Dear all:
Just to let you know how infinitessimally small the amount of independent funding is available from the US government compared to total spending I looked up some numbers off the following weblink.

http://www.usaspending.gov/agency-tabular?&carryfilters=on&tab=By%20Agency&fiscal_year=2011&tabletype=agencybar

Linda Smith graciously sent me info from the following arrticle.  Brown, L. P., A. H. Bair, et al. (2003). "Does federal funding for
breastfeeding research target our national health objectives?" Pediatrics
111(4 Pt 1): e360-364.

of about 40.1 million dollars was awarded for research on infant nutrition/breastfeeding/lactation, only about 5.6 million was awarded to protects which might have a direct or indirect impact on achieving the Healthy People 2000 goals for increasing the incidence and duration of breastfeeding.  Of this, 4.1 million had no relationship to breastfeeding per se. These were studies on human milk composition and technologies to improve ARTIFICIAL MILKS AND NEW PHARMACEUTICAL THERAPIES.

So, here is what an impact this would have on the 2011 budget:

The percent of the US government budget allocated to the United States Agency for International Development = 0.7 % of the total budget.
(Keep in mind that this funds the salaries of many US citizens and organizations based in the United States.  I heard some quote about Americans thinking we spend about 25% of our budget on foreign assistance -- clearly way off the mark.

The percent of the US government budget for research on infant nutrition/breasgfeeding/nutrition = 0.007% of the budget
The percent spent on projects directly or indirectly targeted to the Healthy People 2000 goals for increasing incidence and duration of breastfeeding = 0.001% of the budget
The percent actually spent on research that was designed to actually help the act of breastfeeding rather than promote a product =0.0002% of the budget.

Does anyone really still believe that redirecting government funding towards research that might actually benefit breastfeeding is actually question of RAISING TAXES? 

Sincerely, 

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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