Posted with Joan's permission and at her request.

Subj:   LACTNET
Date:   6/21/2003 11:46:47 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From:   <A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>
To: <A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Nancy, I am attaching a copy of the letter which I have sent to Mead Johnson.
 Since this issue has created a life of its own,  would you mind posting on
LACTNET?  I don't participate in the listserv.  All I have ever wanted to do is
the best job I possibly can to take care of infants and children and to try
to do what little part I can to help educate others to do so.  Whenever I get
together with my brother and sister, they always tease me about, how, as a very
young girl, I would round up the neighborhood kids, including them, and keep
them captive to "play school" after school and during summer vacation from
school.  I enjoy teaching others so much that I guess I have been naive to think
that, in educating, the message and the pure intent will shine through.Anyway,
I would appreciate it very much if you would post. Thanks so much, Joan
Joan Y. Meek, MD, MS, RD, FAAP, IBCLC
Director, General Academic Pediatrics
Orlando Regional Healthcare
Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women
Orlando, FL

June 21, 2003
Karen Lundgren, MS, RD
Mead Johnson Nutritionals

Dear Ms. Lundgren:
This letter is to inform you that I do not wish to be contacted in regard to
any future pediatric grand rounds, CME programs, or other speaking engagements
which are being sponsored by or associated with Mead Johnson Nutritionals.
It has been my sole intent to discuss evidence-based optimal infant nutrition
recommendations with health care professionals.  My unequivocal message is that
breastfeeding is the preferred method of feeding babies, with rare
exceptions, in accordance with World Health Organization statements and the policy
statements of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dietetic
Association.  I appreciate that, in speaking with health care professionals, Mead
Johnson Nutritionals has afforded me the opportunity to discuss outcomes
associated with breastfeeding and the optimal nutrition for the breastfed infant and
the lactating mother.  In addition, I have always had complete control over the
content of my presentation.  As a nutritionist, in my review of the scientific
evidence, I conclude that the next best choice for the nonbreastfed infant is
an iron fortified, DHA/ARA supplemented infant formula, modified for the
premature infant when appropriate. Because my participation in educational
sessions which have been underwritten by Mead Johnson Nutritionals is perceived to be
at odds with my professional, personal, and intensely heartfelt desire to
increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates, and now appears to be
causing division among the breastfeeding community, instead of unification to
achieve our common goals, however, I must ask that you advise your organization not
to contact me in the future.
Sincerely,
Joan Y. Meek


Nancy E. Wight MD, FAAP, IBCLC
Neonatologist, Children's Hospital, and Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women
Medical Director, Lactation Services, Sharp HealthCare
San Diego, CA, USA
Email: [log in to unmask]






























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