I, a retired Milk Bank Donor Mother (in Denver), would also like to express
my support for human milk banks, for several reasons.

First, and most importantly, the primary mission of every mothers milk bank
is to help the lives of critically ill babies. To boycott such work would,
effectively, punish those babies directly. We're not dealing directly with
a large formula corporation in these cases. We are dealing directly with
sick babies and their families.

Indirectly, I think there is another effect of such action. When dealing
with the general public, I have been shocked to learn that most people (and
many doctors) do not know that human milk banks exist, and when I tell them
about such places, I get the same question over and over- "why don't they
just give the babies 'special' formula?" Truly, there is a lingering
perception that formula is almost as good as mothers milk. Every time I
have this exchange, I take that opportunity to do some education about the
value of mothers milk over formula, and the result is always the same-
folks reply "wow, I didn't know it was that valuable." The existance of
such banks reinforces in the mind of the general public that mothers milk
is vastly superior, and in that single moment I can do more promotion for
breastfeeding than the formula companies can do with millions of dollars in
advertisements.

Both directly and indirectly, milk banks help babies and offer
opportunities to educate the public about the value of breastmilk.

Thank you-
Rachel Simpson

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