ABSTRACT
Threatened by declining birthrates in the developed countries, multinational corporations look to the creation of infant formula markets in the developing countries to sustain long-term corporate profitability. This chapter explores the complex matrix of factors related to the decline in breast-feeding in Latin America. It reviews studies concerning the statistical decline in breast-feeding and the associated immunological, contraceptive, and economic costs. The chapter presents a case study of bottle-feeding and infant mortality in rural Chile, and addresses the question of cultural imperialism and dependency. It is concerned with some suggestions concerning public policy to ameliorate the problem, including a consideration of the capacity of nation-states to intervene in marketing channels. The health establishment has also encouraged the wholesale defections from breast-feeding. In the opinion of Marxists and radicals, the practice is cultural imperialism, or the destruction of local autonomy; it is often called the "coca-colonization" of the world.
