On July 14, 2008, I asked my area Medela rep if she knew anything about the info in the below message. To date, I have not heard back as to what is Medela's reaction to the fact that the lactation community is concerned about the below. What is going on with Medela? Why is it being so flagrant in undermining breastfeeding? Does it not realize what it is doing, or is it doing so well financially that it no longer needs the support of IBCLCs? What is ILCA going to do about Medela? What about the inside cover of JHL? Does anyone who is going to the conference want to report back to LACTNET and let us know what is discussed about Medela and the three issues: 1) WHO Code violations; 2) Pump rentals by uninformed/poorly trained Babies R Us employees; and 3) Using IBCLCs to help with "marketing their bottles appropriately to consumers." Item #3 reminds me of how RNs are used by the ABM companies to promote ABM in the hospitals/pediatric offices. I am feeling that Medela is using IBCLCs. Warm regards, Lee Galasso, MS, LLLL, IBCLC, RLC Westchester County in NYS, USA [log in to unmask] "Children Are Born with the Right to Breastfeed" -----Original Message----- I was recently emailing with someone with links to the Middle East and she reported that Medela is coopting IBCLCs there to help them to market their bottles "appropriately" to consumers...of course there is no way of ethically marketing bottles to consumers. How much harm is being done around the world? In conversation with someone the other day I was reminded of why the International Code exists. It is not there to make things difficult (as some seem to believe) but to make things easy. ABA [Australian Breastfeeding Association] was recently awarded "Retailer of the Year" by Medela in Australia. I love ABA, I really do, and any of you who have heard me speak know that I have been proud of being associated with ABA. But if ABA continues to promote and support a company that breaches the International Code, and so aid in harming mothers and babies, I really do not know what I will do. Karleen Gribble; Australia *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome