Dear Friends on Lactnet, Pat Young asked me whether I had something to do with The Milk of Human Kindness, a new book about breastfeeding from the International Women Count Network, published by Crossroads Books. The answer is Yes! I was a collaborator on the first edition of this book, which came out in June of 2000. ILCA members may remember seeing it at the 2000 conference in Washington, DC, where it was sold at the WABA booth. Or perhaps you remember the late Dr. Wah Wong, who had worked for UNICEF for many decades, holding up the book from the podium at the Sunday plenary session, saying that it could help changes attitudes world-wide. I didn't work on the second edition, but a lot of my writing from the first edition is still there, especially in Chapter Three, and there is a nice acknowledgement of my work. The four authors of the second edition (Solveig Francis, Selma James, Phoebe Jones Schellenberg, and Nina Lopez-Jones) are people I worked closely with in 1999 and 2000, and they are dedicated defenders of breastfeeding. The second edition features an expanded discussion of HIV and breastfeeding. This problem area is a point which the drug and formula industry has taken advantage of to drive a wedge into the breastfeeding movement. The book raises lots of important questions about the global marketplace, the increasing influence of corporations on governments and, under the Global Compact initiated by Kofi Annan in 2000, on the United Nations and its agencies. These days the popular catch-word--even at the UN--is "public-private partnership." This term gives me the shivers, because to me it says that business, whose ultimate goal is to make money for investors, is more closely allied than ever with government. Once upon a time, we the people thought we could depend on government to honor higher values, such as defending human rights, upholding a constitution, or pursuing social justice. Breastfeeding is still "women's territory," a place where a woman can provide food, care, and protection for her child, without having to be a target of outside market forces and somebody else's profit motives. I believe very strongly in defending that territory, individually and collectively. If you do too, you will find lots to think about from reading the new edition of The Milk of Human Kindness. For more information, go to [log in to unmask] (Philadelphia, PA, USA) or [log in to unmask] (London, UK) Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC working for WIC in New Jersey Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, WABA *********************************************** 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(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html