Thanks for that update, Cathy. I've been following the Medolac developments
quite closely.
In the non-profit model shipping costs can addressed in different ways
through partnerships. Here in my province the Calgary Mother's Milk Bank
has shipping partners who donate shipping, and of course depots also keep
costs down. We've seen novel solutions in the UK, with the motorcycle
brigade, and in Brazil where donor milk is picked up by local firefighters.
And I think in Argentina there is also a public servant component to pickup
and delivery. And of course the Norway model avoids much of this by only
pasteurizing when needed and by keeping milk banks local to each hospital
so there is little/no need to transport.
I'm curious to know what our NICU experts and other users of pasteurized
donor human milk have to say about this new method of heat treating human
milk - will sterilized milk be more accepted because it's still
nutritionally superior to infant formula (is it?) and they don't have to
worry about those pesky immune properties and other mysterious components
of human milk that remain after pasteurization? Or will this be viewed as a
cheaper but inferior product?
And, where is the research on the benefits vs risks of human milk processed
this way? I remember how hard was to convince hospitals of the benefits of
human milk in the wake of the AIDS crisis. In my view it wasn't until
Prolacta came along with its $$ and marketing partnerships and ability to
really sell the product, that demand really soared. Their research was
instrumental in convincing many NICUS to start using PDHM. Does Medo have
the research she needs to sell this product, or has the path already been
paved?
There is no question, Medolac's entry into the marketplace with their novel
supply side model is shaking things up. Prolacta has stated twice in public
media reports in the last few months that it plans to pay mothers directly
for their milk (up until now it says it has provided moms with a pump
credit, and has donated $1/ounce to their charity partners.) The
prospective donor mom is going to continue to face pressure to donate to
Medolac instead of Prolacta instead of HMBANA instead of through peer networks,
and the disparaging of the alternative options by the various players as
they seek to secure supply is ramping up as well. I have seen a whisper
campaign to discredit HMBANA milkbanks by Medolac. I'm seeing Prolacta
adopt the messaging of the milksharing community by asserting that milk
isn't a scare resource and that
women were throwing it down the drain. I'm seeing legislation in New Jersey
being pushed through to license milk banks and to launch an information
campaign warning against the dangers of milksharing. Imagine that, a
legislated info campaign! How does this impact the supply side? Well, if
families in need are afraid to seek milk via milksharing, they turn to
infant formula, and milk from milksharing donors then becomes available to
HMBANA or Prolacta or Medolac.
At the 9th annual Breastfeeding and Feminism International Conference last
week, milksharing, mlk banking, and corporate influences were a very hot
topic. There seems to be a growing divide between commercial and
not-for-profit interests. On the commercial side we're seeing a battle of
"titans" as Medo seeks to redeem herself after having lost control of
Prolacta. She's been exceptionally clever in identifying strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats and answering/exploiting with
her new corporate
model. And on the not-for-profit side there is also division between our
not-for-profit milkbanks and our milksharing communities. I'm looking
forward to the HMBANA conference in Victoria in April where Liz Brooks
talks about ethics, Aunchalee Palmquist presents some of her as yet
unpublished research on milksharing,
and once again several leaders in the milksharing movement are attending as
they did in Las Vegas in 2012, hoping to build bridges between the two
communities sharing the common ground of altruism.
And where is the donor, or the recipient - the mom - in all of this? Who is
protecting her interests, who is supporting her choices, who is speaking
for her. In the line-up of conferences and meetings where our expert guest
speakers are being paid good money to fly across the country to explain it
all, where are these voices?
And finally, where is the overarching commitment to protect breastfeeding,
without which we will have no donor milk?
-- Jodine Chase
Human Milk News: http://www.bfnews.blogspot.com
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 5:27 AM, Jeanette McCulloch <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Cathy Genna on Medolac.
>
> Jmc
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *LACTNET automatic digest system* <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014
> Subject: LACTNET Digest - 24 Mar 2014 (#2014-147)
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> ...
> ...
>
> Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 22:15:02 -0400
> From: "Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: medolac
>
> I went to a presentation by Elena Medo about this new company. She has
> now started Medolac as a milk processing company. Her daughter is the
> president of a co-op of mom milk sellers and an employee of Medolac as
> well. (Medolac will be the sole processor for the co-op, and is hoping
> to get the price down to $1 an oz by processing large batches of milk).
> Since overnight/frozen shipping is the most expensive part of human milk
> banking, Medolac is trying to make a shelf stable bottled pasteurized
> human milk. She envisions this as a 'sustainable model' for providing
> sufficient milk for all babies who need it.
>
> Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC NYC cwgenna.comOn 3/20/2014 5:28 PM
>
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