Hi everyone,
  Thanks for your support!  After reading your responses
this morning, I sat down and composed the following letter,
which I am sending to the editor of the International
Journal of Childbirth Education, which is ICEA's journal.
Hopefully it will be printed:
Dear ICCEs and ICEA Members:
  As a childbirth educator and lactation consultant who is
supportive of breastfeeding, I have become distressed at the
persistence of the artificial baby milk industry to use
childbirth educators as unpaid sales representatives for
their products.  A couple of years ago, I had two different
artificial baby milk manufacturers knocking on my door,
asking me to distribute their so-called "educational" videos
to my students.  Upon viewing of these videos, I realized
that they would do nothing to support or encourage
breastfeeding, and I refused to distribute them to my
students.  The videos were (and still are) filled with very
subtle negative comments about breastfeeding and
misinformation.  As a lactation consultant I have seen
mothers using these videos to attempt to correct problems
that they were having with breastfeeding.  They assume that
since it was given to them by their health care provider or
hospital, that the information must be correct.  I can only
imagine how many mothers use only these videos to try to
correct their problems, and then quit breastfeeding, because
"nothing worked."
  More recently, I have found that there are sign-up cards
for Mead-Johnson's "My Baby's Health Club" and Carnation's
"Special Delivery Club" in the First Moments Expectant
Parents Kit and the American Baby Basket.  I am pulling
these cards out of my current supply of these packages, and
I will be cancelling my subscription to First Moments and
American Baby Basket.  I am writing a letter to both of
these organizations, telling them that as an ethical and
conscientious childbirth educator who is truly supportive of
breastfeeding, I cannot accept their gift bags as long as
they are being subsidized by artifical baby milk
manufacturers.  The unethical marketing practices of these
companies cause 1,000,000 infant deaths per year world-wide,
and I do not choose to be a pawn in their game.  If the
artificial baby milk propoganda is removed from these bags,
I will re-consider subscribing.
  Also, as a conscientious supporter of breastfeeding, I
must follow the World Health Organization's Code, which
states that artifical baby milk producers should not
advertise directly to parents.  By handing out these gift
bags, I would be violating that code.  Several years ago,
when Carnation and Gerber started direct advertising,
Mead-Johnson was one of the companies that was pointing
their finger, saying "Shame, shame on Carnation and Gerber.
We would never advertise directly to parents."  But now they
too have joined that game.  They are also perpetuating the
myth that their artifical baby milk is just as good as
breast milk (or a very close second), when they are
encouraging people to sign-up for "My Baby's Health Club."
How can artifical baby milk be considered "healthy" when it
doubles the number of ear infections that a child will have
in their first year of life?  Artifical feeding also
increases a child's chance of Crohn's disease, ulcerative
colitis, juvenile diabetes, urinary tract infections, high
cholesterol, and even the need for speech therapy and braces
on their teeth!  If the artificial baby milk producers
really cared about people more than profits, they would stop
giving away "free" videos, booklets, baby club newsletters,
and cases of their artificial baby milk, and they would