Jeanette asked : "When is CU going to address the formula companies?  What has made them such an
untouchable group?"

        Jeanette, the other day, when I heard this lovely snippet at the end of a piece about a
new treatment for cellulite - "Over 90% of women are afflicted with cellulite!" I turned to my
husband and said, "Well, if the percentage is that high, maybe cellulite is *normal*!"
        My point is that unfortunately, in the USA, bottle feeding is seen as *normal*. Even
though over half the mothers start off breastfeeding, only a small percentage of them continue
beyond the first weeks. Very few people recognise the value of human milk, and even fewer
recognise the risks of artificial feeding. Abm can be justified as life-saving in certain
circumstances, but the same cannot be said of tobacco.
        It all depends on your perspective. Remember how horrified Americans were to hear that
starving Third World citizens used donated cow's milk powder to whitewash their walls? I *can*
forsee a time when CU will address the formula companies, but I think that we have a lot of work
to do, raising the public's consciousness about the risks of formula feeding, before that will
happen.

Norma Ritter, IBCLC, LLLL
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"If not now, when? If not us, who?" R. Hillel