One might suppose by looking at the ingredient list on the outside of a can
of formula that the consumer would have a good idea of what's in there.  But
that's an illusion.  Due to our interesting labeling laws, mothers around the
world  do not know if their infants are drinking genetically engineered cow's
milk, soy milk, or the newly genetically engineered oils DHA and ARA.  While
doing some research I happened to run across the company that is providing
the oils(DHA and ARA) for most of the American formula companies.  Martek
Bioscience Corporation  is the name of the company and their web site is
http://www.martekbio.com/dha.html

The ARA is derived from a non-toxic soil fungus, mortierella
alpina(nucleotide drived from hexane..crude oil).  It is genetically
engineered.  I suspect that the DHA is also genetically engineered.  The fda
held up approval for a number of years on this addition before they decided
it could be considered GRAS.  http://vmcfsan.fda/~rdb/opa-g007.html

So frankly, I think we should talk about the experimental nature of formula.
With each mistake, they are getting better at providing the right
ingredients.   With genetic engineering  they can get a little closer to the
real thing.  Now, sure, infants have never been fed this before but we have
studies that show that eating soil fungus is good for you.  It makes you
smarter!   Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html