Diane asked about this a few days ago and there were a few replies. 

I was interested that no one mentioned one of the most important ethical 
considerations in my personal view, which is adherence to the spirit as well 
as the letter of the WHO code. This means that I try to be very careful to 
make sure I am not associated with or taking money or other benefits from 
companies or other commercial entities which have an interest in women's 
feeding decisions.  This can be very hard, such as deciding whether to 
attend conferences, where I feel I will profit from the information, but I 
know there will be stands from pump companies. (And I do sometimes attend 
conferences with such stands -- and sometimes organisations which I would 
have thought would be very careful about who they allow to exhibit at 
conferences surprise and disappoint me).   It also affects my willingness to 
subscribe to journals, as I let their policy on accepting adverts influence 
me very strongly in this regard. 

Another personal ethical position led me to decide, a good decade ago, that 
I would not pursue becoming an IBCLC.  Here in the UK we have a national 
health system, which I believe we should be fighting to keep free at the 
point of use.  As an American, I cannot bring myself to foster the IBCLC 
qualification here in the UK, which I believe is fundementally a product of 
the captialist US health care system and which implicitly undermines the 
UK's National Health Service.  I am not aware that this consideration has 
influenced anyone else here in the UK (or anywhere else where there is a 
strong nationalised health service), however it seems important to me. 

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK 

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