Nestle and Novartis have patents on humanmilk?  Really?  How does this work,
i.e., I thought you cd get a patent for a single component of something as
individual and dynamic as human milk, not for the milk itself, a substance
which varies enough that I don't see how you could define it enough to get a
patent.
Martha Johnson RN IBCLC
Eugene OR

-----Original Message-----
From: Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2001 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: Court Order to Enforce AZT Prophylaxis, Bottlefeeding for
Infant Can Be....


Ethical?  Reuters has a way of slanting studies that seems to benefit some
industries.  What does this news media want us to believe?  Are ethics to be
only decided by the medical community?  Is that possible? Is it ethical?
What
happens when most of what we call scientific research has been overrun by
the
needs of certain industries to make enormous profits?  As a breastfeeding
community, we have been silent when we are told that that hiv positive women
should be "discouraged" from breastfeeding.  We have accepted their premises
but quietly questioned why this had to be.  We can take comfort that in the
USA, this may only happen to a few women. Right?  Just a small percentage of
women will be discouraged.  It won't really effect the rest of us.  Right?
Although one might be a little concerned since obviously women who have hep
B
are now being threatened.  But heck that isn't anyone we know...  Of course,
we sure are living in one contaminated world and there are toxins in
breastmilk.  We can now test everyone's milk and see just how toxic it all
is
and of course those women shouldn't breastfeed.  And ethically, our medical
community will determine who should breastfeed and who shouldn't--yeah and
its all "evidence-based science" (evidence based on the drug and infant
formula industry's definition of evidence-based).

The threat to breastfeeding--its very survival--is not just in some
developing country but world-wide.  We have over 600 US patents on human
milk
components owned by the drug and infant formula industries, universities,
and
the US Government.  Who wins when breastfeeding is "discouraged?"  Why do we
have patents that use human milk components to prevent and treat hiv/aids
and
yet hiv-positive women are being told how dangerous their milk is?  Hiv/aids
is just the beginning.  Nestle and Novartis own patents to human milk (the
real thing not genetically engineered).  We have entered an era of true
maddness.  The world has changed without most of us being aware of what has
happened.

Why the silence? Who is accountable to this disaster?  We are going to make
our infants drink genetically engineered infant formula because its safer
than human milk?  And yes we have to believe it cause its the very same drug
and formula industry that has done all the evidence-based research.  And yes
they just happen to have a few hundred patents on human milk?  We can bury
our heads and pretend that this isn't happening.  We can accept that the
medical community are gods and they can decide our ethics.  Or we can stand
up, speak out, and refuse to accept science that is based on profits only.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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