Before donating, I believe that one should ask some questions of the milk
bank.   Milk banking is not only about feeding babies, a part of the operation of
milk banking is about research.  Thus while you may assume that your milk is
going to some sick or premie baby, in actual fact it may be going to some
researcher who may be planning on patenting on some component in human milk and
making some money.

While one would suppose that government researchers would be exempt from
patenting, this is not true.  The US government Department of Health is the
assignee to a number of patents (some 2000 on various health issues--hiv/aids test
kits, various drugs, etc) and some government researchers are inventors on
these patents.  Teng of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is the
inventor to the recombinant human lactoferrin patent to treat and inactivate
hiv/aids that is assigned to the US Department of Health.  If moms  have concerns
about this, I would suggest that they ask alot of questions before they donate
their milk.  Donated premie milk is more valuable than full term milk to
researchers and industries involved in human milk research.
Valerie W. McClain, breastfeeding advocate

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