Valerie wrote:

<< carol, six months ago I might have agreed with you that, "bettering formula
is no threat to breastmilk; it can never compete.."   The amounts of money
being invested by companies and by government grants and patents towards
making infant formula more like human milk comes at a great cost to the
preservation of breastfeeding.  Those are monies that could be well spent on
preserving, defending and encouraging breastfeeding.  With that amount of
money invested one wants a return on that investment.  Which of course means
that there will be no investment in human milk banking. There will be more
reasons to interfere with breastfeeding and more direct advertising to the
consumer.  Bettering formula to make the consumer less self-sufficient and
more dependent on a corporation is not the answer to world hunger and
poverty.  It is a recipe for disaster.  Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC >>

I was a graphic designer/art director for 8 years, working extensively with
marketing people and copywriters. When a company has put a great deal of
money and time into a product, there is usually no turning back. They are
highly motivated to sell that product and develop tunnel-vision in their
desire to do so. I have to agree w/ Valerie. So much damage has already been
done by the makers of ABM in their campaign to misrepresent their product.
Even more investment can only intensify their drive to sell more product.
They know very well that they must stay on top of the (mis)information game
to make that happen and they have the money to do so. Any involvement by
governments to align w/ these efforts is, IMO, extremely unethical and
potentially disastrous.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA

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