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Subject:
From:
Elizabeth Brooks <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:48:28 -0500
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This is a very interesting discussion.  The topic makes me squirm ... and I
can't quite put my finger on "why."  Whenever those little hairs prick up on
the back of my neck, I know to pay attention to them -- even if I can't
articulate exactly what has raised the caution.

I think Nikki makes a plausible argument:  human fluids are bought and sold
already, both in legitimate and illegimiate channels.  A corollary to this
topic is that cross-nursing/wet-nursing was once a viable means to earn a
living ... why not today, when we on Lactnet are aware of the key health
role that breastmilk and breastfeeding play in the lives of children and
mothers?

I think the part that makes me feel "ooky" about Prolacta is that there is
so little *transparency* in their operations.  I perused the website
myself.  It is lovely.  It is heart-warming.  It has nice pictures.  We are
all going to save lives of tiny babies in NICU, right?  But it does not
explain that donor-women are not paid for their donations.  It does not
explain *why* they can't be paid.  It doesn't explain how much milk that is
given "for the starving babies in Haiti" in fact makes it there -- and how
much of it instead goes into the vats that enrich the coffers of the
perfectly-legal for-profit company that this is.  I note that there are no
IBCLCs on the Executive Management or Board of Directors, altho there are
other medical personnel.  I don't think any well-meaning mother, or even
health care provider, who peruses this site can figure out exactly how the
system works, and who gets paid, and when.  Prolacta is a privately-held
company, so the means by which one can discover this sort of financial
information are limited.  I suppose one could hound the HQ until they
coughed up the figures ... but that takes perseverance, and there is no
guarantee you'll get the information you want.

And yet, if I were a neonatologist who could choose between human-milk based
fortifier, and cow-milk based fortifier, I know I would want the former.
Even if it cost a lot.

You know, if we had the power to organize all the lactating women in the
world, to form a union that could demand decent compensation for the
breastmilk they express for others, we'd be in clover.  Prolacta would have
to pay the going rate, and we could all feel good about this company, the
mothers who give it their milk, and the money Prolacta makes on the system
which we are led to believe is plowed back into more research.

Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA -- who is still squirming
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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