Though Joan Wolf's list of merits is long and impressive, I could find
nothing there that convinced me of her expertise in judging the strength of
research findings in epidemiology.  She is an eminent social scientist and
while she may have taken courses in statistics for public health, it is not
a given.  She is fortunate to have a nice combination of letters and titles
and a platform from which to expound her opinions, which suit a very
well-heeled lobby whose interests do not coincide with promotion of public
health.  But I would not consult her to find out the relative health risk
for an individual or for a population of engaging in or refraining from a
given behavior, like, say, breastfeeding.

It is sort of like when Nobel laureates begin to spout off on things
completely unrelated to what they have any clue about, and everyone listens
up because after all, they won the Nobel prize.  You can be a complete
jackass in every other respect and still be brilliant in your field of
expertise.  Norway is wracked with conflict this year in trying to figure
out how to honor the great author Knut Hamsun (a Nobel laureate, BTW)
without glorifying his pathetic and lamentable support for Nazism.  The
Israeli embassy has expressed satisfaction with how it is being done so I
think Norway has probably got it right, whew.

Hamsun had some bad experiences in his youth in the US. He was a streetcar
conductor in Chicago.  He was well received in Germany.  Probably both
things influenced his apprehension, or lack thereof, of politics.  I don't
know anything about why Joan Wolf is so engaged by the issue of public
health messages about breastfeeding and I am not interested enough in her to
find out.

Baby-Friendly UK's response to the story (posted by Morgan Gallagher just
hours ago) is excellent.  Please spread it far and wide.

Rachel Myr
typing in Kristiansand with 9 fingers instead of 10, in a cast following
surgery for 'skier's thumb' - the ultimate irony for this immigrant to
Norway, as I long ago stopped pretending I liked skiing, and my injury was
sustained falling off my BIKE :-)

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome