> Breast-milk banks pushing for more federal oversight
>
>
> By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff, 10/24/2002
>
> After this month's discovery that the West Nile virus can be transmitted
> through breast milk, the nation's human-milk banks, which serve thousands of
> newborns across the country, are asking for federal oversight to add
> credibility to their industry.
>
> Federal authorities appear to be taking a closer look at the handful of banks
> nationwide - the modern-day version of wet nurses - that provide breast milk
> to babies whose mothers cannot nurse, usually because of sickness. One milk
> bank representative said she received a call within the last month from an
> official of the US Food and Drug Administration asking about safety issues.
>
> ''We welcome the idea of working with the FDA to develop guidelines and
> initiate inspections,'' said Mary Rose Tully, the former chairwoman of the
> Human Milk Banking Association of North America. ''It would protect the public
> from charlatans and give us a sense of completion.''
>
> This growing industry (sales of donated breast milk are up 25 percent in the
> past year) relies on the free donations of breast milk from lactating mothers
> who have a surplus. The milk is then pooled and pasteurized before being sold
> to mothers whose doctors prescribe it. The human-milk industry today resembles
> the blood bank industry of decades past when regulations were light and demand
> was surging.
>
> Dr. Kimberly Lee, associate director of the newborn nursery at Beth Israel
> Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said she applauds the idea of more federal
> regulation of milk banks, particularly if it adds legitimacy to an industry
> that provides breast milk to vulnerable premature babies among others.

<snip>

Rest at:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/297/nation/Breast_milk_banks_pushing_for_m
ore_federal_oversight+.shtml

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