It's good to have the REAL question clarified for archival purposes, and now 
we can have a proper discussion.  Thank you to those who expanded the 
issues.  I'm with Nikki on this.

The International Breast Milk Project leaves a sour taste in some people's 
minds.  Prolacta (not part of the original story, by the way) is seen by 
some as first cousin to the artificial milk companies.  How did this come 
about?

Awful realisation... it's through us.  Women pulling down women.  People 
working in the "breast milk industry" believing that other branches of that 
"industry" aren't doing the right thing, who aren't feeding babies human 
milk for the right reasons, perhaps.  We are nervous of the implications of 
seeing breast milk go commercial, or not commercial enough.

<<All persons involved with lactation, should be familiar with the
International Breastmilk Project.  It is a very controversial collection arm
of Prolacta, which is a for-profit corporation that is processing human milk
into a product that sold back to hospitals.  All human milk donations (which
are given for free to IBMP) are turned over to Prolacta for processing.  A
small portion of the milk is donated out, the majority is sold for a 
profit.>>
Let's get this more accurate.  IBMP started and runs independently of 
Prolacta, and was helped by Prolacta to process its milk.  So it is not a 
"collection arm of Prolacta".  With more precise figures, it seems that 25% 
of the milk collected is sent to Africa and so far 75% of the milk has been 
turned into HUMAN "human milk fortifier."  Is it so appalling that this 
unique product is SOLD?  Is it so beyond the bounds of possibility that a 
mother who has donated her breast milk should one day benefit by having this 
product available to another baby in need?

My daughter had Kawasaki Syndrome and needed large numbers of vials of 
immunoglobulins... I think it was 17 or 23.  As I understood it in my 
panicked, dazed state at the time, each vial (the size of a test tube) 
contained antibodies from 1000 donors, extracted and condensed.  Looking at 
it one way, 17000 people could each have had a unit of blood for what it 
cost to save her life.... was that right?  You bet it was (for me.....).  It 
cost my medical aid a fortune; we would have lost our house if we didn't 
have medical aid.  If I was in a similar position with a premature baby, I 
would be very grateful for this new human HMF.

<<the supplier of the MAIN ingredient, cannot be paid one cent, but are 
expected
to do this out of the goodness of their heart.>>
I am reminded of Gary Larson recounting the story of his controversial 
cartoon where a gorilla picks a blonde hair off her mate's shoulder and says 
shrilly, "You've been with that Jane Goodall tramp again, haven't you!"  The 
Jane Goodall Foundation threatened a lawsuit.  Meanwhile on the other side 
of the world, Jane Goodall threw back her head and laughed at the cartoon in 
delight.

From this I mean that we mustn't weep for the "poor deluded mothers" who are 
coerced into sending their breast milk at great cost and hardship to 
themselves to nasty places in the world.  Most of them would be astounded at 
the very thought.  It is well known that altruism has its own reward - the 
pleasure centres of the brain light up just at the thought of doing good for 
others.  I think mothers don't donate "out of the goodness of their hearts" 
but FOR the goodness of their hearts.

Make no mistake, IBMP *does good work*.  There are hundreds, or thousands, 
of babies who have received human milk where there was no other way to get 
it, and Jill Youse got it for them.   She shifted off her fundament and 
broadened the possibilities of milk donation, from mother to mother as far 
as country to country, continent to continent.  To the extent that Lactnet 
subscribers implicitly believe that she is soliciting donations for Haiti 
right now.  Who would have ever imagined such a possibility even five years 
ago?  It is not happening, but we believe it can, and that's a huge shift in 
the acceptance of milk donation, yay!

When the Cape Town milk bank was first conceptualised, we were inundated 
with donations of milk.  We didn't have a site, we didn't have a method in 
place, we had unwilling doctors and we didn't have willing recipients, but 
we had breast milk.  This appears to be how things work... mothers want to 
give.

I also think there is nothing wrong with considering how mothers can earn a 
living wage through donating breast milk safely; there are of course risks 
on the other side that the mother's own baby could go short, and that would 
be built into the considerations.  But once again, making and donating 
breast milk has rewards that go beyond money.

<<I was suprised to see that the International Breastmilk Project stated 
that they are working with HMBANA.>>
They did not say this at all.

The website says that IBMP has received calls wanting to donate milk for 
Haitian babies, they can't handle it, and basically to send the milk to 
HMBANA instead, with a clear message that American babies also need donated 
milk.   How much more ethical could that statement be?  They didn't say, 
"Send your milk to us, or send it to Prolacta."  In fact, their site says 
that they are not taking any donations of milk right now.  I admit that 
there is almost an implication of "We will get it from HMBANA when we want 
it." which of course is never going to happen.   But more likely their 
thinking was that mothers starting to donate more now would have a better 
means of donating if and when it's needed and then the supplies could go 
direct.

<<How do they plan on getting the breastmilk to Haiti? There is no shipping, 
no mail service to this country.
Who will be responsible for the maintenance of the milk during 
transportation,delivery,and storage. Remember there is no electricity or 
refrigeration>>
As far as I can see, there IS no project to Haiti.  But there might be some 
day if the infra structure could handle it, sure.  If IBMP can send milk 
donations safely all the way to Africa, I guess they will figure out how to 
send it "down the road" when the time is right.

From their website:
"Currently the conditions in Haiti are not such that a donations would be 
possible, but things are changing each day. Once the infrastructure is in 
place and we have a partner there who can distribute the breast milk, then 
we will do everything possible to arrange a donation."

I guess I see the organisation as a backbone enterprise, and I hope they are 
stronger than the myriad knucklebones and wishbones out there.

Jacquie Nutt IBCLC
South Africa 

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