Hi all,

I have to jump in here....first of all, in the interests of disclosure, I have done consulting work for J&J for the past 2-3 years, and am on their Pediatric Advisory Board.

Before signing a contract with them, however, I went over their annual report, websites, etc. with a fine-toothed comb.

The IBFAN information is VERY outdated (1999). J&J has been out of the bottle and pacifier business for several years. In fact, the latest IBFAN report (just released in the last few weeks) acknowledges that J&J has stopped selling/manufacturing/marketing infant feeding substitutes. Its only citation is that their website has a link to www.babycenter.com which sells bottles. It's on page 86 of the full report:

http://www.ibfan.org/english/pdfs/btr04.pdf


I've already been in communication with the US Director of J&J's Consumer Products Divison about this infraction, & he is looking into the BabyCenter issue. Additionally, BabyCenter is NOT "their online store", but a separate website/company entirely. They have their own advisory board, including Kathleen Huggins.

J&J no longer partners with Nestle or any baby food manufacturer. In fact, they have their own "discharge pack" with lotion, etc. and an infant care booklet. I was asked to edit the section on infant feeding, and while I'm not 100% happy with its wording, it IS solely about breastfeeding. The only mention of formula is a 2-sentence blurb under the heading "If you are unable to breastfeed" or something like that, which basically says discuss your decision with your doctor.

NONE of J&J's subsidiaries are involved in bottle, formula, or pacifier production. Janssen and Ortho-McNeil are their primary pharmaceutical companies, and neither make formula. I spoke with a Janssen rep at an advisory board meeting a couple of years ago about why Motilium was not available in the US, and she said it was because it was too costly to play the games with the FDA to get it approved. I got the impression that there were some competing companies (of similar products, like Reglan) that were putting up roadblocks, & Janssen didn't feel it was financially worth their while to fight that particular battle.

If any of you would like to communicate directly with my contact at J&J, please email me privately, & I'll forward your letters on to him.

Smiles,

Carol

Carol Schlef, RNC, MSW, IBCLC, LCCE


Date:    Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:02:31 +0200
From:    Heleen Hayes <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: FDA Warns...Domperidone

On 7 Jun 2004 at 22:12, Pat Lindsey, IBCLC wrote:

> I smell a rat.  And, it smells like a formula company.  We are at war
> with big business.  The formula companies and all the pharmaceutical
> companies don't want the US to have higher breastfeeding rates, it's
> not good for their bottom line.  Imagine the reduced antibiotic use on
> infants under one year if we had Sweden's breastfeeding rate.  Sweden
> has the highest breastfeeding rate and the lowest infant mortility.
> We are 27th in infant mortility! What does that say about our
> wonderful health care system and our country.  Where are our
> priorities?  Making money is number one, not health care and certainly
> not babies.

Janssen Cilag, the company that makes Motillium, is part of Johnsson
& Johnson.
And guess what? According to 'Breaking the Rules' they are good
friends with Nestl=E9:
http://www.ibfan.org/english/codewatch/btr01/JJMAM-en.HTM
--
Heleen Hayes
www.xs4all.nl/~hhayes

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