Here is a rant from someone who obviously doesn't get it. There really is
a risk from not breastfeeding - even in developed countries. And no, La
Leche League does not "blame the formula makers for the 1.5 million non-
breast-fed babies who die each year, ignoring the medical, cultural and
economic circumstances that often doom infants." In fact, La Leche League
is all about changing the culture of breastfeeding, not attacking the
formula industry. Another fact: LLL does not demonize formula, but
rather objects to the way infant formula is marketed. That is what the
International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes is all about.
According to <http://www.ibfan.org/english/resource/who/fullcode.html>,
the aim of the Code is to "contribute to the provision of safe and
adequate nutrition for infants, by the protection and promotion of
breastfeeding, and by ensuring the proper use of breastmilk substitutes,
when these are necessary, on the basis of adequate information and through
appropriate marketing and distribution." Further, "The Code applies to
the marketing, and practices related thereto, of the following products:
breastmilk substitutes, including infant formula; other milk products,
foods and beverages, including bottle-fed complementary foods, when
marketed or otherwise represented to be suitable, with or without
modification, for use as a partial or total replacement of breast-milk;
feeding bottles and teats. It also applies to their quality and
availability, and to information concerning their use."
Note that the author is associated with the Independent Women's Forum. It
appears that this organization has taken it upon itself to protect evey
baby's right to be formula fed. (see
<http://www.iwf.org/issues/issues_detail.asp?ArticleID=754> and
<http://www.iwf.org/inkwell/default.asp?archiveID=1252>)
Sara Dodder Furr
LLL Leader
Lincoln, Nebraska
***********************
See
When Mother's Milk Is Just Not Good Enough
By Charlotte Allen
Charlotte Allen is author of "The Human Christ: The Search for the
Historical Jesus." She co-edits the InkWell blog for the Independent
Women's Forum.
June 26, 2005
The U.N.'s World Health Organization approved a resolution last month
that, if adopted, would require the manufacturers of powdered baby formula
to issue warnings that their products might contain "pathogenic
microorganisms" such as salmonella bacteria.
That sounds scary — and it's meant to be. It is as though, after the 1993
epidemic of food poisoning at a Jack in the Box in Washington state,
Congress required every hamburger sold in the U.S. to include a warning of
possible E. coli contamination.
For full text, go to:
<http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-
babyformula26jun26,0,6732260.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary>
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