As a member of the Leadership Team of the US Breastfeeding Committee (USBC),
I take great exception to Valerie's post regarding the nature of the USBC and
its relationship with its member organizations. The USBC was formed to fulfill
one of the 4 operational targets of the Innocenti Declaration, i.e., the
formation of a national level breastfeeding committee. There are about 35
organizations who belong to the USBC, including a number of government agencies who
deal with breastfeeding through their programs. It is vital that the
breastfeeding community link with each other and well as government entities to push
forward a breastfeeding agenda for the US. We may not always agree with policies
that each organization has but this group has been able to provide input into
breastfeeding issues at levels that can make a big difference to breastfeeding
in the US. Through hard work and acting in a professional manner, we have been
able to make some significant changes.

An example of such change is the fact that the CDC now collects breastfeeding
information in its National Immunization Survey. This was done to eliminate
the government's use and reliance on Ross Products data for breastfeeding
rates. The USBC is in dialogue with the FDA regarding the issue of domperidone. We
have provided an in-service to the FDA on breast pumps, provided a statement
at the Institute of Medicine's workshop on prevention of childhood obesity,
developed guidelines for employers to assist in worksite lactation support,
provided a luncheon on capitol hill to introduce breastfeeding and the USBC to legis
lators.

I find statements such as "boot this government organization off their
committee" to be shortsighted, unprofessional, and lacking in understanding of how
to cause change to happen. As NABA's representative to the USBC, I am insulted
and disappointed in a post that is so utterly lacking in correct information
and so vicious in its bashing, that its whole point seems to be to raise
suspicion and work towards the destruction of breastfeeding advocacy from the
inside.

If anyone has any questions regarding the USBC, NABA, ILCA or any other
organization, please contact the respective organization or myself if you wish to
work together to make things better for all of our mothers and babies.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html