(1) IBCLCs are to supports the WHO Code, per Tenet 24 of the IBLCE Code of
Ethics which may be read in full at
http://www.iblce.org/upload/downloads/CodeOfEthics.pdf. The WHO Code is
quite plain: manufacturers/marketers of the four product-types covered by
the Code are not to offer financial inducements to health workers/health
care providers (HCPs), and HCPs are not to accept them. See in particular
Article 4.2, Article 5, and Article 7 of the WHO Code, which may be read in
full at http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf.
If your attendance at this conference is to be paid for by a company
that markets its bottles in violation of the WHO Code (pumps aren't covered
by the WHO Code), that goes squarely against the premises of this seiminal
public health document.
(2) Beyond their requirement to support the WHO Code, IBCLCs also must
avoid the appearance of any commercial conflict-of-interest. See Tenets 5,
12 and 17 of the IBLCE Code of Ethics.
Thus, if your attendance at a conference is to be paid by ANY company who
markets ANYTHING used in lactation (including WHO-Code-compliant marketers
of pumps, nipple crems, bras, finger-feeders, etc etc etc), this could give
rise to an appearance of a conflict-of-interest.
(3) Note that the WHO Code *does* allow for HCPs to receive "scientific and
factual information" directly from the manufacturer/marketers ... and a
professional educational conference is a setting where this can occur. The
idea is that health care providers in a professional educational setting can
critically review the materials and research, discuss it amongst colleagues,
press the manufacturer for substantiation of claims, etc.
However, the objectivity of the HCPs is called into question if their very
attendance at the session has been paid for by the marketers whom they are
supposed to be critically reviewing
(4) IBLCE has announced it is severely curtailing its awarding of CERPs to
any commercial entity planning educational conferences/lunch-and-learns.
Thus, IBCLCs may not earn any CERPs.
(5) * *A practicing IBCLC can still avail yourself of these educational
offerings. Sometimes it is instructive to see and hear how manufacturers
are selling their products -- because our colleagues and the mothers we
serve are being given this heavy marketing message too. Simply provide to
the conference hosts *payment *for the fair market value of attending the
session ... complete with a cover letter explaining why you do not wish to
have your attendance confer the appearance of a conflict of interest with
commercial interests of any kind -- WHO-Code-covered or not.
(6) Take a quick "smell test" for yourself. Even if you pay for your
attendance ... even if you send a strong letter to the conference hosts ...
is it worth the risk of having your attendance appear to align you with a
commercial interest? Not everyone will know you paid to be there. Not
everyone will know you sent that cranky letter. Here in the USA we have
dozens of alternative opportunities to learn evidence-based information
about human lactation that has *not* been assembled and presented by a
commercial interest (WHO-Code-covered or not). Does this pass your own
"smell test" or not?
--
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA
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