In all the discussions about the nuances of how to interpret the WHO Code on
marketing of breastmilk substitutes in the context of breast pumps, we
sometimes lose sight of the bigger problem.  That problem is how our
relationships to commercial entities may affect our clinical judgment, and
how those relationships may BE PERCEIVED by the women we are counseling, to
affect our clinical judgment.

The marketing I personally find most objectionable is entirely within the
bounds of what the WHO Code permits, but it fails my smell test, and I don't
feel any need to invoke the Code in order to say to a company that I won't
buy their products unless there is absolutely no other alternative because
their marketing violates my personal standards.  I'm talking about adverts
that imply that feeding breastmilk to a baby is exactly the same as feeding
the baby at the breast, or maybe even preferable, since it gives you
'freedom' from actually having to touch the baby.  There are pumps being
marketed with 'the only thing more natural (than this pump) is a baby'.  

Naturally I expect all companies who sell products covered by it to be Code
compliant - that is where an international advisory body has laid the bar
and I will accept nothing less.  But there is nothing to stop me or anyone
else from placing our personal bar higher up.  It's not as though anyone is
obliged to buy all products of Code-compliant companies just because they are 
Code-compliant.  We can continue to buy no more than we need, of anything at
all.  I have heard a rumor that there are twice as many breast pumps sold in
the US each year, than there are women lactating.  Mysterious, until you
read all the mags we hand out, with their handy shopping lists for pregnant
women.  

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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