Chris, I know this may sound very picky of me but GRAS as defined by the
Federal regs is "substances added directly to human food affirmed as
generally recognized as safe(GRAS)."  I have never heard of drugs being
referred to as GRAS--aspirin being a drug.  That doesn't substantially change
what you were saying, but I think it important to know that GRAS is about
food additives. Certainly, if aspirin were a new drug today, it probably
would be prescription-only and not an over-the-counter medicine.  Drugs face
stiffer regulations than a food substance.

The fact that food additives face less regulation has me concerned.  Infant
formula which I view as a drug(since it is a man-made product, never seen in
nature) faces far less regulation than a drug. By the way drug is defined in
Taber's Medical Dictionary as, "Any substance that when taken into the living
organism may modify one or more of its functions." Infant formula modifies an
infant's gut.  Biologically, the infant that is formula-fed is a different
infant from an infant that is breastfed.  Even, formula companies admit that
there is no industry-standardized protocol for feeding trials of infant
formula.

The government has chosen to look at formula as a food substance(sure looks
like chemicals to me).  Just as the government has chosen to look at herbs as
food.  Most definitions of herbs that I have seen call herbs food and
medicine.  If one looks at the definition of drugs, one might suspect that
herbs are drugs. I look at formula and believe it to be a prescription-only
drug.  Most other people would define it as food.  Same could be said about
herbs, some people think it is a food substance others feel herbs are drugs.
What you believe to be true will be the deciding factor on who you choose to
be your care provider and the medicine you decide upon to initiate healing.
I find it fascinating that studies show that placebos work as well or better
than the "real" medicine 50% of the time.  So what does this say about drugs,
herbs, etc?  What it says to me is that the diversity of healing modalities
is important.  Knowing what people believe is important part of healing. I
believe that a vital component in an LC's practice is belief in breastfeeding
and imparting that belief to the mother and the infant.  Valerie W. McClain,
IBCLC

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