Just sat down to read the Sunday paper(Baltimore Sun)  and what should I see
when I got to the Business Section but pictures of Enfamil, Good Start,
Parents Choice, and Similac  With a huge heading "FORMULA FOR SUCCESS" Of
course it was all in caps, and the word formula was twice as big as the
others. It was about Martek - the company who develped the DHA and AAA
additives  - they are  a Maryland based company.  The sum heading was "The
baby formula additive of a Columbia biotech company is so hot, it's now in
three of five baby bottles."  There was even a cute (gag) picture of a
couple and their nine month old baby and a quote from them about how this
additive helped their babies eye and brain development. Mom was quoted as
saying "What parent doesn't want the very best for their child?" She felt
that the enhanced formula was well worth the 15-20% higher cost.
  The article was written by William Patalon III, a Sun Staff writer.  It
talked mostly about Martek and how brisk their business is and how much
their stocks have gone up.  One paragraph worried me though it said:
 "Businessis so brisk that he company is informally rationing these
nutrients, culled from fermented microalgae, as it rushes to expand
production capacity domestically and abroad."
How can they "informally" ration them?  Does this mean they don't put the
same amounts in each formula or that the formula companies have to pay more
to get what little they have - as in a biding war!
 THE article also said that the company did not achieve success over night
that it had taken "long years for the U.S Food and Drug Administration to
recognize the additives as safe".  I thought it had been pushed through USDA
rather quickly without a lot of testing.
They also had a graph (courtesy of Ross and Mead Johnson) "Breast-fed vs.
bottle-fed" which showed that 82% breast-fed at birth,55% at 3 months, 38%
at 6 months , and 18% by one-year. So of course more babies need this
formula as they get older.
 Isn't it ironic (not) that it appeared at exacty the same time as the Ad
campaign gets set to start! AAAARRGH!!!!!!
Peg Merrill, IBCLC
Maryland

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