Cindi,
I absolutely agree with you "that there is a danger in blindly accepting
anyone's interpretation of something."  One has to go to the source and read the
information yourself and decide whether or not someone else's interpretation is
valid.  I am very enthused that you did this and I have high hopes that
others will also follow your example.  Although, I hope that they don't come to the
same conclusions that you have :)

There is an easier way to access the patents and patent applications.  The US
Patent Office & Trademark office discourages direct links to the patents.
When you get to the website:
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
 on the right side of the screen is "Published applications," there is a
place to click called Publication Number Search, type in the number and you get
the patent application, click on that and there it is.  If you are looking for a
specific numbered patent--you go to the left side of that screen called
"issued Patents" and click on "patent number search.," and you get that particular
patent.

You ask why I was upset with the following quote by the patent--"In
underprivileged areas of the world(third world countries), infant formula
supplementation and supplementation for children may be used to ward off infection and
sustain health."  In underprivileged areas who will pay for this wonderful
invention?  Indeed the value of preventing parasitic infections should not be
underestimated.  Obviously women in povety cannot afford this wonderful invention for
their infants.  Most undeveloped nations cannot afford this luxury either.
So that leaves the privileged world to pay for it.  This maybe a hard thing to
sell to our privileged world.   Particularly when breastmilk has the
components that kills parasites and it's free.  The promotion of a safer formula in
poverty areas in which no one can afford to buy it seems crazy to me. The natural
resource, human milk, is the natural consequence of pregnancy. It's free, its
nutritious, and it is a life-saving liquid for infants, particularly for
infants born into poverty.  If we are giving infant formula away, how will we make
sure that these poor mothers receive enough for their infant's needs.
Distribution in poverty areas can be daunting.  During our back to back hurricanes
in Florida, there was plenty of formula at the stores but people could not get
to the stores because the roads had trees and powerlines on them.  We are so
very lucky that we live in a rich country in which this only was an issue for a
few days.  We take the ease of transportation for granted in the USA.   Of
course, if we are giving infant formula away to the underprivileged then we will
more than likely give them the inexpensive formulas--powdered over prepared.
Who will train those moms who are illiterate on preparation for
bottlefeeding--how many scoops, etc?  While a safer formula is certainly in society's best
interest, who will pay for all the education needed and the product itself?
And if this safer formula doesn't work, who pays the ultimate price in health
costs and deaths?

You state that the patent "DOES NOT" use human milk components.  If you look
at the notation [0007], he states that GM1 is a human milk component.  In his
abstract he states that the formulation comprises at least one ganglioside,
GM1 is included in that list.   One of Clandinin's grad students is doing
research on how human milk gangliosides are absorbed by maturing intestinal cells as
well as how these components effect the intestinal motility in NEC.(I have
the website on this, if you want it)   I know of one biotech company that makes
gangliosides and that is Genzyme Transgenics.  I am sure there are others.  I
am assuming that they obtain the human milk ganglioside by transgenics.  New
Zealand is in the forefront of transgenics in dairy cattle.

Cindi, obviously you believe my posts are misleading to Lactnetters and that
I should not be posting to Lactnet on patents and patent applications.  I have
several suggestions regarding your obvious distress over my posts.  You might
want to take your concerns to the listmothers of Lactnet.  If they tell me
that I cannot post on patents, I will certainly respect their decision.  You
might consider skipping my posts on Lactnet and encourage others to do so, too.
As for your offer of help in setting up a newsletter on Yahoo, I do thank you
for the offer but at the moment I am not interested.
Valerie W. McClain, breastfeeding advocate

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