The Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Revd Simon Barrington-Ward, has urged that the Church of England Synod should again boycott Nestle products. His comments stem from new evidence that Western companies are violating the Code on marketing breast-milk substitutes in the developing world.

In 1991, the Church of England Synod began a Nestle boycott, but this was suspended in 1994, while independent evidence of the violations was sought. The Inter-agency Group on Breast feeding Monitoring was formed supported by 27 different organisations including the Church of England Board Social Responsibility.

Last year 3,200 pregnant women and mothers and 880 health workers were interviewed in Poland, Bangladesh, Thailand and South Africa. In each country there was evidence of systematic violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes which was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. Gerber, Milco, Nestle, Nutricia and Myeth were identified as the main companies involved.

Professor Andrew Tomkins, of the Institute of Child Health in the UK explained some of the concern about marketing breast-milk substitutes: "One tin of formula milk can consume up to four weeks of a family's cash, and they may be tempted to dilute the milk. They want the best for their children, and when they are subjected to marketing pressures, it's not surprising that they succumb to those pressures and turn away from lactation to bottle feeding." Concerns have also been expressed about the lack of education of those who buy the milk and the poor hygiene conditions where the milk may be made up. Bishop Barrington-Ward said: "It is clear that some commercial interests of leading companies are running against the interests of people in the Third World."

The International Association of Food Manufacturers (IFM) questioned the report's impartiality, pointing to links with the campaigning group Baby Milk Action. "IFM was not made aware of the project until the protocol was completed and monitoring had begun. This makes a sham of impartiality."