So -- if there are no CERPS or CEU's offered, there is no mandate to prevent us from going and hearing their spiel. I for one, will continue going. And when the question time arrives, I will raise my hand and ask the appropriate questions that shine the light on the situation. Like Diogenes, we may find it difficult to find true honesty - because we are also biased and will be accused of being so. Unless a person is TRULY evil, people mostly have good intentions and intend good towards themselves and usually others. I think we are addressing a moral concern - we want our society to have morals - but we don't want to concede that there IS a standard of morals, right and wrong. This applies to the "crap in a can" also. Formula manufacturers want to provide a product that does good for babies while making a profit for themselves. So does any other "baby business". If you have mothers donating for a milk bank, those mothers require excellent breast pumps to provide the resource desired. The pump companies have a desire to provide a product that does good for mothers and babies while providing a profit for themselves. Some pump companies go beyond others in doing their basic research. No one starts at ground zero, however, and as someone has said, we all stand on the shoulders of giants to gain greater understanding of life and creation. Freedom and justice are always in conflict with each other - because justice demands the restriction of some freedom.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cindy Curtis
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 9:09 PM
Subject: Re: IBCLC's attending conferences sponsored by formula companies ... ok or not?!?!
Liz
Thank you so much for the time you put into this reply. This is why I personally do not feel that it is ethical for an IBCLC to attend in services that are sponsored by a formula company! Cindy
Cindy Curtis RNC IBCLC CCE CD
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Brooks
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 7:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: IBCLC's attending conferences sponsored by formula companies ... ok or not?!?!
Here is my take on this issue.
1. The IBLCE Code of Ethics at principle 24 says: IBCLCs must support and follow the WHO Code.
2. The IBLCE Code of Ethics at principles 5 & 17 says: IBCLCs should avoid conflicts of interest involving commercial interests.
3. The WHO Code at Article 7 says that the marketers of WHO-Code-covered products (bottles, teats, formula and
foods-pushed-on-children-to-replace-BF) should not offer, nor should health care providers like IBCLCs accept, any "financial or material inducements"
(freebies, samples, meals, trinkets, free education sessions, etc).
4. If a WHO-Code-marketer is involved in an education session (i.e. has a booth at a conference -- some venues permit this) the information provided must be "scientific and factual." No freebies, no trinkets, no logo-emblazoned tote bags or lanyards or pens or kincki-knacks can be offered -- see 3. above.
5. IBLCE will not award CERPs for any education offered by any commercial vendor, least of all WHO-Code-violators. See http://americas.iblce.org/what-are-cerps; scroll way to the bottom of the page. So, no CERPS will be awarded if the class if offered up by a pump company or pillow company or sling maker who is fully WHO-Code-compliant .... and they won't award CERPs for a pump company or bottle maker or formula manufacturer that is not WHO-Code-compliant. The entities that aware CMEs and CEUs use their own (and different) standards for what wil be considered "award worthy," so an RN IBCLC who goes to the pump company talk may find she can get CEUs even if she can't get CERPs.
6. In a masterful case of Finding the Loophole, some WHO-Code-violating companies have created educational sessions where attendees are asked to PAY to be there -- rather than get an outright freebie -- thereby skirting the issue at 3. above.
7. ALL HCPs have a professional responsibility to provide healthcare, free of inappropriate commercial bias and conflicts-of-interest, alluded to at 2.
above for IBCLCs.
8. Commercial interests have a professional responsibility to make money;
for them, commerical bias is what it is all about. This -- in and of
itself -- is not illegal or immoral or unethical or even bad manners. It is simply what commercial interests do. It is why they were created. I am typing this post on a computer that was created by a commercial interest that wanted to make money designing, marketing and selling it to me. It is legal moral and ethical for the computer company to do so.
9. ALL HCPs must ask themselves: if my education is being provided by a commercial interest, am I getting hearing independent information that has been critically reviewed by peers? Or am I receviing marketing messages cloaked as education? Some distinguished scholars feel that commerce and medicine cannot ethically co-mingle; the opportunity for overt and subtle commerical bias to result is simply too great. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22942/. The problem is profound; the amounts of mony involved are staggering. If you want an eyeful, see http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/.
10. Result:
* IBCLCs should never accept freebie education from WHO Code violators.
* IBCLCs will find that education from commercial sources -- even if they paid for it -- will not be eligible for CERPs.
* ALL HCPs should be leery of education offered by a commercial vendor -- whether they pay for it or not -- primarily because of conflict and bias concerns, not WHO Code or continuing education credit issues.
--
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA
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