Sears Says Sorry "It was an error in judgement; the Store Brand Formula banners are gone from my website and will never return," said Dr William Sears in a telephone interview from his home January 22, 2000. "I thought I could cut some deals with some formula companies. It didn't work; the formula ads are gone forever," he said. Martha Sears, his wife and mother of their eight children was against the bottle promotion from the start. "I forgot about the World Health Organization Code. Suddenly I realized I was in violation of the WHO Code of Marketing Breastfeeding Substitutes, and I pulled the banners immediately." he added. The Marketing Firm PBM (Paul B.Manning) sells Store Brand formula, also know as SMA, which is produced by Wyeth, a company now owned by Nestle. PBM purchased an advertisement in the January issue of Baby Talk magazine, for Dr Sears to advertise his Attachment Parenting website. The ad is valued at $80,000 US. Oddly, Dr Sears, who recovered from colon cancer four years ago, recently discovered he was an SMA fed baby. One nutrition book he authored links such improper infant feeding with long term effects as adult cancer and other illnesses. Dr Sears said he is not experiencing financial difficulty and as a pediatrician makes a comfortable living of approximately $120,000 per year. He said he wanted financial support to widen his website. "A savvy site could cost half a million dollars," he said. Dr Sears concluded he hopes the WHO Code will become law under the new president, and that only public pressure will ensure it does. The public pressure he faced since promoting Store Brand Formula has been gruesome. La Leche League International, kept him as a member of the Medical Advisery Board, but removed links from LLL's website to the Attachment Parenting website. He has been inundated with email from angry mothers, Lactation Consultants, midwives, and doulas world wide. *** Fio. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html