No one has responded to my earlier post asking about journals that will not publish research funded by the infant formula industry. Is it the case that it is only Breastfeeding Review that will not publish research funded by formula manufacturers??? I asked this question originally because I was a little shocked to recently pick up an issue of JHL and to read a very interesting paper on perceived insufficient milk but to then discover that although the authors said they had no competing interests that the research was funded by Nestle.... 
Personally, I am of the opinion that infant formula manufacturers have no business in funding breastfeeding research. I am also of the opinion that while ever journals are happy to accept industry funded research that researchers will be happy to accept the $$ and I do not think that it is a good situation for researchers to be in debt to industry. There is also the concern that the source of funding can influence the design and reseults of research but that is less insidious than the development of cosy relationships acceptance of funding creates between industry and researchers and the legitimacy that journals publishing industry funded research gives to the infant formula industry. I'll paste in below a discussion about funding in relation to tobacco. What do others think?? Any others feel similarly? What do JHL and other breastfeeding journals gain from publishing research funded by the baby food industries? Am I missing something?
Karleen Gribble
Australia


What moral misgivings may arise in connection with the financing of research? Does the source of the funds for a research project matter? Tobacco exemplifies this problem well. Tobacco smoking is the largest single cause of illness and premature death in the industrialized world, but the tobacco industry is also one of its most profitable commercial undertakings. Decades of increasing scientific evidence for the harmfulness of smoking have increased the moral pressure on manufacturers. Good relations with the scientific community is a desirable way to demonstrate the legitimacy of their operations. Medical researchers should act in accordance with the classical ethical principles of medicine; autonomy, doing good, justice and doing no harm. The activities of the tobacco manufacturing companies are not in accordance with these principles. Every medical researcher or physician who uses funding from the tobacco companies cannot escape the fact of lending his or her name to the manufacture of a lethal product.

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome