I received a phone call this afternoon from a local hospital
giving me advance notice of an upcoming conference about helping
mothers who have to deal with perinatal infant mortality. It sounded
interesting, and so I asked for more details. I was just about to make
a note of the date, when I thought to ask if an abm company was
sponsoring the conference. Yes, they were providing the seed money
in the form of a general education grant to the hospital. I explained
that I did not feel comfortable accepting any kind of gift, however
indirectly, from a formula company, since this was a violation of the
WHO code. The person on the line was obviously taken aback, and could
not see the relevance of my refusal. I wonder if she had ever heard
of the code before!
        Anyway, a short time afterwards, I received another call, this
time from the hospital's IBCLC. I thought that she was also calling
about the conference, but it was actually about another matter. When I eventually brought up the conference sponsorship, she said that she
thought that I should go in order to ensure that any information given
on suppressing lactation would be accurate and uptodate. (As a hospital employee, she did not fel comfortable publically questioning their policies.) She said that she thought that my attitude was rather extreme
and unnecessary.
        I am considering writing to the person in charge of nurses
education to share my point of view, and to point out that the hospital
itself is in violation of the WHO code by accepting gifts from the manufacturers of abm. I know from experience, however, that my message
would fall on deaf ears, and that I would run the risk of being
labelled "a fanatic" (yet again!).
        So, fellow Lactnuts, how would you handle this situation?


Norma Ritter, IBCLC
"If not now, when? If not us, who?"
[log in to unmask]