Sorry to bore those of you who have no interest in this topic, but there's
been a lot of mail to Mary Rose Tully and others, so I thought I'd bring
you up to speed.

Today we finally got hold of a USDA person in charge of WIC (2 levels down
from Undersecretary Watkins).  Apparently this policy change (which was
finalized March 1) has been in the works for at least a year and was the
result of their general counsel's concern that WIC might have some
liability for injury as a result of paying for donor milk.  They called a
few WIC offices to see if having donor milk was important, discovered that
there hadn't been that much use of it in the past, and decided that the
small number of cases didn't warrant their liability "risk".  They did not
bother to ask milk banks what sort of safety procedures we follow
(screening and pasteurization).  They had zero information about whether or
not any baby had ever actually been harmed.

We are hopeful that good solid information will make them see the light and
change their minds.  So, milk banks and HMBANA are sending letters meant to
inform them about our procedures and safety mechanisms, excellent track
record, etc.

For the moment, if you or people you know are thinking of writing on our
behalf but haven't yet, you can probably hold off for now and we will let
you know later if we need more help.  If you've already sent a letter, we
thank you for your support.  I am sure we're getting their attention.

Andrea

________________________________________
Andrea Morgan
Executive Director
Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin
900 E. 30th Street, Suite 101
Austin, TX  78705
512/494-0800
512/494-0880 (fax)
http://www.mmbaustin.org
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