Hope you enjoy this update from the NY press conference today
Barbara Heiser, NABA

TO:             Interested Parties
FROM:   Gail Ravnitzky,
                Senior Legislative Assistant to Rep. Carolyn Maloney
DATE:           Friday, July 10, 1998
RE:             NYC press conference on HR 3531,
                the New Mothers' Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act


THE NEW YORK CITY PRESS CONFERENCE WAS A GREAT SUCCESS! (A final list of
speakers is below)

LOOK FOR COVERAGE TONIGHT (7/10) on New York channels 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC),
7(ABC), several radio stations, and more.  Also, Rep. Maloney, Sen.
Abate, and MaryBeth Mikelson appeared on Good Day New York (Channel 5)
this morning.  (Unfortunately, I cannot supply videotapes of these
programs, but if you are in the NY media market, check for stories
tonight on the news.)

***A special thank you to all of the mothers who
showed up to show their support for the legislation.
 And thanks, of course, to our fabulous speakers.***


OTHER NOTES ABOT THE MALONEY LEGISLATION:
This is for those of you who have asked about the bill's committee
referrals in the U.S. House of Representatives.  It was referred to the
following committees: Education and the Workforce, Ways and Means,
Government Reform and Oversight, Commerce, House Oversight.  We expect
that when/if there is any action taken on the bill, it will occur in
pieces, meaning that we'll be able to advance one portion of the bill at
a time.  For example, the WIC provision (which allows states greater
flexibility in using WIC funds to promote breastfeeding and purchase
breastpumps) has passed the Education and the Workforce Committee.
Hopefully the WIC bill will come to the House floor soon, although we
are running out of time on the legislative calendar this year.  The best
way to encourage further action on the bill is by having more
cosponsors, so please help us in this effort by contacting your
representatives and letting them know how you feel about the bill.  (The
address for any Member of the U.S. House of Representatives is: The
Honorable _________, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC
20515.   To find out who your representative is, you can call
202-225-3121)   Also, if you have had a workplace lactation experience
(either positive OR negative), we want to hear about it.


The final list of speakers:

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, author of H.R. 3531, the New Mothers'
Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act in the U.S. House of
Representatives (more info about this bill is available at:
<www.house.gov/maloney/breast.htm>

New York State Senator Catherine Abate, author of S. 7282, the New
Mothers' Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act in the New York
State Senate (more info about this bill is available at:
<www.senate.state.ny.us>

MaryBeth Mikalsen, Lake Ronkonkoma, NY, and her son, Ryan Scott, born in
December, 1997.
MaryBeth was a dental assistant in a 4- or 5-person woman dentist's
office in Shoreham, Long Island.  When she returned to work after her
maternity leave, she was told "lactation was going to be a problem...I
was harassed at work and forced to quit my job."

Denise M. Lewis of Fort Washington, Maryland.
Denise is a Computer Specialist for the Civil Rights Division at the
U.S. Department of Justice, and returned to work 3 months after giving
birth to her son.  She says:  "I pumped milk [and] experienced sudden
disruptions because the office [I used] was an entryway for a computer
equipment storage room..Although I locked and posted a sign outside the
door, occasionally [a coworker would] walk into the office while I was
expressing my milk.  My breast milk production declined."

Dr. Nicholas Cunningham is a pediatrician and public health physician at
Columbia University.
Dr. Cunningham will represent the American Academy of Pediatrics and
discuss their recommendation for children to be breastfed for at least
the first year of life.

Annette Rodriguez, of New York, New York
and her daughter Meagan, born in March 1997
Annette worked for 4 years as a secretary at Chase Manhattan Bank in New
York City.  She appreciated that the company had on-site day care, and
used a medical room to pump twice per day.  Some coworkers were not very
supportive, and made her feel bad about taking extra breaks to express
milk.  Many have asked her why she is still breastfeeding, and have
asked "when are you going to stop."  When she recently developed carpel
tunnel syndrome, she filed for workers' comp, but an Human Resources
person told her:  "we don't think it is carpel tunnel, we think it is
tendinitis due to breastfeeding."  Her daughter has been very healthy,
except for getting chicken pox, and her doctor told her it was a good
thing she was breastfeeding because Meagan was in better shape to handle
the chicken pox."

Marilyn Baiardi of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and her daughters Faith, 1,
and Sarah, 3.
Marilyn worked in the billing department of a home health agency
(Personal Touch in Bayside, Queens), took a 3-month maternity leave in
1994, returned to work and pumped in a bathroom for 4 months.   People
would walk in all the time and be stunned at what she was doing.  People
would also make little comments to her all the time about what she was
doing.  "People took cigarette breaks all the time, though, and noone
thought twice about that."  She eventually left her job.  With her 2nd
daughter, her doctor encouraged her to stop breastfeeding because her
daughter was sick.  The daughter was later diagnosed with cystic
fibrosis.

Grace Harold, RN, IBCLC (board-certified lactation consultant)
Director of the Perinatal Education and Lactation Center, in Smithtown,
New York
Ms. Harold will discuss some of the problems women who choose to
breastfeed encounter and some of the benefits to employers who
facilitate lactation in the workplace.