he wanted. Yeah,
that's what he wanted. And so again I'm skipping about
Nestli the corporation growing. But nineteen oh one to nineteen
eighty nine, there's a series of insane mergers. Damn. During

(20:21):
World War Two, they get super super super rich. Nestle's
nest Cafe, which we all know was super successful. Again,
the coffee is just more accessible. You can like drink
it anywhere, and so it became it became the stable
drink for the US military. But it's also like the
staple coffee in Latin America, instant coffee and coffee. Yeah,

(20:44):
and also like it was the stable drink for the
US military. But Neslie was supplying both sides of the war,
because why not both sides? Yeah, both sides. And then
they acquired they acquired more brands in the nineteen eighties,
more acquisitions nineteen ninety to twenty eleven, which includes like
an insane amount of products that can't be stressed enough.

(21:07):
Santa Pelagreena, Hot Pockets, oval Teine, Gerber, Coca Cola. They're
like in almost everything. Yeah, it's scary, it should be illegal. Yeah,
I agree. But back to Nestley and infant formula. Andrie

(21:27):
Nestley died in eighteen ninety and within ten years of
his death, Nestlei the corporation began to notice that people
were preferring formula over breast milk, and they realized that
marketing formula as better than breast milk was the move
to make. This is how they were going to make
the most money, and so they were starting to say

(21:50):
instead that this was something that you should use because
it's better. So then Nestlei started to donate formula to
hospitals because there's always been situations in which infants cannot
be breastfed, like various reasons. Their parents that breastfeeds died
and now they don't have anyone to suckle like, they

(22:12):
don't have anyone to breast off of. Right, Maternal mortality
was even higher back then, right, yes, it was. These
doctors were not out here washing their hands and then
you know, yeah, sticking their hands everywhere, you know, Yeah,
so you know, the mamas they were dying for no,

(22:34):
but like, no, it was bad. That worst use of mamas,
the most cursed use of mama's. Yeah, you win, you
be every time I ever said mama, Okay, mama, mama,
let's live, mama, let's research. No, but like they were dying.
It was badly Yeah, it's really bad. So yeah, hospitals

(22:55):
needed formula for certain babies. But there was a catch.
The requirement by Nestle, and there was other manufacturers, but
I'm focusing on Neslie, but like Abbey was another one,
and like you know a few others, but Neslie was
the biggest one. The catch was that in order for
these hospitals in order to get the free formula, hospitals
needed to give free samples to all new mothers, not

(23:18):
just for the babies that needed it. And so during
this time, all yeah, all mothers, all people who just
gave birth were receiving formula. And during this time, the
doctor patient like trust a scale was way higher. So
if a doctor was handing out something, it was like
a medical endorsement, like, Yo, this must be good for
me if the doctor has given me this. And so

(23:42):
that's just one shady marketing practice. And this was like
it was done everywhere, including the US, but it was
bigger in the global South. Another super shady marketing practice
that they employed was the use of milkmaids. Do you
know what milkmaids were? No, Okay, they had other names.
That was just one of them. But these were saleswomen

(24:03):
who were dressed as nurses who would visit parents of
newborns in the hospital and then tell them this is
the best thing for your baby and give them formula. Wow,
it's like when you're crossing into false claims to sell more.
Obviously that's not right. Yeah, And then the dressing as

(24:28):
a nurse was intentional because this conveys like it it
lends credibility. Yes, yes, it's just like whenever pharmaceutical companies
would put it on a lab coat and yeah, but
they're not doctors and they didn't disclothes that they weren't
and so they were telling new mothers this and why
would people not believe this? For nurse right? Yeah. Yeah.

(24:51):
Another thing that was commonly done was for formula companies
to pay hospitals to design or upgrade buildings, and then
these buildings were made in a specific way where the
rooms where people where people were giving birth were further
away from where the babies were kept, thus encouraging formula
feeding because walking hungry, crying babies further away it was
not ideal and so they were that fucked up. Yeah,

(25:14):
the fuck it was. This was like super intentional. Wow.
And they also encouraged practices like separating babies from their
mothers right away and then giving them the baby a
bottle right away, and so then these babies were used
to a bottle and then they actually nursing and latching
onto a real nipple was confusing for them and they

(25:36):
couldn't do it and that she is stressful. So that
was another practice that was very common. That is such
growth behavior to be doing the yes, especially in the
Global South or Latin America like they like and Latin America,
I should say, like both. And so then you know,
the combination of handing out these free samples encouraged them

(25:57):
to be used. By the time this free sample was gone,
the baby was not used to latching and the formula,
more formula had to be bought. And then on top
of that, sometimes they would also hand out free vouchers
for them to trade for more formula. And when the
fat vouchers were gone, the babies they had no choice
but to continue feeding babies. But formula is expensive, it's

(26:19):
a expensive as fuck, and so then having to go
and buy that and then it runs out so fast. Yeah,
and so a lot of times in order to save money.
And not even this wasn't just the global South anymore.
This is also low income areas in the US. And uh,
what timeframe are we talking about here here? Now we're

(26:39):
in like this was this practice began like in the
nineteen nineteen thirties, and then we're up to like the
nineteen seventies. Now, wow, So it went on for a
long time, a long long time. And also like by
the time that the they needed a formula again, like
most of the time, the breast milk like dried out

(27:01):
by then, right, Yeah, it weren't. It's not like nowadays
where you have the technology and the little what are
those called, the little machines, oh to pump, Yeah, the
pumping things. Yeah, Like they weren't as common back then,
and even if they were, they weren't accessible to low income,
impoverished people. Yeah. And the thing is breastfeeding and breast

(27:26):
milk is that like you have to do it right
away and keep doing it, and that's how you get
your milk to come in, right and whenever this practice
of like taking babies away, you're never going to get
your breast milks to come in that way, Like it's impossible.
And these were mostly used in the Global South, like
you know, the Philippines, Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, all

(27:49):
these places, and low income communities in the US. And
that's just that's so insidious, it truly. Isley also gave
free samples to doctors, individual doctors, and then paid these
doctors to tell patients this was the safest thing to use.

(28:09):
And in all of these places, the Global South, Louncan communities.
In the US, doctors began to notice that infants who
were formula fed were far more sickly than other babies.
And that's not because one is better than the other,
but it's because of the way it was being used.
It wasn't the right way. Like these places had no
access to clean water or they had to stretch out

(28:32):
the use of formula, and so babies weren't getting enough
because they couldn't afford to keep buying it at the
normal pace you're supposed to keep feeding babies. Because they
would give free vouchers for a little bit, but they
didn't continue to give them. And that's why things like
not benefits and wick and food stamps are so vital

(28:52):
in the US and obviously everywhere, but like, these things
were just cut in the US. But that's what made
it worse in these areas. It's not that breast milk
is better, it's that it wasn't being used correctly, and
so infants were more sick. So yeah, these babies were
just more sick, severely underweight, or dying in bigger numbers.

(29:15):
And every source I read stated that millions of babies
have died these due to these aggressive marketing practices. One
source said that in nineteen eighty one of that year alone,
two hundred and twelve thousand infants died due to nesty
formula like misuse. Damn. A nineteen ninety one UNICEF reports

(29:36):
stated that one point five million babies in quote their
war countries end quote were dyed due to incorrect use
of nesting formula. So yeah, this is a yearly number
like that that shled adds up. Yeah. One nurse in
Peru stated that formula made its way to indigenous tribes
in Peru, but they lacked access to clean water and

(29:58):
infants were dying due to preparing formula with contaminated water.
And in Peru, Mexico, Chile, and again all over the
global South, this was a very common occurrence. Not only this,
but oftentimes when a baby didn't finish the bottle, it
would just be safe for later, usually at room temperature,
which we are not supposed to do, right, because then

(30:21):
bad bacteria grows and then babies get sick from this
and die. And this isn't the parents fall like at
all in these especially in these places because oftentimes instructions
on in formula bottles or for formula cans or in English, right,
and they were not translated to all these different languages ever,

(30:44):
and during this time period. And then on top of that,
a lot of these places, literacy rates were not that high, right,
so they're just handing out the sting and then not
telling people how to use it, and then it's being
used incorrectly. And then even if they did tell them
how to use it, like we were giving someone instructions
right after giving birth, like come on, right, like I'm

(31:04):
sorry about my brain, it did not work like right, yeah,
which most people would say the same, I imagine. Yeah,
And it's not inherent like knowledge for someone to know
how to use these things that they've never used before.
Even here, like how many times do you have the
people have to reread like you know, instructions, yeah, you know. Yeah.

(31:27):
So like take Chile for example, in Chile, by the
time these practices were in full use, like the nineteen seventies,
that's also there was a dictatorship going on in Chilet
at the time, right aside from that, but breastfeeding dropped
by eighty percent. That's didn't saying them out damn, Like
only twenty percent of babies were breastfit at two months

(31:49):
old in the nineteen seventies, Like I think this was
from nineteen seventy seven or so, and but you had
that all the money problems that were going on in
Chile during this time period, and then of course formula
couldn't be purchased like like we said, milk alone was
seventy percent of a family's income in Chile. Like hm,
we said that last episode, was it? Yes, yes, and

(32:12):
so add in this insidious practice of nesli, like of
course babies were gonna die, like yeah, and again we
already said it, but I put it in my notes here,
so I'll just say it again. This isn't to say
breast milk is better than formula. It is true that
in certain places formula is more risky, like in all

(32:33):
the places where the lack of clean water right Like
in all these places, formula is far more risky, especially
because it would have been far more cheaper to invest
in these countries and give mothers more food. If the
mothers had more food, then they would be they would
have enough nutrients themselves to produce their own properly breastfeed

(32:55):
if that had been if that had been invested in,
that would have been better. But that's not where the
money is for these corporations. They don't give a frink, right,
So no, that's not what happened. And all of these
shady ass practices were brought to light by this organization
who published the pamphlet titled Nestley Kills babies in some
places that's when they titled it, or did baby killer NESLEI, Wow, honestly,

(33:20):
either one is a good name. It grabs your attention.
It's honest. Yeah, it's factual, it's not slander. No, yeah,
I couldn't think of that word. I was gonna say thefamatory,
which could have been the same thing. Yeah. And this
came out in nineteen seventy four. It was the organization
in England who published it, but they translated it to

(33:42):
almost every single country like wow. And so then a
study by the Food and Agricultural Organization and WHO the
World Health Organization found that in global South countries where
the biggest sudden drop from breast milk to formula occurred,
the number of malnourished infants also grew. Like they saw

(34:02):
this study, then they went and were like, well, let's
check these claims out and yeah, like let's look into
this and it checks out. Wow, look at these numbers.
Oh no. And so this led to a pretty big
boycott of Nestli, which might have been easier than nineteen
eighties because they they had their hands in less things. Yeah.
This boycott, though that was called for in this time period,

(34:25):
is still being called for today. But now today you
can add way more shit than just the infant formula,
which we'll get into a part two. Yeah. And so
as a result of these boycotts and like some places
changing like laws, Nesli did change some practices. They no
longer used milkmaid, They had to like announce who these

(34:46):
salespeople were. Some hospitals didn't allow them in anymore at all.
But Nestlie then changed what they were like outside of
the hospital, waiting for mothers with babies and arms to
like go harass them about giving them like samples. Wow,
so they were doing that instead, but it was already
an improvement from having them dressed as nurses. I mean,

(35:06):
yeah who. The World Health Organization also began to give
new guidelines, especially in the Global South, where they said
mothers should avoid formula and exclusively breastfeed in the first
six months of life. But again, this is such a
hard thing to do in a place where you have
to work, right, or were you not getting enough nutrients, yes,

(35:28):
but for yourself, yeah, which in a lot of cases
is the global selth. Yeah, and so a lot of places.
Once all of this was brought to light, they quickly
changed what they were doing. Costa Rica and the Philippines
both changed hospital practices where babies were no longer separated
from mothers right away, and infant mortality dropped dramatically once

(35:51):
they started doing this. I just can't believe they allowed
a fucking corporation to tell them, yeah, or encourage them
for their hospital policies like that. It's crazy. You should
never have been allowed in the first place, right, Yeah,
but I guess when they're funding these builds and not built,
that's true, their buildings and yeahs and whatever else and
upgrades that they desperately need. That is so it's capitalism,

(36:14):
man like, Yeah, capitalism all along. Seriously, that's why we
were going to name that podcast this in the first place. Yeah,
that's what inspired it. Yes, truly, like diarrhea diseases dropped
by ninety one percent within four years of changing these practices. Wow. Wow.
But contrary to what many believe, they said they changed

(36:38):
these shady practices and on paper everything looked better, But
these practices in Latin America continue today, and that's going
to be impart two. Oh my god, Yes that I
didn't know about that. This is going to be a
new information for you because I thought this was all past. No, no,

(37:02):
they are still doing it almost this exact thing is
still happening as far like twenty sixteen. Oh wow, in
Latin America. And so yeah, that's gonna be part two,
along with other things, like I was talking about the
ovaltine and Needle is the other one. But also not
only that, like Carmen already did the Coca Cola episode

(37:24):
where they were working with paramilitary groups, right right, so
you know that was another thing, but also like Flint
and the water crisis in Flint is tied to Nesley.
And I'm not going to get too into that because
that's not Latin America, but I will mention it. I
am talk a little bit about it. I was gonna say,
we also talked about Coca Cola, who is apparently undoering Nesli, Yes,

(37:48):
and stealing water in Mexico. Yes, that's what I was
gonna say, but not just Mexico, California and Oregon. Uh.
I didn't know about that either, yes, it's it's a
lot like when you look at everything and you're like,
when does it stop? Like I don't fucking know, I
don't know, damn, damn, damn. And what was the other

(38:11):
thing working with? Oh, modern slavery and child labor, that's
the other one. Okay, I knew about that, yeah as well. Well,
all he's service level. Yeah then all of that. Yeah,
it's going to be a part two. So yeah, all right,
So I guess this wraps up today's episode, right, Yes,
it does. There's something you want to add, well, I

(38:34):
will add like, I know this wasn't super Latin America focused,
but I wanted like a general overview. I guess it
was a little bit because no, I think it makes
sense and usually will do that whenever we have like
a series. Yeah, but yeah, and yeah, I wanted like
a bigger like where did the start? Yeah, and how
far it has swayed, like not swayed straight straight? Yeah
from nrinas Lee and his original intentions. Honestly, just the

(38:59):
fact that these this has started and grew ten years
after he passed for me, that tells me that that's
not what his intentions were at all. You know what
I mean so right, yeah, because it seemed like they
were waiting for that bitch to die. Yeah, like, bitch go,
we have money to do here, old man, like, yeah,

(39:20):
we have money to make and and yeah, that shit
is insidious and it's scary, it's horrible, and so yeah,
I don't think there's anything else to add other than
that if you want to keep up on like current
you know, events like immigration things, executive orders, but us

(39:43):
complaining about about them like that, Like that's how you're
getting this news that were like yelling and streaming and
kind of God, no it's not your first source and yeah,
hopefully not, but you know what it can be anyway.
Point us. We do all that over on Patreon. Also
once in a while we talk about like TikTok drama
and internet drama, but lately it's really been heavy, right,

(40:08):
And part of the proceeds from Patreon do go to
helping usually immigrant kind of organizations, like we did lately.
We did the car Washers. It's in a show notes
the exact name of it, but it's a group that
has been donating groceries to car washers because they have
in the most targeted groups for deportations in La County

(40:31):
and so that's what we did last time, and I've
been doing it for Spooky Tales. But if you send
us a screenshot of your donation, I will send you.
We have two stickers. One that just says historian has
a known and then and it's not like logo, and
the other one is from our Monzanto series. It says
all the homies hate Monzanto. We're gonna do Anslie sticker
as well. Yeah, all the homies hate Neslie and we

(40:51):
also should also add all the homies hate La Migra
to that, so we'll send those. I still have to
make the mega ones, but yeah, well we'll on those.
Just names Screenshaw, you donated that influenced all in the
show notes, and I think that's it. Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
Other than that, I hope that this was one half

(41:12):
of a lessnown that it makes that doesn't make sense.
It's part what this was one lesson say, I know
for you? Yes, all right, bye bye. Estoria's ANNWN is
produced by Carmen and Christina, researched by Carmen and Christina,
edited by Christina. You can find sources for every episode

(41:32):
at unknown dot com and in our show notes. Creating
the podcast has a lot of work, so if you
want to help us out financially, you can do so
by supporting us on Patreon at patreon dot com. Slash
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Shady History of Nestle in Latin America (and the global south) Part One