I respectfully disagree with Jennifer and Heather regarding the article in 
the NY Times Magazine.  Propaganda is defined by some, "as a technique that 
attempts to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behavior of a group in 
order to benefit the sponsor."  This is done through a variety of well-known 
techniques. Several of those techniques are apparent in this article. 

One technique is called "name calling,"  in which a person or idea is linked 
to a negative symbol or a negative emotional response.  Thus in the article, 
Williams states, "For a mother and child, nursing is perhaps the most intimate 
of acts.  Evolutionary biologists call it matrotropy; eating one's mother."

Breastfeeding is eating one's mother??  Hm....kinda like cannibals.

"Human milk is like ice cream, Valium, and Ecstasy all wrapped up in two 
pretty packages."

Comparing breastmilk to a dairy dessert, legal and illegal drugs, and adding 
a dose of sexuality strikes me as rather strange way to describe 
breastfeeding.  Why these descriptions?  Are we selling breastfeeding to men? (which makes 
the provokative picture more understandable)

"Scientists believe that mothers siphon off to their baby a significant 
amount of their lifelong store of chemicals in the course of breastfeeding.  
Nursing a baby, it turns out, is the ultimate detox diet."

Nursing a baby is like siphoning, detoxification......the imagery is not good 
and seems like propaganda to me.

"Some of the chemicals I'm mainlining to my 1-year old daughter..."

Mainlining? Another drug word?  The imagery on this one is very upsetting.
Propaganda technique?  Yes?  No?

"don't picture Eskimo Woman in sealskin on the top of the food chain.  
Picture her suckling baby."  

Picture that?  Scary?  Babies are the top of the food chain because they eat 
their mothers....Makes sense to me ( like alot of other senseless things that 
go on in this world), breastfeeding is eating your mother ergo babies are at 
the top of the food chain. Although I have never seen a picture of infants at 
the top of the food chain in any biology book.

Fear is another propaganda technique and is used in this article.  The 
article quotes Steingraber, "We haven't yet compromised breast milk to such an 
extent that it's a worse food than infant formula, but why get to that point."  And 
the author states, "for now, I will continue to breast-feed..."

Thus things aren't yet that bad but if we don't do something soon we will 
have to resort to formula.  By the sound of the article we might have to use 
formula sooner than we think.  The article seems to be trying to get women to get 
their milk tested.  Now I am not quite sure how testing is suppose to resolve 
the environmental issues.  Other than help the people who do the tests make 
money.  But then I guess I am a cynic.

I certainly believe that human milk will reflect whatever toxins or disease 
the mother is in contact with in her environment.  But I question the validity 
of the assumptions that are being made regarding those toxins.  I believe that 
you will never see an article in the NY Times Mag or any other newspaper on 
the toxins in infant formula and the need to test it.  There is alot of 
assumptions and what testing on infant formula that has been done has been done by 
the food industry that will be impacted by a bad report.  I don't believe that 
human milk should be categorized as a food.  It is white blood, a biological 
fluid.  Contamination and health impacts of toxins to the infant mostly occurr 
during pregnancy not during breastfeeding.  Shouldn't we be talking about the 
risks of toxins during pregnancy rather than this huge focus on toxins in 
breastmilk?

Propaganda or not? The picture adds to my belief that this is a propaganda 
piece.  The distance between mother and baby in the picture gives one the 
feeling that this mother is allowing her infant to eat at the top of the food chain 
for the moment.......until her next breastmilk toxin report.
Valerie W. McClain

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