Nestle Audit Commision

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THE NESTLE INFANT FORMULA AUDIT COMMISSION AS A MODEL Edmund S. Muskie and Daniel J. Greenwald III T hrough the Nestle Coordination Center for Nutrition, Nestle set up a special C ommission to monitor whether the company was following a marketing code for i nfant formula established by the World Health Organization. The formation of this Commission was a high-risk innovative move on Nestle's part. The result has been t hat this Commission was instrumental in settling the controversy surrounding Nestle's marketing of the formula in Third World countries. Companies may have experience in handling controversies in the legal domain, be it in the courts or in the legislature, but in the realm of political and social controversy, a company's ability to respond effectively may be severely limited. The company's credibility and motives may be in question, and no forum may be avail­ able, with established procedures and guarantees of due process, to find the truth objectively or to decide the controversy fairly or conclusively. The Nestle Infant Formula Audit Commission ("the Commission" or "NIFAC"), an independent body of twelve individual members, may serve as a model in handling such controversies. The Commission achieved its success in a con­ troversy that was largely outside the legal domain—there were no judges to interpret the law, no police to enforce it, and no legislators to amend it. However, much as Nestle may have Edmund S. Muskie is a former United States Senator and Secretary of State. He is Chairman of the Nestle Infant Formula Audit C ommission and a Partner in Chadbourne & Parke, counsel to t he Commission. Daniel J. Greenwald III is a Partner with the same law f irm. been concerned in early 1982 that events were moving out of control, the controversy had not been taken completely from Nestle's control—no lawsuits had

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