Prolacta Bioscience is a for-profit company apparently started by Elena Medo (formerly CEO of White River breast pumps) to collect and process human milk to make both pasteurized whole milk and specialized milk components (eg. high protein "premie" milk) available to NICUs and others. It's model is similar to blood banking where volunteer donors give blood, but excess blood is converted to blood products and sold to hospitals and others. Venture capital was sought and found to set up a processing plant in Monrovia CA (east of Los Angeles, CA) and various lactation VIPs are or were signed on as expert consultants (eg. Lars Hanson, Ruth Lawrence). They are looking to make quality products, but the way it is coming about is concerning. It appears money was given to 1 or 2 entities: "The American Breastfeeding Institute (ABI)" and "The National Commission on Donor Milk Banking" (Karin Cadwell and Lois Arnold appear to be the principals - although no-one will confirm or deny the relationship and structure of these entities) to set up a network of "milk banks" (actually milk collection depots) to ensure a steady flow of donor milk to the CA plant. I have heard disturbing reports of denigration of the current not-for-profit milk banking system (milk not safe, no quality control, no regulation) by representatives of the ABI. As a neonatologist I would love to have fortifiers made from human milk rather than the cow's milk fortifiers we are currently using. In addition, having a for-profit company involved in it would place a dollar value on human milk, which is not valued now as it is "free". However, I would prefer to see the development and research done under the current non-profit HMBANA network if possible, to ensure that ALL patients, regardless of ability to pay, would be able to access the milk and milk products. Although the greatest NUMBER of pasteurized donor human milk receipients are premature infants, the greatest VOLUME of milk goes to older infants, children and adults as outpatients. I am not sure if Prolacta is going to address these patients' needs. In addition, I am concerned that if enough volunteer donor milk cannot be found, payment may be made for the milk, directly or indirectly, which could lead to abuses. I have no financial interest in Prolacta, nor am I on their consultant panel. Please note that a representative from Prolacta monitors LACTNET. Nancy Nancy E. Wight MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP Neonatologist, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Children's Hospital Medical Director, Sharp HealthCare Lactation Services San Diego, CA [log in to unmask] *********************************************** 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