The Power of Consumer Activism: An Interview With Leah Margulies [Part 1]

J Hum Lact. 2022 Aug;38(3):386-391. doi: 10.1177/08903344221099283. Epub 2022 Jun 9.

Abstract

Leah Margulies was Director of the Infant Formula Program at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility in NYC from 1975 to 1985. She is a founder of the International Nestlé Boycott, Corporate Accountability (formerly INFACT), and one of the founders of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). She was hired at UNICEF in 1982 to set up the legal office for implementation of the International Code of Marketing Breast-Milk Substitutes, as part of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. Previously, she was legal advisor to the Environment Unit of the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations. From 2006 to 2016, she was Project Director of LawHelpNY at the NYC Bar Association. Currently, she works for a legal non-profit, representing low-income Brooklynites, defending them against eviction. She is a lawyer, a second Wave Feminist, and a member of Veteran Feminists of America. She is also a musician and founding member of a pioneering women's rock band that played at the first national women's march for abortion rights in Washington, DC, 1972.

Keywords: Infant Formula Action Coalition (INFACT); Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR); International Code of Marketing Breast-Milk Substitutes; Nestle Boycott; advocacy; breastfeeding; ethics; historical research; politics of breastfeeding; public health.

Publication types

  • Interview

MeSH terms

  • Breast Feeding*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant Formula
  • Marketing
  • Milk Substitutes*
  • Pregnancy
  • United Nations