Dear Friends:
    Here is another point of view. If milk from tested and screened humsn
donors is pasteurized and sold, what is the problem? People buy pasteurized
milk from tested and screened cows and goats all the time. The cow-milk
industry pervades our society. Now it is selling cow milk in containers that
will fit the cup holders in a car, to increase their share of the drinks
market. The public schools and WIC push cow milk on people. The public sees
cow milk and cow milk products as the only way to get calcium in one's diet,
which is not the truth.
    It is a shame that a human milk company presents a way to make money
because if every mother that could, did breastfeed exclusively for 6 months
and at least another one and one-half years after that time, we wouldn't have
to spend any money. Mothers would be healthier; babies would have more of a
chance to reach their potential. National healthcare costs would be far less.
The environment would be protected.
    Unfortunately, that is not reality. We live in a capitalistic society.
Perhaps the value of human milk will be recognized and honored when a company
starts to make money by selling it. It might help breastfeeding. Nothing has
really worked so far in the US, at least. We are all still fighting the same
battles to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding.
     There aren't enough milk banks (only 5 in the USA) and the only people
that can get milk from a milk bank require a doctor's prescription. This
limits access. I'd much rather see mothers who don't want to or can't
breastfeed buying human milk for their babies, instead of an industrial
substitute. And what about all those folks with bowel diseases and
transplants and other conditions? They would also benefit.
    Warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner; childbirth educator
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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