I thought I would contribute the statistics I have on the WIC subject to this
discussion.   These are the statistics we use in Milk, Money and Madness, so
anyone who wants to use them can cite the book as the source.

The federal govenment spends $523 million taxpayer dollars per year to buy
infant formula to distribute to WIC participants, making it the largest
purchaser in the nation of infant formula. 37% of all infants in the US are
receiving this formula.   If all babies in the WIC program breastfed, the direct
savings would be over $500 million.  The indirect savings, from the better
health of the kids, would be significantly higher.  If every newborn in the US
were breastfed for just 12 weeks, the health care savings from avoiding
nonchronic diseases in just the first year of life would be $2-4 billion
annually and the infant mortality rate would decline by 5%.

I hope this is helpful.

- Dia


Dia L. Michels                  202-547-3598
532 9th Street, SE                      202-546-2356-fax
Washington, DC  20003           [log in to unmask]