This is a great analysis of this issue.  I help lots of moms with babies with early issues who pump a lot to protect milk supply until baby can learn to breastfeed directly.  These moms often end up with a stash that they are willing to share.  I send them first to HMBNA banks and if they don't qualify, they go to milk-sharing sites.   Good pumps are part of this equation also.  Moms with not so good pumps don't have milk to share.  Just sayin'.

-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jodine Chase
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 1:31 PM
Subject: Re: Medolac

Thanks for that update, Cathy. I've been following the Medolac developments quite closely.

In the non-profit model shipping costs can addressed in different ways through partnerships. Here in my province the Calgary Mother's Milk Bank has shipping partners who donate shipping, and of course depots also keep costs down. We've seen novel solutions in the UK, with the motorcycle brigade, and in Brazil where donor milk is picked up by local firefighters.
And I think in Argentina there is also a public servant component to pickup and delivery. And of course the Norway model avoids much of this by only pasteurizing when needed and by keeping milk banks local to each hospital so there is little/no need to transport.

I'm curious to know what our NICU experts and other users of pasteurized donor human milk have to say about this new method of heat treating human milk - will sterilized milk be more accepted because it's still nutritionally superior to infant formula (is it?) and they don't have to worry about those pesky immune properties and other mysterious components of human milk that remain after pasteurization? Or will this be viewed as a cheaper but inferior product?

And, where is the research on the benefits vs risks of human milk processed this way? I remember how hard was to convince hospitals of the benefits of human milk in the wake of the AIDS crisis. In my view it wasn't until Prolacta came along with its $$ and marketing partnerships and ability to really sell the product, that demand really soared. Their research was instrumental in convincing many NICUS to start using PDHM. Does Medo have the research she needs to sell this product, or has the path already been paved?

There is no question, Medolac's entry into the marketplace with their novel supply side model is shaking things up. Prolacta has stated twice in public media reports in the last few months that it plans to pay mothers directly for their milk (up until now it says it has provided moms with a pump credit, and has donated $1/ounce to their charity partners.) The prospective donor mom is going to continue to face pressure to donate to Medolac instead of Prolacta instead of HMBANA instead of through peer networks, and the disparaging of the alternative options by the various players as they seek to secure supply is ramping up as well. I have seen a whisper campaign to discredit HMBANA milkbanks by Medolac. I'm seeing Prolacta adopt the messaging of the milksharing community by asserting that milk isn't a scare resource and that women were throwing it down the drain. I'm seeing legislation in New Jersey being pushed through to license milk banks and to launch an information campaign warning against the dangers of milksharing. Imagine that, a legislated info campaign! How does this impact the supply side? Well, if families in need are afraid to seek milk via milksharing, they turn to infant formula, and milk from milksharing donors then becomes available to HMBANA or Prolacta or Medolac.

At the 9th annual Breastfeeding and Feminism International Conference last week, milksharing, mlk banking, and corporate influences were a very hot topic. There seems to be a growing divide between commercial and not-for-profit interests. On the commercial side we're seeing a battle of "titans" as Medo seeks to redeem herself after having lost control of Prolacta. She's been exceptionally clever in identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and answering/exploiting with her new corporate model. And on the not-for-profit side there is also division between our not-for-profit milkbanks and our milksharing communities. I'm looking forward to the HMBANA conference in Victoria in April where Liz Brooks talks about ethics, Aunchalee Palmquist presents some of her as yet unpublished research on milksharing, and once again several leaders in the milksharing movement are attending as they did in Las Vegas in 2012, hoping to build bridges between the two communities sharing the common ground of altruism.

And where is the donor, or the recipient - the mom - in all of this? Who is protecting her interests, who is supporting her choices, who is speaking for her. In the line-up of conferences and meetings where our expert guest speakers are being paid good money to fly across the country to explain it all, where are these voices?

And finally, where is the overarching commitment to protect breastfeeding, without which we will have no donor milk?

-- Jodine Chase
Human Milk News: http://www.bfnews.blogspot.com Edmonton, Alberta, Canada


On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 5:27 AM, Jeanette McCulloch < [log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Cathy Genna on Medolac.
>
> Jmc
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *LACTNET automatic digest system* <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014
> Subject: LACTNET Digest - 24 Mar 2014 (#2014-147)
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> ...
> ...
>
> Date:    Mon, 24 Mar 2014 22:15:02 -0400
> From:    "Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: medolac
>
> I went to a presentation by Elena Medo about this new company. She has 
> now started Medolac as a milk processing company. Her daughter is the 
> president of a co-op of mom milk sellers and an employee of Medolac as 
> well. (Medolac will be the sole processor for the co-op, and is hoping 
> to get the price down to $1 an oz by processing large batches of milk).
> Since overnight/frozen shipping is the most expensive part of human 
> milk banking, Medolac is trying to make a shelf stable bottled 
> pasteurized human milk. She envisions this as a 'sustainable model' 
> for providing sufficient milk for all babies who need it.
>
> Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC NYC cwgenna.comOn 3/20/2014 5:28 PM
>

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