Jennifer Tow asked me to repost this for her:
"I personally think it would be more productive to have a newsletter with
Valerie's discoveries, to which anyone who is interested in this subject can
subscribe. Yahoo Groups is a good, free vehicle for this. If you'd like help
setting such a group or newsletter up Valerie, I'd be happy to help you."
I have to disagree completely. The biotech industry has extensively
researched human milk components. They have found these components to be miraculous
in their behaviour and function. Wouldn't the logical response for anyone who
has this information and is concerned with human health be the active
promotion of breastfeeding? Yet, these companies do not use this information to
promote breastfeeding; they use it to undermine breastfeeding. The only ethical
action to take in any part of the world is the promotion of breastfeeding.
Valerie is correct about implications in developing countries. When we flew
from China to Tibet this summer, we carried a lot of bottled water on the
plane with us. We were quite restricted in the weight of our luggage, yet made
room for water. This is b/c bottled water is very expensive in Tibet as it is
carried up the mountain, like most things, by people. On the way to the
airport on our flight out, the roads were partially washed out by rain the previous
night. In Chengdu, the roads were so bad, that the 4 hour busride in both
directions was quite harrowing at times. The water in much of China is
seriously polluted--we always drank bottled water. And while China is a third world
country, in so many ways, the infrastructure is much better than in other
third world countries. So, how in the world is it a good idea to solve
nutritional problems in countries like this by creating a fabulous new formula or
formula supplement? There are the blatant risks, like the need for clean water or
the undermining of breastfeeding (the Chinese love most things American, I am
sorry to say). But there are so many others. If you have ever seen the way
the Chinese translate English (anyone seen "Hero" with Jet Li?), you would be
very concerned about proper printed instructions. And if you have ever been
to China or even Chinatown, you will know that a major problem there is with
the concept of "intellectual property rights"--so what happens when the
knock-offs of these wonder products hit the market?
In my personal opinion, I am terribly greatful to Valerie and appalled by
the actions of the biotech industry. Lactnet is definatately "the" place I want
to read this info. BTW--I cannot possibly read all of my Lactnet posts, but I
am a junkie and cannot give it up. No matter what, though ALWAYS read
Valerie's.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT USA
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