This goes to show how a little knowledge can be a danagerous thing. This
jounalist doesn't have her fact straight and someone need to set her straight.
Pamela Morrison, where are you???? You could do an excellent job of
responding to this article.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/@issue/journal/malkin/
MICHELLE MALKIN
UNICEF's breast-feeding mission
is deadly to African children
MalkinTalk back!
Tell us <A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">by email</A> what you think of this Michelle Malkin column.
> Michelle Malkin's column is distributed by Creators Syndicate.Washington --
''Breast is best.'' No, it's not the new slogan for Hooters restaurant. It's
the mantra of breast-feeding advocates who promote their cause with a
cultlike fervor around the world. Their extremism must be condemned. I have
nothing against breast-feeding. After weighing the pros and cons, I've been
nursing my 5-month-old daughter since birth. Mother's milk offers my baby
health benefits that man-made substitutes can't match. But in the hands of
the United Nations Children's Fund, the breast-feeding crusade is killing the
children it's supposed to protect. In a horrific investigative report
published in the Wall Street Journal this week, reporters Alix M. Freedman
and Steve Stecklow expose UNICEF's homicidal mission to discourage
AIDS-positive mothers from switching to infant formula. The United Nations'
own statistics show that an estimated 3.4 million children have contracted
AIDS from their mothers and died of the disease. Between 1.1 million and 1.7
million of those children, mostly in Africa, are believed to have been
infected with HIV through breast-feeding. There is a very simple solution:
feed the babies formula. Top manufacturers Nestle and Wyeth are ready and
willing to provide tons of tins of free formula to poor women in sub-Saharan
Africa, the Journal reports, but UNICEF adamantly refuses to support their
offers. The agency's health bureaucrats wield great influence in the Third
World. The head office in New York is led by anti-corporate activists who
care more about sending political messages to formula makers than about
sending life-saving nourishment to babies in jeopardy. UNICEF's grudge dates
back to the 1970s, when breast-feeding extremists began a boycott of Nestle
and other companies. The protesters believe the formula makers ''exploit''
underprivileged women in developing nations by creating a ''dependency'' on
infant formula. The companies can't win. When they try to sell their products
abroad, they're accused of profiteering. When they try to give their goods
away, they're accused of public-relations gimmickry. The Journal reports that
UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy, a former New York City Council
president, angrily rebuffed efforts by Nestle to assist HIV-infected mothers.
Wyeth's offer in 1998 to donate tons of free formula to African hospitals was
scrapped when company officials simply asked UNICEF not to bad-mouth them
publicly. Bellamy instead insists that the major formula makers comply with
an inane U.N. regulatory code -- passed long before AIDS hit Africa -- that
bans the distribution of free and low-cost formula. Ayn Rand couldn't make
this up. UNICEF would rather throw millions of dollars worth of formula out
with the babies, than undercut collective support for what they consider a
morally superior choice to breast-feed. Rather than accept free infant
formula and save lives immediately, UNICEF recommends that African women with
AIDS allow their babies to breast-feed from other women. But there's a good
chance that the babies will simply get infected milk from another woman. One
UNICEF official blithely supports pasteurized milk as an alternative when
mothers contract AIDS. But babies don't usually begin drinking cow's milk
until after one year. Without formula, mothers turn to dangerous substitutes
such as sugar water and rice water. UNICEF's lieutenants in the
breast-feeding camp continue to attack formula as unsafe and unhealthy. But
in the developing world, iron-fortified formula is often superior to the milk
of sick, malnourished women. Here in the West, we enjoy the comforts of fresh
fruits and vegetables, multivitamins and folic acid supplements -- not to
mention fancy electric pumps, bottles and refrigerators to store breast milk
safely when we have to separate from our babies. In sub-Saharan Africa,
mothers are lucky to eat a half-cup of rice per day -- and must often work
all day, away from their children, without the luxury of nannies, wet nurses,
and basic health amenities. Nevertheless, Bellamy told the Journal reporters:
''We continue to advocate that breast is best.'' Even if it kills.
Warm regards,
Pat Lindsey, IBCLC - Lactation Services
Pediatrics Plus Staff LC & Private Practice
Orlando, FL
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