Pat Gorman's splendid post describing the "daily realities"
          faced in the WIC program puts the onus for artificial
          feeding squarely where it belongs: on the dominant
          sociocultural environment and the values it conveys. WIC's
          infant-formula handout--US$492 million worth in 1992 and
          US$546 million in 1993--at first glance may look like
          another example of government largesse gone wrong.
          Fortunately, the news from WIC does not end here. There is
          another dimension to this free formula distribution: meeting
          the nutritional needs of *today's* babies artificially with
          the best breast-milk substitute available while
          *simultaneously* investing in meeting the needs of
          *tomorrow's* babies naturally. Thus the US$8 million WIC has
          budgeted annually since 1988 for breast-feeding
          promotion--this was increased to over US$21 million in
          1994--is beginning to pay off in terms of a higher
          percentage of change in decisions to breast-feed among
          mothers served by WIC than among mothers generally. Nancy
          Schweers, as no doubt Pat Gorman, could provided additional
          detail in this regard.

          Jim Akre, Nutrition, WHO, Geneva