Roxanne, newly-certified as IBCLC (Yippee!), asks whether it is a conflict
of interest for a named IBCLC to be a featured speaker at a dinner hosted by
Mead Johnson, where nurses and IBCLCs are invited to get a free meal while
listening to the presentation.
Heck, yeah.
First of all, congratulations to you and your colleagues who chose NOT to
attend this dinner. Secondly, the Lactnet Archives are chockful of posts
about this issue. Specifically look for anything written by Marsha Walker.
This is how I reach my conclusion: The IBLCE Code of Ethics, which all
IBCLCs *must* follow (at risk of sanction, triggered by a written complaint)
says at Tenet 24: "Adhere to those provisions of the International Code of
Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes [the Who Code] and subsequent WHA
resolutions, which pertain to health workers."
The WHO Code, at point 7.3 pertaining to health workers, says: "7.3 No
financial or material inducements to promote products within the scope of
this Code should be offered by manufacturers or distributors to health care
workers or members of their families, nor should these be accepted by health
care workers or members of their families."
So the bottom line: Mead Johnson -- or any other formula, bottle or teat
manufacturer -- should not be offering dinners, cups, pens, pins or ANYTHING
to health care workers (which includes IBCLCs) and health care workers
should not be accepting them.
Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC
Wyndmoor, PA, USA
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