Re: Nestle's Milo/article from Singapore

Valerie 
I have read and ponder all your posts.  In this most recent one I sense a good deal of frustration and wonder whether you are feeling that no one is listening to you.  I understand you to be pointing out a form of theft, of people taking what belongs to humanity and appropriating it for private profit.  What I do not see, and where I feel helpless, is what can be done to prevent this.  My knowledge of the normal course of breastfeeding is pretty much state of the art, I’m aware of the major problems and of where to go when I don’t know the answers, and I’m pretty good at establishing rapport with nursing mothers, their families and care givers.  However, when it comes to issues of patent law, social power and political change, I’m at a loss for what to do.  I’ve been boycotting Nestle for years and annually write the CEO telling him why, but I can’t see any result other than that I feel true to my principles.   Perhaps others on this list find themselves in a similar circumstance.  Can you suggest some strategies for action on this?

Alice Martino Roddy
LLLL, IBCLC

>>  I think this is a sidetracking of the key issue.
>> The issue is the patenting of human milk components
>> (genetically engineered) by the infant formula industry. 
>> It is quite obvious to me that the breastfeeding
>> community will not address this issue.  Certainly we can
>> continue to have discussions on semantics.
>>  One thousand patents and pending patents on human milk
>> components owned by the infant formula and pharmaceutical
>> industries and educational and governmental institutions.
>> I believe this issue is one of the more critical 
>> issues that the breastfeeding community needs to address.
>>  Yet, the sound of silence, the stony wall of fear surrounds
>> it all.  Like any problem, the longer ya wait to
>> address the issues, the worse it gets.  We have a leaky faucet
>> that is becoming a flood. Instead of turning off the faucet,
>> we ignore the leak and deny there is even a leak.
>> Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC


             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html