i read valerie's posts and the responses and it reminds me of when the topic
of hiv/aids and breastfeeding first appeared on lactnet, mostly from posts
written by pamela morrison. at first, there was a stunning lack of response.
i, myself, first thought, "why do i need to think about this, and the only
answer is 'don't breastfeed,' which is too depressing to contemplate." but i
read her posts and found that yes, indeed, i certainly needed to think about
this topic, because it wasn't just something happening on the other side of
the planet, but something that affected how we "do" lactation work here.
although the responses are still not anything near what they should be, there
is a much healthier dialogue going on when information comes up, and some
recognition of how it affects even us, here in the center of the universe, in
america.

valerie's posts about genetic engineering of human milk components and their
use in food and pharmaceutical products is just as important, yet her posts
still receive either complete lack of response, or, what i interpret as the
next stage in the evolution of a topic on LN, an angry denial of  the
validity or relevance of what she says. i know some people have figured out
that i often act as agent provocateur on lactnet, bringing up topics or
making statements that are designed to provoke some thought and contemplation
of the deeper issues. the usual stages are that a topic is completely
ignored, then a topic is responded to with denial, then the topic is
responded to with "let's not bring up the ugly stuff and play nice together,
after all, we have to support each other," then - sometimes - it can be
discussed in a meaningful way.

why am i droning on about my analysis of this? because i have a huge file of
information that valerie has posted, that i am reading and hoping i will have
more time to digest and give more thought to, and i must say - valerie is the
lone voice on this issue, she is doing a tremendous amount of work monitoring
and analyzing what is going on, trying without rancor or stridency (unlike
some, you might say, and i know it means moi) to boost an awareness among us
about this issue.

this isn't science fiction, folks. some day the formula manufacturers will be
blatantly advertising that their product IS exactly like "mom's own" and it
will be because IT IS MADE FROM MOM'S OWN. wake up and smell the non-organic
coffee. read what she said, because what she said is lactoferrin is being
used in FOOD PLANTS. these human milk components are being used in drugs, as
well. this is terribly important, although it reads like science fiction.

i want to fast forward to only a few of the implications of this. these
industries are light years ahead of us, lingering in our naivete in our dream
world of "breast is best but," and "babies can survive on ABM even though
breastmilk is better." what will it mean when ABM is full of DHA and human
milk components? it will mean that so many of the "lactation consultants"
that i know, who quite willingly tell mothers that formula is fine and their
babies will be fine even though breastfeeding didn't work out, will feel a
tremendous amount of relief that they don't have to try to figure out the
difficult answers. they won't have any good reasons for a mom to breastfeed
"if she doesn't want to." the guilt card will never have to be played.
breastfeeding will again be relegated to the arena of "fanatics" and "true
believers," the kind of women who insist on natural birth.

and what does this mean? on a global scale, it means that ABM, which is the
longest running, most diabolical experiment being performed on our youngest
and most vulnerable humans, will take a new twist. i, for one, already know
that this experiment has shown that ABM does irreparable harm to humans. very
few people that do this work truly understand or believe this. they deal with
the insuperable difficulties with which we are all faced, by rationalizing
the use of ABM. breastfeeding AND breastmilk is the human right of every
human as their first food. anything less is indefensible even when we must do
it. and despite living near a milk bank, my patients often must use ABM, too.
even the milk bank does not share my beliefs.

i am always forced to return to the bleak vision one of my friends shared
with me, once. she postulates a future filled with the "haves" and the "have
nots," the haves being those who, like our children, were breastfed and
nurtured in a loving way, and the have nots being all the others. we don't
have to wait until the future to see what this looks like, we can already
see. and when you close your eyes to valerie's information, it's only
postponing the inevitable. she's not insulting someone who has spent thirty
years researching breastfeeding and breastmilk, only suggesting that he, like
the vast majority of people in this field, is not fully informed about the
possible connection. and our lagging behind in our awareness of this is only
going to hurt our "cause" in the end.

carol brussel IBCLC

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