I have pasted my letter to Secretary Thompson below. If I can be of any help
to any of you in this effort to keep the formula companies from negatively
effecting this breastfeeding campaign please let me know. The footnotes for the
references in this do not show when translated to Lactnet, but I would be happy
to provide them to anyone who wished to use documentation in their letters.
Honorable Tommy G. Thompson November 21, 2003
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20201
Dear Secretary Thompson:
I am writing to express my dismay regarding the postponement of the National
Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign, jointly created by the Office on Women's
Health and the Advertising Council. I find this perplexing since a national
breastfeeding media campaign has been recommended by the Federal government since
1984.
· Office of the Surgeon General 1984 , 1985 , 1991 in its workshop on
breastfeeding and human lactation and follow up publications
· Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 1992: P.L. 102-341. Congress asked for a
breastfeeding promotion program by law 11 years ago
· Office of the Surgeon General 2000 in HHS Blueprint for Action on
Breastfeeding specifically recommends, "Launch and evaluate a public health marketing
campaign portraying breastfeeding as normal, desirable, and achievable."
In spite of these strong recommendations, the launch of this campaign has
been delayed yet again by the actions of infant formula manufacturers directed to
your Department, agency heads, Members of Congress, and indirectly through
its allies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. Criticisms include:
· Concerns that the campaign is negative- because formula and breast milk
are not the same thing or equivalent in health outcomes, the public has the
right to know that not breastfeeding increases the chances that infants,
children, and adults will experience increased rates of acute and chronic diseases and
conditions for which breast milk can be protective. Thirty-six diverse focus
groups were conducted around the country and indicated that it was essential
that the health consequences of not breastfeeding be clearly communicated in
the campaign
· Concerns that the campaign was critical of formula. Not one ad mentioned
the word formula.
· Concerns that the campaign would make formula-feeders feel guilty.
Scientific data does not support this claim. There is no evidence that informing
mothers regarding the differences in health outcomes of infants fed formula or
breast milk makes them feel guilty if they formula feed. Guilt, like any other
emotion, is something one chooses to feel. The mental health literature does
not support guilt as an excuse to withhold information from mothers. This
patronizing attitude is used to exempt health care providers and policy-makers from
fully supporting breastfeeding. Women have the right to quality information
needed to make informed decisions about their health and that of their children.
Women can handle the data, including the risk estimates, as clearly
demonstrated in the 36 focus groups.
· Concerns that there is general disagreement among health professionals
regarding the science behind some of the ads. A group of experts and researchers
were convened to scrupulously review the research used as the basis of the
campaign. Selection criteria of studies were stringent, and expertly analyzed
and interpreted. This concern is most interesting since the Federal government
has published extensively on the health benefits and disease protective effects
of breastfeeding, including a recent report for Congress from the
Congressional Research Service.
Outcomes of not breastfeeding include not only increased risks of preventable
diseases and conditions, but also a staggering cost in dollars to the US
health care system that pays for them. A government analysis of the cost of just
three childhood diseases indicated that the health system would save $3.6
billion if the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding increased from current rates
to those recommended by the Healthy People 2010 breastfeeding objective.
As a registered nurse, I am a licensed health care provider whose duty to her
patients requires providing full information for parental decision-making. I
would be remiss in my duty if I deliberately withheld information to a patient
regarding the importance of buckling their child into a car seat because I
feared inducing guilt if the mother did not secure her baby in a moving car and
the child went through the windshield in an accident. We do not hesitate to
inform pregnant women of the hazards of consuming alcohol during pregnancy
because we fear she might feel guilty if she drinks and gives birth to a baby with
fetal alcohol syndrome. Why is breastfeeding any different? When information
is withheld from women, they usually feel anger, not guilt.
Just as I as a nurse endeavor to protect the health of my patients, I urge
the Department of Health and Human Services, whose duty it is to protect the
health of the entire nation, to move forward with the National Breastfeeding
Awareness Campaign. Our nation's health depends on it.
Sincerely,
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
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