Ann Twiggs,

<< U.S. LCs know about the Healthy People 2010 meeting I
 attended in Chicago on November 5, 1998.  I heard the Surgeon General,
 David Satcher speak and was encouraged by his emphasis on
 prevention, but he did not mention breastfeeding as a way to give
 children a good start in life.  Furthermore, when I attended the session
 which asked for input on what should be leading health indicators for the
 nation, I was very disappointed.  The LLL representative got up and
 asked that breastfeeding be one of these, explaining briefly how
 breastfeeding fulfills all the listed requirements.  The moderator quickly
 stated that breastfeeding was "too parochial" to be used as a leading
 health indicator.  I got the feeling that many of the policy writers (these
 people have a LOT of influence) in DHHS and CDC are not aware of the
 benefits of breastfeeding and the extent to which breastfeeding is
 beneficial to normal growth and development both to the infant, the
 mother and society. >>

Ann, I attended on November 6 and was able to give specific testimony as to
why bf should be a leading health indicator.  No one made any negative
comments -- in fact, I received several unsolicited "thumbs up" type of
responses.  Rebecca, the LLL representative, was the last to speak in the
general session, and she said essentially what she had said the day before
(apparently) as I wasn't there, so bf was cited twice in that general session
to be a leading health indicator.

Jan Barger -- in Chicago, last Friday.