Nikki,
You wrote that, "Lois Arnold has told of some islands in Japan where HTLV-1 
is endemic. The plan is to have the inhabitants of these places feed 
artificially for several generations to eliminate the virus."
  
I find this shocking.  So I must ask who is planning this?  And on what 
grounds?   HTLV-1 diagnosis is based on antibody screening, which only detects 
"antibodies," not the disease itself.  At one website I went to it states, "HTLV-1 
stands for Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus.  It is a retrovirus, in the same 
class of viruses as the AIDS virus, HIV-1.  HTLV-1 is associated with a rare 
form of blood dsycrasia known as Adult T-cell Leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) and a 
myelopathy, tropical spastic paresis.  However even with infection, fewer than 
4% of seropositive persons will experience overt associated disease."
http://www.thedoctorsdoctor.com/diseases/htlv1.htm

Is antibody testing infallible?  If we are looking at antibodies in a healthy 
person are we seeing a disease? or a healthy immune response to contact with 
a disease? One recent study postulates that there has been an overstimation of 
true HTLV-1 sero prevalence (malaria being the disease that causes this 
particular test to turn positive).  HTLV-1 is rare in the USA and from the 
information I have seen is seen more commonly in Japan, the Caribbean, W. Africa, 
South and Central America, and in southeast USA--all African-American cases.

Replacement feeding for generations will do what for these island people?  In 
saving these generations from the risks of this retrovirus that supposedly 
infects people 2 or 3 decades later, we accept the necessity of the need of 
infant formula.  So it seems that health care policy makers have determined that 
antibody testing is infallible, specific to the disease and that infant formula 
is without risk or less risky than the disease itself.  But how do we 
determine risk?  And who determines that risk?  Does a mother have any say in what 
risks she is willing to take for herself and her infant?  And what about the 
passing of our genetic inheritance through breastfeeding?  Who is determining 
what genes may be passed on through breastfeeding and why?    

If one views breastfeeding as a basic right of inheritance passed from one 
generation to another.  Then not allowing a certain racial group or an island 
people to breastfeed is disinheritance, a kind of genocide by infant formula.
Depending on one's perspective, this kind of fiat--a whole racial group not 
being allowed to breastfeed--is disturbing and reminds me of eugenics.

The CDC and the AAP may decide on health care policies for the USA and around 
the world.  But that does not mean that these policies are infallible and 
that these policies are devoid of economic interests rather than based on 
evidence-based science.  
Valerie W. McClain

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