There is positively no doubt that there are many truly selfless people, including Barbara Wilson Clay, who are working to overcome the prejudice against using human milk to feed medically fragile infants. Those efforts should be recognized and honored. Yet, I believe that we also need to recognize that there are some very troubling issues surfacing because of human milk research and the resultant commercialization of its unique properties. One of the guiding values of the Mothers Milk Bank at Austin (listed 3rd of about 10 values in their mission statement) is, "We believe in research to enhance the knowledge of human donor milk benefits." So the question is how much of the donor milk goes to research and how much to fragile infants and adults with serious medical conditions? How much to foster orphaned animals and directed to what institutions? What institutions and researchers get human donor milk? I think all human milk banks should provide this information. If they are not selling or giving donor milk to researchers that should be stated. One of the sponsors of the Mothers Milk Bank at Austin was Dannon. Dannon or Groupe Dannone is an infant formula company. The explanation for the sponsorship was that no one realized that Dannon was an infant formula company. This sponsorship was on the Mother's MIlk Bank at Austin website for many, many months after it was pointed out to them that Groupe Dannone is the parent company of Dannon. It was finally taken down a few months ago. Clicking on this particular sponsor, Dannon, at the Mothers Milk Bank at Austin's website, brought you instantly to the website of Dannon advertising its products. The are several troubling aspects to this situation. This sponsorship leads to questions such as, "Was Dannon or a human milk researcher associated with Dannon ever a recipient of donor milk from this milk bank?" I do not wish to discredit the work of the non-profit milk banking system in regard to providing milk for infants and adults. On the other hand, with 1000 human milk component patents and climbing, certain questions have to be asked regarding milk banking. I find the public silence in regard to this issue troubling. Who owns human milk components? As it looks now, various human milk researchers have sold the gene constructs of these components to--the infant formula, pharmaceutical, US Department of Health, dairy, and supplement industries. (I consider the US Department of Health an industry since it owns patents and gets kick backs from the pharmacetical industry). The monopolizing of human milk components and gene constructs by industries creates enormous ethical and moral dilemmas for us all. Are human milk banks supportive of the patenting of human milk components and its gene constructs? And, if they are opposed to it, what are they doing about it to circumvent this problem? I have suggested that mothers who are concerned about this issue request that their donated milk only be used for infants and adults in need. And if that request cannot be honored for whatever reason, then mothers should not donate at all. I also think a world-wide boycott of milk banking might be the only option left, if milk banks fail to address this issue publicly. Valerie W. McClain, breastfeeding advocate *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html