Re: your inquiry about the recent e-mail the ILCA Board sent out to its 
membership.   Here's the scoop, from an impeccable source, since I am now 
the Secretary of the Board of ILCA:

(1)  One vendor had instructional offerings at the Exhibit Hall, offered 
during the same time period as ILCA's own conference sessions.

(2)  A second vendor had a booth, but it advertises a certificate program 
that doesn't meet the ILCA standard for recognition.  ILCA recognizes 
certification "only through an agency that meets the standards for the 
National Organization for Competency Assurance ... certifies through an 
international criterion-referenced examination, and has disciplinary 
measures to remove an incompetent or unethical practitioner or a 
practitioner working outside their clearly defined scopes of practice."  
[ILCA Education Standard 1 -- find it on the website, www.ilca.org, clicking 
  "Education"].

(3) Meanwhile, a third vendor had been denied booth space because it, too, 
offers a certificate program.

And so we found ourselves in Chicago, with our own guidelines being 
misapplied in our own Exhibit Hall.  Hence the letter to our membership. 
which I reproduce below, as an FYI:

"During the July 2005 ILCA Conference in Chicago, the Board of Directors was 
dismayed to learn of unintentional misapplication of the ILCA Advertising 
Policy at our Exhibit Hall, which caused confusion for some members and 
exhibitors: one exhibitor offered educational segments; one received booth 
space while another was turned away.

"We are very sorry this happened.

"The Board took immediate steps to redress the errors without marring the 
flow and excitement of our 20th anniversary celebration and excellent 
educational program. It became clear to the Board that it was 
administratively difficult to police and enforce the existing advertising 
policy. It voted, at a meeting quickly called during the 2005 conference, to 
immediately separate the ILCA Education Standards from the ILCA Advertising 
Policy.

"To prevent future misapplications, the Board will be reviewing and 
clarifying several documents: the required disclosure and 
conflict-of-interest statements (for exhibitors, speakers and committee 
volunteers), the conference syllabus, the conference brochure and the 
invitation to conference exhibitors.

"The Board wants to assure the membership that the ILCA Advertising Policy 
still requires vigorous compliance with the WHO Code: there will be no 
advertising, funding or sponsorship accepted from entities that produce or 
market human milk substitutes, breastmilk substitutes for babies under six 
months, free-standing feeding bottles, pacifiers (dummies) and or bottle 
nipples/teats. And continued unabated is our support for the ILCA Education 
Standards.

"Sincerely,

"ILCA Board of Directors"






Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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