Valerie asks:

"How can we get good science, when the right questions aren't being asked?
How can we get good science, when the authors and owners of the testing are
consulting for the very industries who have an enormous stake in the outcome
of such research?"

 

The answer, I fear, is that in today's economic climate we can't.  Who will
fund research except those that have some economic interest in the outcome?
In the past, universities did "pure" research, but unfortunately, the bottom
line is where does the funding come from.  Government used to fund a lot
more, but the taxpayers object to "wasting" their money (admittedly, in some
cases it does seem frivolous, but in other cases the objective is distorted
or taken out of context and made to look ridiculous).  Industry used to do
some untainted research related to their business, but again, when the
researchers can't show how the company will profit, and in the very near
future, the research is stopped or never approved in the first place.

 

It has been said often that the problem with breastfeeding related research
is that those who will gain the most (or the most easily measurably) are the
babies, and they don't have any research $$ to spend on it!  This is also
why so much breastfeeding literature (at least that which is free) comes
from those with something to gain if it isn't going perfectly.  Even the
pump companies gain financially only when breastfeeding isn't done
exclusively at the breast.

 

Winnie


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