On the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio news this morning.  Three
women in Indonesia arrested and tried because they were protesting the
runaway increases in milk prices.  One of the women talking about "What
are the babies going to do?  The babies are crying" or something similar
to that.  I felt like weeping from frustration.

This is the price of modernization and another of the downsides of not
breastfeeding.  The same thing happened in Iraq.  At the time of the
Gulf War 80% of women did *not* breastfeed their babies.  The price the
babies paid was terrible.

We in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia don't believe such disasters
will occur to us.  Canada has not had a war on its territory since 1814.
But the recent ice storm shows that we are not immune and formula
feeding mothers had a hard time.  "Its not nice to fool mother nature".

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC