e can ill afford to waste earth's limited resources, either as a result of neglect or of deliberate destruction. Breastmilk is a valuable resource which is being wasted. So are a large number of locally produced foods for young children. These resources are undervalued and neglected or are sometimes deliberately destroyed, because their production and use does not bring a financial profit - they do not fit into the dominant economic system. Also often neglected are the economic benefits of breastfeeding to families, employers and nations. 

Food is big business. Consumer's choices are being dictated more and more by the availability and advertising of prepackaged foods mass-produced by large food companies. At the producer's end of the food chain the global system of controlled trade determines prices regardless of cost, sets quality standards, production quotas, guidelines for agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. Who benefits from these developments? What about the increasing globalisation of food trade and marketing? The trend to standardization, banalization of foods and food products internationally marketed, to the detriment of locally available foods, leads to the abandoning of local crops and food traditions, to increased family costs and less nutrition. What influence do GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) or WTO (World Trade Organization) rules have on food trade and on food marketing regulations?

Are environmental pollutants undermining the ability of mothers to breastfeed and to provide adequate local foods for their children? What are the environmental costs of choosing to bottle-feed? Does the current system of production and marketing provide equitable access for all? Who decides what food is marketed, where and for whom? What is the role of food companies in this? Is the creeping worldwide "hamburgerization" of eating habits promoted by multinational food chains healthy? Is the growing trend to prepackaged, heavily advertised foods, however "convenient", good for families' and children's health? Does it provide balanced information about the nutritional value of foods? Can the profit motive ensure adequate food distribution, good nutrition and health for our children? Do social development strategies pay sufficient attention to this?