Cathy F posts articulately about the need to step back, and not demonize (as
we Yanks spell it) industries that are funding research by thoughtful,
excellent researchers ... in this case, with regard to Medela and the Calma
teat.  First, my own disclaimer:  I am probably as guilty as anyone of using
demonizing (well, maybe "only" polarizing) language with regard to conflicts
of interest, WHO-Code violators, and other hot button issues we lactation
advocates face.  It's the way I talk and the way I write ... but this
style can indeed make hackles and fences go up.   Mea culpa.

The post's concluding statement contains -- ironically -- the nub of the
problem.  "[O]bjective scepticism is important to evaluate any new
knowledge, but I beseech you all to wait till you are able to objectively
assess the research associated with it before discarding it (and its
inventors) to the trash can."

Aye, there's the rub.  When research has been *funded* by a corporate
interest, it calls into question whether the results can (ever) be
objective.  This issue is not confined to one bottle made by one company ...
they are just giving us a succinct example of the problem.  Bias pervades
all strata of healthcare (research, clinical care, public policy) and all
kinds of healthcare (preventive, palliative, surgical).  We are required by
the ethics of our profession to objectievly assess the research ... but
there is a real question as to whether this research is itself objective.

For more, scan Lo and Field's "Conflict of Interest in Medical Research,
Education, and Practice,"  available online from the [US] Institute of
Medicine.  The intro:  "Patients and the public benefit when physicians and
researchers collaborate with pharmaceutical, medical device, and
biotechnology companies to develop products that benefit individual and
public health. At the same time, concerns are growing that wide-ranging
financial ties to industry may unduly influence professional judgments
involving the primary interests and goals of medicine. Such conflicts of
interest threaten the integrity of scientific investigations, the
objectivity of professional education, the quality of patient care, and the
public’s trust in medicine."  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22942/.


-- Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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