Hello all :-)
First of all let me apologize in advance for what I know will be a long
email. Please bear with me; I think this is very important. Also, some of
you may see this twice, as I am sending it to more than one breastfeeding-
related email list.
I am not at my usual email address as I write this post, but I don't want
to wait until I get back to my office on Thursday to tell you all about
this, so I'm doing this from home.
I was at the ILCA conference this past week, including the Medela event the
day before (Wednesday, to unveil their new breastpump). I'm going to set
aside that event for a moment.
What I want to share with you is my distress over the presence of Playtex
and Avent as exhibitors at the ILCA conference last week in Boca Raton.
Going into the conference I was already feeling pensive about the
profession - the Medela event was SO....corporate. So slick. Such an
obvious lavishing of money on us. There we all were, enjoying Medela's
breakfast, lunch, their glossy materials, and their research (which was
amazing, I readily admit. Peter Hartmann blew us away). But still, it
disturbed me, because of my history. My father is a (retired)
pediatrician. I grew up in his office...surrounded by formula
representatives. I experienced firsthand the cozyness between the
pediatric profession and the artificial baby milk industry. As a result of
that cozyness, artificial baby milk was all I knew about infant feeding.
In my world, breastfeeding was something women USED to do, a long time
ago. Thank God for La Leche League.
I saw such parallels between the LC profession and the AAP last Wednesday
that I went into the conference disturbed but at the same time not yet
distressed. ILCA, after all, was not a part of what happened in Boca on
Wednesday. It was merely a marketing coup on Medela's part that they were
able to arrange their event to occur the day before ILCA's began.
Then I went to the *ILCA* exhibit hall, which by Wednesday evening was
already open, and was confronted with ILCA's two largest contributors to
the conference: Avent and Playtex.
They did not violate the WHO Code AT the conference, but in my mind that is
an ethically pathetic splitting of hairs. Would it be acceptable, for
example, for the American Cancer Society to accept money from tobacco
industry companies at their conferences, provided that while AT the
conference, the tobacco companies only displayed, say, cigarette holders?
Would such an arrangement pass an ethical "smell test"?
Not in my book.
Still, I kept my opinion to myself. I figured I must have gotten something
wrong, or maybe my mind was overreacting. Until the first conference
luncheon on Thursday, that is.
Guess who was introduced to us, and allowed to go up on stage to unleash a
brief sales pitch at us?
AVENT.
You'll be happy to learn that the head of Avent believes his company
can "cure inverted nipples". Stop by his booth in the exhibit hall and
he'll show you how.
That is just part of what he said.
At that point my mind was made up. ILCA was holding a "town meeting" at
the conference, so that members could approach the board of directors and
voice our views and concerns, and ask them any question we had on our
minds. I decided to attend, and ask about Avent/Playtex, ILCA, and the WHO
code. With my heart in my throat from nervousness, I walked up to the
microphone, stared the collected ILCA Board of Directors in the eye, and
launched into my feelings, starting with my "Dad-was-friends-with-Mead-
Johnson-Reps" perspective. I wasn't expecting answers, necessarily, but I
did want to at least hear that ILCA was aware that we have an ethical issue
to discuss here, and some questions to ask ourselves:
Where do we draw the line between our profession and the companies that
sell products to our clients?
How close is too close?
What, if any, is the ethical difference between our profession's
relationship with breastpump manufacturers and the AAP's relationship with
the infant formula industry?
But most importantly, does ILCA's legitimate and urgent need for money make
it okay to cozy up to WHO Code violaters? If not then what else can ILCA
do to survive?
I didn't list those all specifically, nervous as I was, but I got my point
across. Then the soon-to-be-former President of the ILCA Board of
Directors, Beverley Rae, gave me what amounted to a two-part answer. Part
one was "MONEY". That we needed it. No kidding, I thought to myself, but
that begs the question of whether the ends (ILCA's financial well being)
justify the means (accepting money from companies that violate the Code).
Part 2 of her answer was "We are abiding by the WHO Code", or words to that
effect. Not violating the Code, I thought to myself? Since when is
Playtex not in violation of the WHO Code?
I should have asked her that, but at that point I decided that I'd heard
enough. I cut my losses and retreated.
The following day, I was approached by MANY attendees at the conference,
offering me support, encouragement, and vociferous agreement. Some of
these supporters were actual members of the ILCA Board of Directors, which
greatly encouraged me.
So, to bring a very long story to a close, I find it now imperative to urge
any who may agree with me to voice those opinions to ILCA. It seems to me
that ILCA is headed down a very dangerous and slippery slope, and our
ability to stop that slide depends in large part on how much support like-
minded members of the ILCA Board receive.
The new President of the ILCA Board of Directors is Maureen Fjeld. She was
installed as President at the very end of the conference. Her email
address is: [log in to unmask]
PLEASE email her. I am sure that it will make a difference.
I will not be in my office until Thursday of this week, so if anyone wishes
to discuss this subject with me, please email me at home:
[log in to unmask] or of course at this list. I will be checking into
Lactnet via the archives until then.
Last but not least, I have tried not to overdo the mentioning of specific
company names in this post; I hope I did an adequate job. I have no
interest, financial or otherwise, in any of these companies, nor in any
other company connected to breastfeeding/human lactation; I'm just worried
about this profession I love. Thanks for listening.....
Regina Roig-Lane, BS IBCLC for Miami-Dade County WIC
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