It's plausible that someone from Lactnet might have contacted the AAP to
congratulate them after seeing Jay's post there.  It's even possible that
more than one person did.  There are a couple thousand people reading the
list at any given time and most live in the US.  We know there are also
representatives of companies who monitor the list, and if someone like that
who works for a manufacturer of breastmilk substitutes were to see the press
release they might indeed contact the AAP as well.  Such a person could even
be alarmed.

If someone contacts the author of a post to LN and asks permission to
forward it, the author doesn't have to clear it with the listmothers before
giving such permission.  On the other hand, if someone simply forwards a
post without asking the original poster for permission, they are in
violation of the guidelines.  However, the archives are open access. While
the guidelines are only sent to subscribers, anyone who reads the archives
can read, cut and paste and resend things from posts, so we really have no
way of knowing how the AAP learned that a whole bunch of people thought they
had changed course to come in line with the piece published in JAMA the same
day.

I also received Jay's spoof press release from a breastfeeding and child
nutrition activist who is not on the list. That person got it from another
list, not Lactnet. The listmothers do not need to know how it got there.  We
suppose it was published here first since we were contacted by the AAP's
lawyer, but we don't really even know that for a fact.  Once text is copied
and circulated several steps from its origin it can go far, and fast.  That
is the blessing, or the bane, of e-mail, depending on your point of view.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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