With regard to Alan Lucas...  Some years ago I posted here on Lactnet about
a talk he gave at my regional Children's Hospital.  That was the day I
learned what passes for intellectual honesty in the formula promotion biz.

Here is part of that post:
... he came to my town on tour promoting a premie discharge formula *that he
invented.* He was sponsored by Ross. He told of his famous IQ study, how
babies fed regular formula scored 5 points lower on IQ tests than babies fed
special premie formulas. All of the doctors in the audience were VERY
impressed. I was thrilled at what I expected to come next-- the information
that babies fed human milk instead of formula scored much higher on IQ
tests. BUT, he never bothered to share this little piece of information. He
went on to "dis" human milk, using a comment similar to the one above, among
others.
...The main thrust of his talk was that after premies are discharged from
hospital, "we have to worry about whether they will be fed properly--" thus,
*special discharge formulas.* It wasn't lost on me that another way to put
it was "We can't trust these mothers to feed their babies right." Well,
"duh" if staff spend the early weeks discouraging the formation of healthy
attachments and feelings of confidence in the ability to care for one's own
child!
Dr. Lucas made the following statements about breastfeeding: "We have no
idea whether sending them home breastfeeding is beneficial or not." "There
is really no difference in growth between breastfed and bottle fed babies-
in fact the bottle fed babies may even grow better."
"Since babies aren't meant to be born too soon, we really don't have a good
way to feed them, so (get this): if it turns out that human milk meets their
needs it is almost a coincidence."

Personally, I do not consider this to be an example of intellectual honesty.

Sue Jacoby, IBCLC
Fresno, CA

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