one of the best side benefits of having a medical student around for two days
(aside from being able to ask HER a million questions) is that she told me
about a great website

www.nofreelunch.org

she told me that at our local medical school drug reps are FORBIDDEN to even
speak to students, much less work them over. she is considering where to go
for a residency, and has taken that as one of the ways to judge the ethical
concerns of a school (their policy about contact with students).

the no free lunch website is devoted to that sticky moral question "what do
we owe the people who bring us bagels and pens and coffee cups and pizza
parties" and for that matter, gift bags for new parents. this website doesn't
KNOW about how free gift bags and formula promotion relates to their subject.
but i think we can enlighten them, or at least i intend to try. they have
many great study references that support the idea that "free lunches" ain't
free. what a surprise! they have great information about promotional
practices and statistics to back up all their assertions. they even have a
"pen amnesty program" where they will send you a no free lunch pen in
exchange for surrending pens and other promotional goodies. wonder what they
would give us for a formula bag?

please check it out and please help them get interested in ABM (see, i do
know where that shift key is) promotion. and read the comments by health care
professionals. they are quite varied ("doctors are too busy to read all the
current literature in the field and why should they have to when they can
learn all they need to know from the drug rep in 5 - 10 minutes," does that
give any of YOU all a chill down the spine?) and i just wrote a comment which
i hope will appear (too long to put here).

a great place to get documentation for the idea that pushing formula is
shilling for the manufacturers, just like with so many other drugs.

carol brussel IBCLC
laura nevada lactation
www.breastfeedinghelp.com (NOT sponsored by any abm companies)

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