Of course, to an anglicised eye this looked funny, because one of the six 
countries sampled was India.  In the UK 'Asian' means 'south-east Asian'.  I 
would guess that the issue of no 'Asian' data refers to the fact that, at 
the start of the WHO project, China ('Asian' in US English) was one of the 
seven countries included.  There were some issues and the Chinese data was 
not included in the final charts and (am not sure of all the details) not 
have all been collected. 

As far as I am aware there was no exclusion due to the data itself ('dang, 
these Chinese babies are so short / fat / different we better forget them') 
but that there were issues with the quality of data collection.  I know *no* 
details, this is at the level of scuttlebutt.  I only repeat to say that I 
have heard an explanation of the exclusion (casually, in passing, but from 
someone who would know). 

If there is a real difference which would shift the centiles on the chart 
apart, then this might be more of an issue in some countries, cannot believe 
that in the UK or the US this would affect the general usefulness of the 
charts. 

I have been putting off reading the papers in Breastfeeding Review, I guess 
I have to go and dig them out.  By the way, it *is* paperS as I know Tim 
Cole had one too, at least. 

There are other critiques of the chart, but I say that what we should be 
asking for is that someone do a good audit on a country that changes to the 
WHO chart.  Unfortunately for youall, if we do this in the UK, it won't be 
very informative in some ways for youall, cos we never ever used the CDC 
chart (never). 

In our country, we are expected the first 6 months to be look similar to 
what it was. 

Magda Sachs
Registered Breastfeeding Supporter
The Breastfeeding Network, UK
UK-WHO Chart working group member 

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome