Ms. Brown has repeatedly emphasized that her business is all about creating a convenient way for 
women to donate their surplus milk to sick, premature babies.  Ms. Medo echoed that in her post.  

Let me cut to the chase:  this seems like public relations to me.  I admit that my knowledge of for-
profit business ventures is limited, but here is what I’ve read about and seen in the past:  when a 
company is looking to profit from a raw material, it will market it in the way that makes the most 
money. I think it’s called finding “the killer app.”  For example, I read an article in The Washington 
Post a few years ago about Martek that explained that they began with sea weed and then 
searched for the most profitable way to market it to the public, and that’s how it ended up in 
infant formula.   

There are many other examples, some of them in the lactnet archives, of such savvy marketing.

Ms. Brown mentioned as an aside that the milk they receive that is not eligible for formulation into 
their product for premies is used for research.  I understand that Two Maids and Prolacta get 
permission from donors to do this.  To me that seems slightly beside the point.  The point being 
that, and someone please correct me if I’m wrong, there is no independent oversight of what Two 
Maids or Prolacta tells women in order to get them to donate Prolacta’s primary profit-generating 
resource.  

Another point?  Today Ms. Brown and Ms. Medo are emphasizing that this donated resource will 
be used in a limited and purportedly altruistic way, but what is to stop Prolacta from finding a 
more lucrative application in the future?  Someone wrote a tongue-in-cheek “Brave New World” 
post about this yesterday, but I think the question is serious.  

What happens if a major food or pharmaceutical  corporation offers to make Prolacta or a 
company like it into one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries?  

When a business person says, “Trust me to use your human tissue donation ethically, despite the 
fact that I will use it to make a profit, and despite the fact that there is nothing to stop me from 
using your donation any way I choose,”  I am wary.  

Kerry Ose, PhD

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html