Great letter, Arly, hopefully the columnist will learn something. Unfortunately it won't get printed in the paper as it is...they print very short letters - 2or 3 sentences, 60 words or so - at the Ottawa Sun. It's a tabloid. If you have time to resend a shorter letter, address it to the letters editor as the columnist may not even think to pass it on.

-- Jodine Chase 
Who is on her honeymoon, currently in South Beach, Florida

-----Original Message-----
From:  Arly Helm 
Date:  6/12/05 10:01 pm
To:         [log in to unmask]
Subj:  fads, in the Ottawa Sun

Trend-watching: A tankless job
By ANN MARIE McQUEEN, Ottawa Sun
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/Today/2005/06/12/1082996-sun.htmll

"Somewhere along the line it's become important to me to stay on top of trends. But I'm not very good at it...

...Tank tops seem to be long, and layered over another, much longer tank top of another colour...

Here are a few other trends to watch out for:

- Lactivists: ...Isn't it a personal choice a woman might not want to shove down other people's throats?..."


Dear Ann Marie McQueen:

There are fads, like wearing tank tops, and there are social justice  issues, like sweatshops.  The infant feeding issue falls into
the second category.

Because most breastfeeding failures are attributed to poor breastfeeding management, which is a direct result of heavy marketing by
transnationals over the last several decades, what we have is a heavy, negative impact on health due to commercial pressure.

Compared to the marketing of infant formula, the marketing of fast food is practically benign.  

The effect of formula advertising is actually more like the marketing of cigarettes, which for people growing up in the 60s and 70s,
also influenced social mores and acceptability.  

During the 60s and 70s, it was considered rude to show that cigarette smoke bothered you.  Neither a child nor an adult could cough,
rub her eyes, or move away from the smoke without being chastised.  Most people believed cigarettes did not have negative health
effects.  There was "no such thing" as secondhand smoke effects.  Most people believed that teens and women chose to start smoking
without any influence from advertising.

In fact, except for the savvy executives in the corporate world, most  people did not realize that advertising affected the choices
people make.

Most people still believe it has no effect on their infant feeding choice, or the likelihood they will be successful on the
non-commercial path.  But the protest you noticed was in response to an automatic attempt to repress breastfeeding by humiliating
mothers who engage in normal infant feeding.  It was automatic for the  woman who criticized the young mom, and automatic for those
who agreed with her.  Yet, how do you suppose it ever became acceptable to publicly chastise women for feeding their babies?  Where
do you think this idea initially came from?

Advertising has always affected our choices--today´s more sophisticated advertising even more so.  It affects our beliefs. It even
affects the way medical professionals are taught and trained.  It most definitely affects the likelihood of success or failure at an
undertaking which goes against the flow of unbelievably huge commercial profits.

I encourage you to find out why nutrition in general, and normal infant nutrition--breastfeeding--in particular, is a life quality,
not a lifestyle, issue that affects mortality and morbidity in Canada and other countries worldwide.

Sincerely yours,

Arly Helm, MS, IBCLC

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