Bo Lonnerdal is one of several human milk researchers who is an inventor to
patents regarding human milk proteins.  He is one of seven inventors to the
patent # 5739407 called, "Human. beta.-casein, process for producing it and use
thereof."  This involves the DNA sequence encoding a human milk protein and
discusses the use of transgenics to produce the human milk protein.  The main use
for this patent is for infant formula.  It was filed in 1993 with the
assignee being Symbicon aktiebolag.  I do not know if  this gmo human milk protein is
currently in infant formula.  But that could be a very good question
addressed to Bo at one of his lectures.

He is listed at Ventria Bioscience ( a biotech company that is planning to
commerically produce human proteins in rice) as part of the "network."  I don't
know if that means he is a paid consultant to this company because I don't
know what they mean by "network."  There is an interesting article in
http://www.nature.com dated April 2002 in regard to Experimental Biology, New Orleans
called, "Milk in rice could curdle." and in smaller letters, "Biotech human
breast milk growing but not bottled."  There is a beautiful picture of a
breastfeeding mother and baby with the caption "Breast is best but 'humanized' formula
could come close.'

The article states, "that Yuriko Adkins of University of California, Davis
and her colleagues, have modified rice plants to carry a human gene for a milk
enzyme called lactoferrin."  I do believe that it was their experimental fields
of rice that Green Peace protested against last year.  This article states
that "Human breast-milk proteins are already experimentally produced in
organisms ranging from fungi to cows." Bo Lonnerdal is quoted, "These proteins are out
there by the tonne."

Lonnerdal has written research papers on the expression of human milk
proteins in plants.  So there are many questions that he could answer in regard to
this kind of research.

We are expending enormous sums of money on research for a better infant
formula. Doesn't this investment into research and development of a better infant
formula cut into society's investment of breastfeeding promotion?  How ironic
that access to research on human milk is in the hands of the infant formula
industry.  How sad and upsetting to see researchers used by industry,
particularly this industry.  This is an industry whose goal is to sell more infant
formula.  Is research that ultimately promotes the selling of more infant formula
what we want in our society?
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC



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