Barbara,

You wrote,"And what do we tell moms then who wish to donate milk to a milk
bank? (one
comes to mind right now).  Is it not unethical for millk banks to give/sell
mother's milk to those who would make money on it?  Are you aware of specific
milk banks involved in this?  (and I don't want to open a huge can of worms
here..nor slander anyone, but this is so discouraging.)

I also don't mean to be pessimistic nor negligent, but at times this kind of
news is just overwhelming and I'm too tired to think about having to
continually swim upstream.  I do, as all of us do everyday, but it is harder
some days than others and reading the whole Dr/formula thing is yucky,
too-tho I know too well how that goes.  Valerie, I do appreciate your posts,
don't get me wrong, just on the activist level just feel defeated sometimes.

Would like to know what you propose re moms donating though."

I do not know the specific rules of milk banks in regard to giving/selling
milk to researchers.  The source for 2 patents on Human Milk Fat Globule was
the Central Massachusetts Regional Milk Bank of Worcester, Massachusetts.
That milk bank is now closed.
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
patent # 5667797 and patent # 5505955

These two patents are about using the HMFG (the real thing and recombinants)
to treat rotavirus in infants, adults and immune-deficient patients
(specifically mentioning hiv/aids patients).  One of the assignees is John
Hopkins School of Medicine with the US Government possible having rights to
these patents.  If these patents have gone commercial, then we are treating
hiv/aids patients with components of human milk--rather interesting in view
of the fact that hiv positive women are discouraged from breastfeeding.

I have seen on various patents the use of human milk from lactation labs
(Baylor College of Medicine was one that I remember), and some patents do not
explain where they got the human milk.  Some patents that use genetic
engineering techniques to imitate human milk components get cloned versions
from Clontech or Cold Spring Harbor which have libraries of cloned cells.
(don't know where these institutions received their original cells)  A
company called Sigma Chemical which I think is now called Sigma-Aldrich sells
purified human lactoferrin from human milk.  Where they get it, I don't have
a clue.  Some patents obviously have obtained their milk in the midst of a
study--mothers and infants are part of a study.  I am not sure these moms are
informed that their milk has become an "invention" and patenting with
possible commercial applications are involved.

Human milk, in particular HMFG, has been used to create mono and polyclonal
antibodies.  The milk is injected into the spleen of a mouse and subsequent
antibodies are harvested.  These antibodies are used in screenings for
various cancers (breast, colon, ovarian, etc).  This method has enraged many
animal activists and  it would seem that this may no longer be done.  Human
milk is very antigenic--reason for using it.

As for being defeated and tired, I think we can't let discouraging
information defeat us and what we need to do.  We can view the patenting as a
defeat of our goals or we can look at it as an instrument to be used to
enlightment the public on the obvious value of human milk/breastfeeding.
What we produce for our infants has enormous healing potential and is
considered for use in drugs to heal people--a new antibiotic. (although
genetically engineered and probably not as good as the real thing).

As for what to tell moms in regard to milk banking.  I don't know what to
say.  I believe quite strongly in the necessity of milk banking.  There
should be a milk bank in every city and town where babies are born.  But we,
not the industries, have to have control over its proper use.  How do we go
about that?  Not by being quiet about patenting and letting the
industries/institutions/government control/own human milk.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC



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