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Subject:
From:
Naomi Bar-Yam <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 22 Feb 2006 23:17:39 -0500
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It's interesting to see how issues we know about are played out in  
the press. Here are the three articles that have run in Boston's 2  
newspapers in the last two days about the attempt to repeal the ban  
on formula gift bags in Massachusetts.


> DPH to revisit ban on hospital gift bags for new moms
> By Associated Press
> Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - Updated: 04:28 PM EST
> BOSTON - State public health officials voted Tuesday to abandon a  
> proposed ban on the distribution of gift diaper bags with brand  
> name formula in hospitals, but agreed to reconsider the ban within  
> three months.
>
>      The Public Health Council approved new prenatal regulations  
> for hospitals, but agreed not to move forward on the proposed ban,  
> after initially approving it late last year.
>
>      Council members say they want to reconsider the ban, which was  
> proposed as a way to encourage breast-feeding.
>
>      The decision to drop the proposed ban came after a spokesman  
> for Gov. Mitt Romney said last week that the governor wanted to  
> leave the decision whether to accept the bags up to new mothers.
>
>      Public Health Commissioner Paul J. Cote said he had failed to  
> make sure the proposed ban was properly reviewed by all necessary  
> departments.
>
>      Council member Phyllis Cudmore said she still supported the ban.
>
>      “I don’t think there’s any place in a hospital for corporate  
> America to be influencing that decision” whether to breast-feed,  
> she said.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=127395


> Romney, officials feud over nursing
> By Jessica Fargen
> Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - Updated: 08:19 AM EST
> State health officials are balking at Gov. Mitt Romney’s demand  
> they immediately reverse their ban on hospital goodie bags filled  
> with free baby formula and coupons — gifts lambasted by pro-nursing  
> groups as anti-breast-feeding propaganda.
>
>     The Public Health Council in December had backed the ban, but  
> last week Romney intervened and said women should have the option  
> of receiving the freebies provided by formula companies.
>
>      State officials will have internal policy discussions over the  
> next three months before making a final decision, DPH Commissioner  
> Paul Cote said yesterday.
>
>     Cote said Health and Human Services Secretary Tim Murphy  
> contacted him shortly after the December hearing to let him know  
> proper review channels were not followed.
>
>     “The biggest concern I have is I feel as though I didn’t do my  
> due diligence to (make sure) this was properly vetted,” Cote said.
>
>     Marsha Walker, director of the National Alliance for  
> Breastfeeding Advocacy, said the gift bags make it too easy for  
> women to opt out of nursing, which she regards as the healthiest  
> option.
>
>     But Romney said yesterday mothers can make their own decision.  
> “If she doesn’t want to use it, she can save it for nine months or  
> six months or a year, when the child is going to be weaned to a  
> bottle,” the governor said.“I’m happy to let the mother decide.”
>
>     Nearly every hospital in Massachusetts — and across the country  
> — gives new mothers the free gift bags.
>
>     Bay State native Shaunda Penny, a member of a pro-nursing  
> group, blames the free formula pack she got from a New York  
> hospital for her son’s respiratory disease.
>
>     “It seemed like an easy solution,” Penny, 26, said. “It was  
> always sitting there in the cupboard.”

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=127395

The third is from the Boston Globe and a bit long but I'm including  
it here because you can't access it directly from the web without  
signing up. This is also longer than the web version Marsha Walker  
posted yesterday. I guess they had some more space in the paper this  
morning, so they ran a longer article.

> Ban on formula in gift bags for new mothers is put on hold
> By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff  |  February 22, 2006
> The panel that sets public health policy in Massachusetts put on  
> hold yesterday a ban against distribution of gift bags containing  
> infant formula to new mothers in hospital maternity wards.
> Governor Mitt Romney, who said he believes that mothers should have  
> a choice on how to feed their infants, had asked the Public Health  
> Council to repeal the prohibition, which was set to go into effect  
> in July. The panel voted unanimously yesterday to suspend its  
> approval of the ban, while directing public health authorities to  
> further review the proposal and report back in three months.
> The board's action assures that the controversy over the gift-bag  
> ban will remain alive at least until May, with proponents of breast- 
> feeding and formula makers preparing for further battle.
> Advocates of the prohibition maintain that formula giveaways  
> discourage mothers from breast-feeding. Medical studies have shown  
> that breast-fed children are less likely to suffer respiratory and  
> gastrointestinal ailments and that women who nurse have lower rates  
> of breast and ovarian cancer.
> Some Public Health Council members voiced continued support for the  
> gift-bag prohibition during their monthly meeting, attended by  
> mothers cradling infants. Members of the board were either  
> appointed directly by Romney or continue to serve at his pleasure.
> ''Clearly, the department has done a lot of work, and the  
> regulations need to go forward as we have discussed," said council  
> member Phyllis Cudmore, a consumer representative. ''The marketing  
> of infant formula undermines the initiative to nurse. I don't think  
> there's any place in a hospital for corporate America trying to  
> influence a vulnerable population."
> During a press conference yesterday, Romney made his first public  
> remarks on the ban.
> ''I think that the mother should have the right to decide whether  
> she is going to use infant formula or breast-feed," Romney said.  
> ''And allowing her to make that decision is best [done] by letting  
> her have the formula, and if she wants to use it, fine."
> The Republican governor described the prohibition as an example of  
> government intrusion into private lives.
> ''I'm not enthusiastic about the heavy arm of government coming in  
> and saying: We think we know better than the mothers, and we are  
> going to decide for you," Romney said.
> The state's commissioner of public health, Paul Cote, accepted  
> blame for the formula controversy, saying that he had failed to  
> alert his superiors of the proposal before the Public Health  
> Council's December vote.
> ''I feel I didn't do due diligence to make sure this policy was  
> properly vetted," Cote, who was appointed by Romney last year, said  
> in an interview. ''We dropped the ball on this."
> Cote said that after the Public Health Council embraced the ban in  
> December, he was contacted by his direct boss, Health and Human  
> Services Secretary Timothy R. Murphy.
> ''He asked me the question about whether this had properly been  
> discussed with folks, and my answer was, unfortunately, it hadn't,"  
> Cote said. ''It was a mistake, the kind we would not like to make  
> too often."
> The ban on gift bags containing infant formula would be the first  
> of its kind in the nation and would mark a turning point in a long- 
> running battle between advocates of breast-feeding and formula  
> makers. That fight has played out over decades, with professional  
> organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics voicing  
> strong support for nursing.
> A spokeswoman for the International Formula Council, a trade group,  
> said yesterday that members of the group continue to let  
> Massachusetts officials know that they think the gift-bag ban is a  
> bad idea. The council sent a letter to the state government in  
> January urging repeal of the ban.
> ''We will be reiterating our position that we don't believe that a  
> ban on hospital discharge bags will increase breast-feeding rates,"  
> said Marisa Salcines, spokeswoman for the Formula Council.
> Healthcare workers and mothers who attended the Public Health  
> Council meeting said they were surprised that the board did not  
> permanently reject the ban, saying that the three-month review  
> gives them more time to make their case that a gift-bag prohibition  
> would enhance the health of babies and mothers.
> Some hospitals, such as Boston Medical Center, already ban the  
> corporate gift bags, replacing them with giveaways that include  
> diapers and water bottles, but no formula or coupons for formula.
> ''The commercial stuff like gift bags -- it's like Pepsi-Cola in  
> the schools," Anne Merewood, an assistant professor of pediatrics  
> at Boston University School of Medicine, said in an interview after  
> the meeting. ''It says, 'Let's target a vulnerable population that  
> doesn't need the product.' "






--------------------------------
Naomi Bar-Yam Ph.D.
[log in to unmask]
617-964-6676

Researcher, Writer, Educator
in Maternal and Child Health
--------------------------------



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