"Lansinoh Laboratories brought a court action against Medela in Hamburg,
Germany on Tuesday, 12 November, 2002. The formal complaint accused Medela,
Inc. of misleading the consumer with false labelling of Medela’s nipple
cream “PureLan 100”. It was proven to the court that “PureLan 100” contains
a significant degree of BHT. As a result, Medela had to accept an
undertaking to cease and desist from henceforth using the promotional claim
“without additives and preservatives”. Medela has been given until the end
of this year to dispose of the remaining product and paper work that makes
the claim “without preservatives or additives”.  
 

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and the related compound butylated
hydroxytoluene (BHT) are phenolic compounds that are often added to foods to
preserve fats. However, the same chemical properties which make BHA and BHT
excellent preservatives may also be implicated in health effects. The
oxidative characteristics and/or metabolites of BHA and BHT may contribute
to carcinogenicity or tumorigenicity; however the same reactions may combat
oxidative stress. There is evidence that certain persons may have difficulty
metabolizing BHA and BHT, resulting in health and behaviour changes.

According to the health-related risks of BHA and BHT, both components
are not permitted to be used in any form of baby food according to the
Directive of the European Union No. 95/2 of February 20, 1995." 


While I have no financial interest in Lansinoh, I contacted them and helped
them to find a local distributor here so the product would be available-the
alternatives here are scary. 

There are two primary refinements of lanolin, standard USP* lanolin and
Modified Lanolin, and both these contain BHT as a preservative in varying
percentages.     Lansinoh contains no preservative. Given that Lansinoh have
the world wide patent on the purest lanolin no other lanolin product, even
those that state "medical grade" or "surgical grade" are as pure. Lansinoh
is the only company that performs the expensive detergent residue test (this
is usually what people have allergic reactions to) and guarantee the product
to have never more than 0.05%, versus 6%-15% in other USP and Modified
lanolin.  Pesticide residues is again a common cause of allergic reactions
and Lansinoh has a maximum limit of 1 PPM (part per million) versus 3-40
PPM. 
Lansinoh have done clinical trials on lanolin sensitive people and have a
rate of allergic reaction of 0% in over 20 years. Other lanolin reaction
rates are between 41%-59%. 

While I am involved in a dialogue with Lansinoh and offering them assistance
we have no financial arrangement. I feel this information is important and
very relevant. 

Meg Kingsley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meg Kingsley IBCLC
Cooridinator, Mother to Mother Breastfeeding Support Group. Dubai UAE
E-Mail : [log in to unmask] 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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