Barbara you said:
>The absolute last place I would go for information on a product is to that
>product's
> manufacturer.  I might want to look at their specs, their claims, the
>design, etc. but we are professionals.  We need to go beyond advertizing
and
>marketing to the clinical studies or to professional reviewers who have
made
>comparisons of performance.  <snip>  The most recent edition of JHL
>had a nice piece comparing the Medela Mini-electric to the Avent Isis,
>complete with clinical data.

This study was finacially supported by one of the companies -- the company
whose pump was discovered to be as good as a mini-electric (although a large
electric is acknowledged to be the 'gold standard' here in the UK).  Since
two researchers went to the home of the mother while she expressed for the
study and there is no, repeat NO, discussion of how the researchers
conducted themselves with regard to the pumps [I mean, for all we know from
the study, they handed the pump in question to the mums saying , 'here's a
cute little manual pump -- so compact and quiet!' -- *I am not saying that
they did*, but NOTHING in the paper shows that they tried to reflect on the
effect their own attitudes to the two different pumps -- one paid for by the
company supporting the study and therefore paying them --  may have had on
the mothers] and the data say the pumps were pretty similar in milk
extraction, but mums prefered the one being funded by the study......  I
find it hard to know how to take this and would regard it as one step, and
*no further*, up from manufacturer's specs.

Indeed, in this particular study, one researcher has a chequered record with
regard to ethics in breastfeeding research and has, several times in teh
last few years, been subject to question on this, at least here in the UK.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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