I am disappointed to see so much nastiness on LACTNET. The discussion
about advertising and politics is very disturbing. Obviously, ADVERTISING
WORKS! It works on MDs and people who "know better". If it didn't, abm
companies (and CocaCola and Nike) wouldn't spend millions of dollars on
it. There are other ways to promote BF through MDs, etc., but the
original discussion was about the insidious harm caused by BF promotion
pamphlets put out by the abm companies. If this type of sneaky
advertising didn't work - mothers, MDs, LCs and other medical
professionals wouldn't fall for it. Cearly, it is very effective on the
well-educated as well as those who are more vulnerable. Doesn't anyone
remember why there is a boycott against Nestle???

I find the attacks on welfare recipients, WIC, and non-American cultures
to be especially offensive. Welfare is a tiny percentage of  U.S.
government spending. WIC is the ONLY U.S. Agency to promote BF at all.
Where is your attack on the Defense Dept.? Those of us who have been on
LACTNET for a longer period of time have gotten good information about
what WIC really does and why. Maybe a good look at the archives is in
order.

>was that  a bit bolshie for the States?
is in reference to the Bolsheviks (more info in a good dictionary). Some
Americans are not very aware of the politics, history, and culture of
other countries. I would like to apologize to Mary Broadfoot for the
insenstive and insulting comments made by Americans. Not all of us feel
that the "free market" is good for women or for babies.

Jay, thanks again for sharing your story. No one knows what goes on in
anyone's life. It is none of our business to make judgements about
anyone. Personal attacks and assumptions about total strangers are
totally inappropriate. Life isn't a piece of cake for a lot of people.
Thank you for challenging the "blame the victim" mentality. Some of us
are aware that picking on welfare recipients is a convenient diversion
from real issues. No one WANTS to be on welfare. Most poor and
uninsured/underinsured Americans are WORKING poor.

I just had to come out of "lurk" mode for this one!





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marie Schulte LLLL & MOM
from the computer known as
[log in to unmask] ;-)
Visit the
La Leche League of Madison web page at:
http://www.terracom.net/~mjstoy/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~