Thanks to Lavinia who will eventually translate the article about the value of Norwegian mothers' milk. That reminded me of what I just "calculated" in the new US Code report document, "Still Selling Out Mothers and Babies." Generally, human milk is not included in a nation's food balance sheets or food statistics (Hatloy, 1997). Infant formula has a dollar value and is often seen by mothers and policy makers as having more worth or value than human milk. We know that human milk is irreplaceable but to not put a value on it could suggest that it has no value (Smith 2005). The gross value of human milk production in Australia in 1992 was calculated at A$1.8 to A$2.5 billion (Smith 1999). The price of donor milk could be used for valuing human milk, but if it is from a Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) milk bank, the $3.50 per ounce is just the processing cost. HMBANA milk is never sold. In 2005, HMBANA dispensed 713,500 ounces of donor milk and at $3.50/oz comes out to $2.5 million, a cost effective way to prevent expenditure of much more money by the health care system. One mother producing 28oz of milk/day for 365 days would total 10,220 oz/year. At $3.50/oz, one mother's milk could be worth $35,770, while 2 million (half of the 4 million babies born each year) lactating women could account for a milk value of $71 billion. Five to ten IQ points per person can be lost by not breastfeeding. One IQ point has been valued at $14,500 in lifetime productivity and earnings (Grosse, 2002). Without these 5-10 IQ points a formula-fed person could lose $72,500 to $145,000 - one or more year's salary. If half of the 4 million babies born each year in the US are not breastfed, just a 5 point IQ deficit in such a cohort could result in an IQ loss to the country of 10 million IQ points or $145 billion. I wish someone would do a real study on this. Maybe it would be a wake-up call to the general public, employers, the health care system, and policy makers to pay more attention to supporting breastfeeding and less attention to formula hype and formula company money. Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC Weston, MA Grosse SD, Matte TD, Schwartz J, Jackson RJ. Economic gains from the reduction in chilsren's exposure to lead in the United States. Environ Health Perspect 2002; 110:563-569 Hatloy A, Oshaug A. Human milk: an invisible food resource. FCND discussion paper No. 33. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute, 1997 Smith JP. Human milk supply in Australia. Food Policy 1999; 24:71-91 Smith JP, Ingham LH. Mothers' milk and measures of economic output. Feminist Econ 2005; 11:41-62 *********************************************** 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html