I would like to post about legislation in the state of MAryland that has
been introduced in the House of Reps.  It's entitled the "Maternal and
Child Health - Lactation Project".  It does three things:
        1. acknowledges BRF as an important and basic act of nurture
that should be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health
and family values and recognizes that brf is the best method of child
nutrition. It recognizes that a mother is responsible to both her job
and her child when she returns to work and her choice to brf benefits
her employer, her family, and society.
        2. It establishes an incentive program for businesses to use the
designation "family friendly" if they develop certain policies
supporting the practice of brf at the workplace (which are spelled
out in the bill) and
        3. It establishes a demonstration project through a state agency
for 2 yrs., a report of which is mandated toward the end of that period.
The bill is being co-sponsored by Maryland state delegates Adrienne
Mandel and Shane Pendergrass.  It's Md. House Bill #642.
Working towards this goal has been a great deal of work but I have high
hopes for it.  Texas and Fla. have done similar initiatives (this one
was based on the Texas initiative).  I'll keep you posted about
progress. We had to get them to take the "-" out from between "breast"
and "feeding".  Why do people always want to spell it that way?!
Edie Armstrong, Fairfax, Va.