I have apologized to Valerie directly for misrepresenting her.  What I 
remembered from our discussion was that probiotics sold for infants 
were GMO.  The remainder of my post, about dairy-free lactobacillus 
cultures, was my own opinion and not hers.   Here are her comments on 
the current discussion:

>
> Hi Lynn,
> I read your Lactnet post on probiotics and was a little surprised by 
> your comments.  I think you either misunderstood my comments to you in 
> our email discussion or I wrote it in such a way that you 
> misunderstood me.
>  
> At this point in time, I wouldn't trust that you can find any 
> probiotic bacteria that is not gmo.  Even companies that proclaim no 
> gmo maybe falsely advertising.  If the bacteria is cloned, that 
> involves genetic engineering. Dairy-free does not avoid genetic 
> engineering.  Lactobacillus can be GMO.  see
> http://www.isis.org.uk/BanGMprobiotics.php
>  
> The sugars in human milk are also being gmo'd for use in 
> probiotics...so it isn't just the bacteria from breastfed infant 
> stools that are being gmo'd.
>  
> From my stand point, no infant that is exclusively breastfeed 
> (partiuclarly under 6 months of age) should be given probiotics.  
> Human milk is probiotics.  If adults/children need probiotics they 
> would be better off drinking donor human milk or fresh human milk from 
> a relative (who has no infectious disease).
>  
> Food, supplements, and medicine are being gmo'd at an increasing rate. 
> The risks of gmo are now being documented (read "Seeds of Deception" 
> by Jefferey Smith).  This is new technology and there will be unknown 
> risks.  Young infants should not be guinea pigs for a supplement 
> industry that is not being closely monitored.  Exclusive breastfeeding 
> should not be tampered with lightly and particularly in regard to 
> probiotics.  Human milk is prebiotics and probiotics.  This is another 
> example of the commercialization of human milk components and how it 
> is destructive to breastfeeding (interfering with exclusive 
> breastfeeding).
>  
> I wish that you would forward these comments to Lactnet because I 
> think this issue needs clarification.  Best wishes, Valerie
>
> Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC
>

My personal opinion is that once a baby has a shredded gut, they aren't 
really exclusively breastfed, because of all the intact foreign 
proteins that have made it from mom's gut to baby's, and in that case I 
still don't hesitate to recommend probiotics to stop the downward 
spiral.  And I culture my family's own kimchi/salsa/kefir to avoid the 
GMOs in commercial probiotics.

Lynn in MO
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