85 years later, in 1955, The Protein Advisory Group (PAG) is organised as an ad hoc coalition of UN agencies. PAG is concerned with the problems of infant "protein malnutrition" in tropical and subtropical regions. Initially PAG was a co-operative and non-adversarial group of paediatricians, nutritionists, government officials, and representatives of infant food manufacturers.

Emergence of a Public Health Controversy and Industry Reaction

In 1966, Derrick Jelliffe, Director of the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute and PAG consultant, writes Child Nutrition in Developing Countries, a U.S Government brochure warning of the dangers of improperly used breast-milk substitutes. Five years later, Derrick Jelliffe brings his concerns to a UN meeting in Bogota, Colombia. Another group of health experts at the meeting disagree with his position, stressing that infant formula is a needed product and that infant morbidity has to be viewed as part of a larger set of problems.

In June 1972, at the PAG Conference in Paris, the group's emphasis has shifted to the marketing practices of the infant formula manufacturers and the tone becomes more adversarial. In a statement, PAG outlines the responsibilities of governments, paediatricians and the infant formula industry. Manufacturers are asked to look at marketing practices and product labelling. Nestlé performs an internal audit and concludes that the only change necessary is greater emphasis on the "primacy of breastfeeding in its advertisements".

The Gathering Storm

In August 1973, the review New Internationalist publishes an article entitled "The Baby Food Tragedy" followed in October by an edited and abbreviated Nestlé response as well as a follow-up editorial entitled "Milk and Murder". In its article Nestlé invites journalists to corporate headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, to get the complete story.

In December, Mike Muller of the British group War on Wants travels to Vevey and interviewes Nestlé executives. After that he releases in March 1974 his pamphlet "The Baby Killer" which will be published by a German activist organisation, the Third World Action Group (TWAG) in a German language translation with the title "Nestlé tötet Babys" (Nestlé kills babies).