This goes to show how a little knowledge can be a danagerous thing.  This 
jounalist doesn't have her fact straight and someone need to set her straight.

Pamela Morrison, where are you????  You could do an excellent job of 
responding to this article.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/@issue/journal/malkin/
MICHELLE MALKIN
UNICEF's breast-feeding mission
is deadly to African children
MalkinTalk back!
Tell us <A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">by email</A> what you think of this Michelle Malkin column.
 > Michelle Malkin's column is distributed by Creators Syndicate.Washington -- 
''Breast is best.'' No, it's not the new slogan for Hooters restaurant. It's 
the mantra of breast-feeding advocates who promote their cause with a 
cultlike fervor around the world. Their extremism must be condemned. I have 
nothing against breast-feeding. After weighing the pros and cons, I've been 
nursing my 5-month-old daughter since birth. Mother's milk offers my baby 
health benefits that man-made substitutes can't match. But in the hands of 
the United Nations Children's Fund, the breast-feeding crusade is killing the 
children it's supposed to protect. In a horrific investigative report 
published in the Wall Street Journal this week, reporters Alix M. Freedman 
and Steve Stecklow expose UNICEF's homicidal mission to discourage 
AIDS-positive mothers from switching to infant formula. The United Nations' 
own statistics show that an estimated 3.4 million children have contracted 
AIDS from their mothers and died of the disease. Between 1.1 million and 1.7 
million of those children, mostly in Africa, are believed to have been 
infected with HIV through breast-feeding. There is a very simple solution: 
feed the babies formula. Top manufacturers Nestle and Wyeth are ready and 
willing to provide tons of tins of free formula to poor women in sub-Saharan 
Africa, the Journal reports, but UNICEF adamantly refuses to support their 
offers. The agency's health bureaucrats wield great influence in the Third 
World. The head office in New York is led by anti-corporate activists who 
care more about sending political messages to formula makers than about 
sending life-saving nourishment to babies in jeopardy. UNICEF's grudge dates 
back to the 1970s, when breast-feeding extremists began a boycott of Nestle 
and other companies. The protesters believe the formula makers ''exploit'' 
underprivileged women in developing nations by creating a ''dependency'' on 
infant formula. The companies can't win. When they try to sell their products 
abroad, they're accused of profiteering. When they try to give their goods 
away, they're accused of public-relations gimmickry. The Journal reports that 
UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy, a former New York City Council 
president, angrily rebuffed efforts by Nestle to assist HIV-infected mothers. 
Wyeth's offer in 1998 to donate tons of free formula to African hospitals was 
scrapped when company officials simply asked UNICEF not to bad-mouth them 
publicly. Bellamy instead insists that the major formula makers comply with 
an inane U.N. regulatory code -- passed long before AIDS hit Africa -- that 
bans the distribution of free and low-cost formula. Ayn Rand couldn't make 
this up. UNICEF would rather throw millions of dollars worth of formula out 
with the babies, than undercut collective support for what they consider a 
morally superior choice to breast-feed. Rather than accept free infant 
formula and save lives immediately, UNICEF recommends that African women with 
AIDS allow their babies to breast-feed from other women. But there's a good 
chance that the babies will simply get infected milk from another woman. One 
UNICEF official blithely supports pasteurized milk as an alternative when 
mothers contract AIDS. But babies don't usually begin drinking cow's milk 
until after one year. Without formula, mothers turn to dangerous substitutes 
such as sugar water and rice water. UNICEF's lieutenants in the 
breast-feeding camp continue to attack formula as unsafe and unhealthy. But 
in the developing world, iron-fortified formula is often superior to the milk 
of sick, malnourished women. Here in the West, we enjoy the comforts of fresh 
fruits and vegetables, multivitamins and folic acid supplements -- not to 
mention fancy electric pumps, bottles and refrigerators to store breast milk 
safely when we have to separate from our babies. In sub-Saharan Africa, 
mothers are lucky to eat a half-cup of rice per day -- and must often work 
all day, away from their children, without the luxury of nannies, wet nurses, 
and basic health amenities. Nevertheless, Bellamy told the Journal reporters: 
''We continue to advocate that breast is best.'' Even if it kills.  
    
Warm regards,
Pat Lindsey, IBCLC - Lactation Services
Pediatrics Plus Staff LC & Private Practice
Orlando, FL

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