On Thu, 4 Aug 2005 Rebecca DeYoung Daniels wrote:
.... I'm not a legal expert, but I wonder why the word "formula" can't be subbed for "medicine" and why the pharmaceutical companies shouldn't have to state the risks associated with its use.

My comment on this is not on the big issues but on the terminology - the narrow use of the word "formula".  (I've been going to write on this all the week.)  What the drug companies are doing already (as mentioned in Rebecca's post), is advertising formulae - aren't medicines made to a *formula*?  "Formula" in relaton to artificial feeding of infants used to refer to recipes (formula) provided by a doctor to be made up for an individual baby.  In the 1940s, Spock used the term "formula" for home-modified cow's milk, to the recipe provided by a health professional.  Now, the term has become generic for products marekted as complete artificial feedings for babies - and I try to avoid it, using more specific terms in my writing, such as "artificial baby milk", "artificial infant milk" or "factory-modified milk".  The first two have easy abbreviations, "ABM" and "AIM".

"Formula" has very feel-good connotations in other usages.  Take, for example, "the formula for success" used in a wide range of business or sports contexts.  It also implies something special, even scientific, that wasn't just mass-produced in a factory, like hordes of other products.  This stuff is mass-produced for a large number of A/F babies, not made up carefully to a formula (recipe) for an individual baby.

Let's try to use more appropriate terms for artificial baby milks.  I have had no problem doing so in my writing and speaking for years.  There is no confusion. By being careful in my choice of words, I believe it helps people to think about the products and what they are.

My 2 cents' worth.
By the way, I'm gong nomail this weekend, but can be replied to privately.

Virginia
in Brisbane, Queensland
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