Pat Gorman's splendid post describing the "daily realities" faced in the WIC program puts the onus for artificial feeding squarely where it belongs: on the dominant sociocultural environment and the values it conveys. WIC's infant-formula handout--US$492 million worth in 1992 and US$546 million in 1993--at first glance may look like another example of government largesse gone wrong. Fortunately, the news from WIC does not end here. There is another dimension to this free formula distribution: meeting the nutritional needs of *today's* babies artificially with the best breast-milk substitute available while *simultaneously* investing in meeting the needs of *tomorrow's* babies naturally. Thus the US$8 million WIC has budgeted annually since 1988 for breast-feeding promotion--this was increased to over US$21 million in 1994--is beginning to pay off in terms of a higher percentage of change in decisions to breast-feed among mothers served by WIC than among mothers generally. Nancy Schweers, as no doubt Pat Gorman, could provided additional detail in this regard. Jim Akre, Nutrition, WHO, Geneva