Sorry for the late comment on this topic...

I can't help but wonder...  If a mother has a huge milk supply, and happens to 
have milk above and beyond what her baby needs, wouldn't it be better to 
donate that milk to a milk bank for less fortunate infants who can't receive 
their own mothers milk than to donate it to Ben and Jerry's for a food "nobody 
needs in order to survive"?  (thanks Rachel for that quote, couldn't agree 
more!)  While I love ice cream, I would prefer to eat ice cream made from 
cow's milk than eat ice cream made from breast milk that was donated/sold/or 
any other means that B&J would obtain it knowing there are infants out there 
who could benefit from that milk.

Just something that went through my head!  I know if I had extra milk, I would 
donate to a milk bank instead of Ben and Jerry's.  I am interested in how this 
will all end up!

Jamie Huddleston, IBCLC


Date:    Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:17:36 -0400
From:    Rachel Myr <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: PETA and Ben and Jerry's

While I agree that human milk is eminently better suited for humans than = is 
cow's milk, I don't see how taking children's food to put it into confections 
that, strictly speaking, nobody actually needs in order to survive, would be a 
good thing.  I see this PETA campaign as an eye-catch= er rather than a 
serious movement to replace a bovine milk-based confection with a human 
milk-based one.  Yes, it's a problem that calves are deprive= d of their natural 
food because we enslave their mothers and take ownership=  of the 
secretions of their mammary glands, giving the mothers only animal fe= ed in 
return.  It's also a problem that some of this milk is turned into an inferior food 
for human children whose mothers might have been capable of=

providing them with their own milk, and at much lower cost.
The number of women needed to produce sufficient milk for a commercial ic= e 
cream manufacturer is very very high, considering that the average lactat= 
ing woman produces about one liter per day, all of which is needed by her chi= 
ld, and the average cow produces upwards of 20, some three times that. 
Guess = the price of ice cream would need to be adjusted too, but if it led to 
fewer people consuming excessive amounts of a product we can survive 
better without, then maybe it would be a good thing after all.  ??!
Interesting that the restaurant purportedly planning to use human milk on=

the menu is in Switzerland, the home of the world's leading manufacturer = of 
breastmilk substitutes.  I'd like to know how the providers of milk to th= is 
restaurant are planning to feed their own children - but actually I suspe= ct it 
is all a spoof.  I hope so.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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