Naomi,
You said the correct words--spin on it.  A "no strings attached" (the words
were used by the article not me!) grant is media hype.  When anyone decides
to fund with no strings attached it would be done quietly and anonymously.
There are no strings attached when you do not know the donor and they do not
parade their gift-giving for all the world to see.  While some may look at
this as a step in the right direction, I look at it as a smoke-screen.

As for who else funds Dr. Biers' research, I do not know.  As for this
research center at Baylor, I have mostly seen Mead Johnson funding, the
National Institute of Health (NIH), and some Ross funding.  Remember this is
a USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) research center.  There was
no controversy about this funding mentioned in the article. Of course, in my
mind this research center is not on my list of favorites.

Why is this research center on my list of places that I am most annoyed with
(putting it politely for G audiences)?  Because this wonderful institution
holds the first patent on human lactoferrin not genetically engineered...the
real thing.  They have claimed ownership of a component in breastmilk.
Hurray for patenting!!  Next breastfeeding conference lets give Baylor a gold
medal for all their human milk research.  The inventor of this patent is Dr.
Buford Nichols.  Of course I never thought that a man could "invent" a
component of breastmilk.  But heck in this day and age of biotechnology, you
are lucky if ya get to keep your own jeans or is that genes?

An interesting company has arrived on the scene of biotechnology and situated
quite close to Baylor.  The company is called Agennix and it commercially
produces recombinant human lactoferrin.  The President of Baylor College of
Medicine, Dr. Ralph D. Feigin, is on the scientific advisory board to
Agennix.  One of the co-founders of Agennix, Dr. Bert O'Malley, and also the
chairman of the department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor.
Recombinant lactoferrin is used in infant formulas in Japan and who can guess
where else?  Agennix has some 40 or more patents on this technology with
about 30 more pending.  I'd say they have positioned themselves well in the
infant formula market.

So yes let's thank them for all the great research they do for breastfeeding.
 With all their help lets see how long it takes before we become a
breastfeeding culture. Hm...maybe another century or two or three or just
maybe never.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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