Let me add my congratulations to Marsha Walker on her well-written letter to the IOM. We can only hope that this Committee or particularly the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will listen to the concerns of many of us who work with babies. And particularly since so few infants are exclusively breastfeed, we all have concerns about the use of infant formula because it effects so many infants in the USA. I believe that Marsha covered the concerns of DHA very well. I would like to add that DHA is one of many genetically modified organisms being put into infant formula. Supposedly, the agenda at this public meeting was to also address the use of lactoferrin and probiotics added to infant formula. All these substances share a common link. These substances are either in human milk or the result of ingestion of human milk (probiotics) and they are now being genetically modified. The infant formula industry is trying to produce an exact duplication of mother's milk. We have a new industry, the recombinant human lactoferrin industry, built around the research of human milk. In fact one of the companies, Agennix, was co-founded by a professor of Baylor College of Medicine. One of the scientific advisors for this company is the President of Baylor College of Medicine. DMV International, part of the largest dairy companies in the world applied and recently received GRAS from the FDA for "milk" lactoferrin. Their company literature on lactoferrin states that there are "protective effects for HIV and cytomegalovirus, Herpes simplex type 1 and 2, hepatitis C, influenza and rotavirus." http://www.dmv-international.com/nutrit/literat/pdf/15524_7.pdf Despite their literature discussing "bovine lactoferrin," bovines (cows) have little or no lactoferrin (Lonnerdal et al.). Thus, one must believe that bovine lactoferrin is lactoferrin produced through transgenics. (lactoferrin is also produced by fermentation--Agennix produces its lactoferrin by this process)Cow embryos are modified to carry the human gene for lactoferrin. DMV collaborates with Pharming which supposedly has a herd of transgenic cows in Finland. While this company will advertise the protective benefits of lactoferrin against hiv, cmv, etc, women around the world are discouraged from breastfeeding because of hiv, cmv, etc. So what are the studies they have that show that human lactoferrin has protective benefits against hiv, cmv. Why don't we see them? Is breastfeeding a carrier of these diseases? or a protector against these diseases? And is there an economic imperative to view mother's milk as a carrier of disease rather than a protector from disease? Another interesting case, is Portagen. We use Portagen because it has the MCT oils in it which are supposedly beneficial for infants who have specific health problems regarding digestion of fats. Yet human milk has bile-salt stimulated lipase (only found in human and gorilla milks). This lipase hydrolyzes milk fat to free fatty acids and glycerol within 30 minutes. It is destroyed by pasteurization. There is a patent on a synthetically made bile salt stimulated lipase to be placed in infant formula. (I believe this is a patent for Portagen but am not sure at this point) This lipase and lipoprotein lipase in human milk compensate for immature pancreatic function and for the absence of amylaze in neonates--especially premies. Yet instead mothers are convinced that their milk isn't good enough. I can list many more examples of how destructive this situation has become to breastfeeding. That the safety of these ingredients in infant formula are mostly monitored by the companies themselves is a disastrous system. I believe the acceptance of these "new" additions to infant formula is because the public is basicly being left in the dark. It maybe that most Americans want every component in infant formula genetically engineered. I accept majority rule. I do not accept the veil of secrecy that seems to have eroded the truth of this situation. (My letter is available by request from (Sandra Schlicker, IOM) [log in to unmask] or you can e-mail me and I will send it by attachment--6 pages long) Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC *********************************************** 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