THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DID WHAT?

US threatened Ecuador with trade sanctions if they backed a UN resolution encouraging breastfeeding

By Ariel Zilber

Daily Mail
July 9, 2018

The United States has been accused of ‘blackmail’ after it threatened to cut aid to Ecuador and other poor countries who backed a resolution encouraging breastfeeding.

Earlier this year, countries sent diplomats to Geneva for a meeting of the World Health Organization, the UN-affiliated organization.

At the conference, Ecuador sponsored a proposal that recognized mother’s milk as the healthiest option for nursing newborns.

The resolution also called on world governments to crack down on marketing which says that substitute baby formulas are better and to ‘protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.’

But when the Trump administration failed to convince member states to water down the language about breastfeeding and formulas, it resorted to threats, according to The New York Times.

The administration told Ecuador that if it did not pull its resolution, it would respond by cutting military aid and adopting harsh, retaliatory trade measures.

Ecuador capitulated and did as the Americans demanded, The Times reported.

Health officials who had advocated for the resolution in favor of breast milk were shocked, they said.

They frantically tried to find other countries who would sponsor the resolution, but these nations - mostly from Latin America and Africa - were frightened off by the specter of American threats.

‘We were astonished, appalled and also saddened,’ said Patti Rundall, policy director of Baby Milk Action, a pro-breastfeeding advocacy group.

‘What happened was tantamount to blackmail, with the U.S. holding the world hostage and trying to overturn nearly 40 years of consensus on the best way to protect infant and young child health.’

Eventually, the resolution was introduced by Russia and subsequently approved.

The Americans did not threaten Moscow as they did Ecuador and other countries, according to the Times.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which tried to change the wording of the resolution, denies that it was involved in making threats against Ecuador.

‘The resolution as originally drafted placed unnecessary hurdles for mothers seeking to provide nutrition to their children,’ an H.H.S. spokesman said.

‘We recognize not all women are able to breastfeed for a variety of reasons.

‘These women should have the choice and access to alternatives for the health of their babies, and not be stigmatized for the ways in which they are able to do so.’

The State Department declined to comment.

Research has shown that mother’s milk contains far more nutrients that are necessary for a baby’s health than infant formula.

Companies that sell baby formula generate $70billion annually, but those sales have been stagnant due to the increased popularity of breastfeeding.

A Russian diplomat told the Times that his country’s decision to advance the breastfeeding resolution was an easy one to make.

‘We’re not trying to be a hero here, but we feel that it is wrong when a big country tries to push around some very small countries, especially on an issue that is really important for the rest of the world,’ the diplomat said.

An Ecuadorian official said that his government did not anticipate the harshness of America’s response.

‘We were shocked because we didn’t understand how such a small matter like breastfeeding could provoke such a dramatic response,’ the official said.