From: Edith White <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: authorization to send message
Dear Lactnetters:
I am not a subscriber, but would like to post. Please advise me how I
can do that. I am attaching the (long) reply to my being mentioned
lately. You may be curious about what I would like to send. So I am
attaching it for your convenience. Thank you , Edith White
I noticed I was referred to recently, about HIV. I would like to
clarify. My name is Edith White (formerly Edith Tibbetts)and I have
been teaching breastfeeding workshops since 1972. Just by way of
background,I would add that I was one of the original group of women who
met in 1985 to start IBCLE. So I've been a "grandmothered" IBCLC since
1985. I think that I helped train about 20,000 people (for Health ED &
Healthy Children 2000).
I am a passionate breastfeeding advocate, but also a research nut. I
agree completely with Kathy Auerbach that we need to read primary
sources. Reeview articles, editorials, secondary articles & conference
presentations do not suffice. I will be happy to email a 6-page
single-spaced reference list of articles on HIV & breastfeeding to
anyone who emails me. AIDS research comes out fast & much of it is via
abstracts at international conferences. But much of it is on the
Internet. The AEGIS (all-AIDS search engine)is great- just type in
"breastfeeding" & it comes up with a lot. Email me if you want Internet
info. A good palce to begin is UNAIDS' page. [UNAIDS took over for the
WHO & now speaks for WHO, UNICEF, World Bank-all UN agencies. Try
www.unaids.org/unaids/events/wad/1997/breastfeeding.html.
Library-minded people may want to try Lewis(J Infec Dis 1998;177:34-39),
Kreiss (Acta Pediatr Suppl 421: 113-117, 1997), and Bobat (AIDS 1997,
11:1627-1633.)
Please let me clarify one point from my presentation last Friday
(2/27/98) at Mass WIC. I did not say that blood transfusion is the most
COMMON mode of HIV transmission - but rather the most biologically
EFFICIENT. The point may have been unclear because Mass WIC's overhead
projector blew its bulb & no other bulb was available. I am, alas,
overhead projector-transparancy-dependent when it comes to making
teaching points. Also, the topic is complicated. The topic is also
incredibly uncomfortable for all of us-- I remember crying hysterically
in a pizza parlor when it really hit me how conclusively the primary
research reports show that breastmilk readily transmits HIV. (My date
was not thrilled.)
We are all in this together -- struggling in how to protect breastfeedng
for the 499/500 US HIV-negative women, while alerting the 1/500 HIV+. I
would also like to clarify that I have never taken one penny from any
formula company. Edith
Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet,TLC, Indep. Consultant
mailto:[log in to unmask]
LACTNET Archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html
Emily's Mothering Project- http://together.net/~kbruce/proj.html
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